The Snow Queen

Hans Christian AndersenFiction | Novella | Middle Grade | Published in 1844

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-5

Chapters 6-7

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Character Analysis

Gerda

Gerda is the protagonist of “The Snow Queen,” and her character is a living representation of goodness and innocence, embodying both The Innocence of Childhood and The Power of Perspective. Throughout the story, Gerda makes positive choices and otherwise chooses to see the best in the world. These qualities make her uniquely suited for the journey she undertakes to rescue Kai, and the strength she gains along the journey ultimately allows her to be successful. Her choice to keep a positive, pure outlook makes her a foil for the Snow Queen, who is the embodiment of negativity and evil. Gerda influences everyone she meets, showing how goodness inspires goodness in others. Gerda’s arc is reminiscent of a traditional hero’s, as she undertakes a quest to find something of value and bring it back. In this case, the valuable thing is Kai, and her ability to rescue him from the Snow Queen’s hold proves that Gerda is a hero.

Gerda’s character also resonates allegorically as the story explores Christian and Romantic ideas. With regard to the former, Gerda serves as a Christ figure whose mercy and compassion figuratively resurrect and redeem Kai; she even descends into a version of hell (the Snow Queen’s ice palace) to do so. In the story’s Romantic schema, Gerda represents feeling, imagination, and the vitality of the natural world, contrasting with the cold intellectualism of the Snow Queen and of Kai in his frozen state.

Kai

Kai is Gerda’s best friend and motivation throughout “The Snow Queen.” Where Gerda embodies goodness and purity for the entire book, Kai succumbs to the power of the mirror’s shards; this causes cynicism to skew his worldview and alter his relationships. Once he is tainted further by the Snow Queen, Kai becomes a deathly version of himself, unable to feel anything but coldness. Symbolically, this reflects the triumph of rational thought over Romantic values of the emotional and natural. In the Snow Queen’s palace, he focuses entirely on playing “the frozen game of reason” and fails to even recognize his “frozen”—i.e., unnatural and unfeeling—state because sterile intellectualism has so thoroughly warped his perspective (81). Kai also serves as a Christian everyman figure; his wounding by the mirror and imprisonment by the Snow Queen corresponds to a state of original sin from which Gerda must rescue him.

Kai’s redemption at the end of the book thus represents the power of goodness and how good triumphs over evil. Gerda’s goodness overpowers the forces keeping Kai trapped, suggesting that love is the strongest force in the world. Kai’s ending places “The Snow Queen” squarely in the fairy-tale genre. He is rescued by the hero (Gerda) and returned to his former life, where he once more views the world through a lens of childlike joy and innocence, underscoring the story’s message that these qualities are key to leading a good life.

The Snow Queen

The Snow Queen is the titular character and antagonist of the story. She is a being who appears to be made of snow, and her eyes “[shine] like two bright stars, but there [is] no peace or rest in them” (18). This description is a visual manifestation of her evil nature. The Snow Queen is a foil for Gerda. Where Gerda represents goodness and light, the Snow Queen symbolizes the absence of these things, as evidenced by the dark coldness of her palace. In particular, she represents the end point of unfeeling rationality. Notably, she calls her frozen lake “The Mirror of Reason” (80)—language that associates it with the devil’s mirror and therefore implies that reason strips whatever it touches of goodness and joy. Her realm is devoid not only of happiness but also of life itself; even the animals that guard her palace are made of snow, implying that existence without feeling and imagination is sterile and deathly. The Snow Queen also furthers the work’s Christian symbolism—her mirror and powers linking her to the devil and serving as a devil figure herself in her temptation and imprisonment of Kai.

Unlike the villains of many traditional fairy tales, the Snow Queen is not wholly defeated at the end. She loses her control over Kai, but she is still free to ensnare others. This ending suggests the ongoing struggle between good and evil, which every person must fight for themselves.