Short Essay

This is a short essay that compares a common theme or motif in two works of literature.

Choose two works of literature that we have studied so far in this course.

Choose a common theme, topic, or motif in these two works.

Your essay should explore the following:

Similarities and differences between how the two works treat your theme, topic, or motif.
The significance of your theme, topic, or motif.
The main point you want to make about the theme, topic, or motif—in other words, an argumentative thesis statement.
Details from the literary works that support your thesis statement.
This essay should follow the basic introduction, body, conclusion structure learned in College Composition.

Your essay should be at least 500 words long.

Exclusions: For this essay, you may not

Compare the two versions of Snow White to each other,
Compare two poems from Ink Dark Moon to each other, or
Compare two stories from “Winnebago Tales” to each other.

ANSWER

Good versus Evil in Little Snow White and the Story of Princess Hase

Little Snow-White and The Story of Princess Hase are ancient folklore fairy tales with almost similar teaching but from different parts of the world. While Little Snow-White resembles the ancient kingdom of England, The Story of Princess Hase is from ancient Japan. The two feature two princesses bereft of their mothers at a young age and then forced to protect themselves from evil and cruel stepmothers who only seek out ruin them. One major similarity is that the parents of the two princesses at one point wish for a child to bless their marriage and the gods oblige giving them beautiful daughters who grow up to be moral and virtuous and to choose the right thing even when faced with difficulty and life-threatening situations. This essay explores the concept of good versus evil in both stories to differentiate as well as analyse the similarities between the two fairy tales.

After the death of the mother in Little Snow-White, the king remarried to the evil that becomes Snow White’s stepmother. The evil stepmother is obsessed with beauty and at every instance seeks out the mirror to verify that she is the fairest of all. It is for this reason that she grows extremely hostile to Snow White the moment recognises her beauty as beauty beyond hers and in a desperate attempt to redeem her glory orders Snow White’s assassination. However, her cruelty does not measure up to Snow White’s beauty that lets the huntsman let her roam free, the wild animals not to kill her and the seven dwarfs to let her lodge with them in their little cottage. Her beauty enables her to triumph over all the evil that would have befallen her including death when in a second attempt the evil queen tries to poison her. Eventually, Snow White triumphs over evil when she magically regains life and marries a young prince who exalts his revenge on the evil queen and the story terminates where good is rewarded and evil loses and is punished.

In the Story of Princess Hase, like Snow White, Hase-Hime faces cruelty after the death of her real mother. In her young age, she develops skills in poetry and verse and also masters goodness in her character which guards her through various tribulations. Unlike Snow White, Hase-Hime does not really on beauty alone to triumph over evil but also her character and skill. For instance, she gains favour with the emperor because she knows how to play music and similarly gains favour with the evil princess’s servant because of her kindness and good character that makes him want to save her rather than kill her. Over and over the cruel princess tries to kill her but on every account, Hase-Hime survives. Hase-Hime triumphs in the end with her stepmother being forced to walk back to her father’s house in shame while she goes to marry a young prince and live happily ever after.

In conclusion, the two fairy tales as observed in this essay explores the concept of good versus evil. This essay has differentiated as well as analysed the similarities between the two fairy tales to show how in the end good wins and the two main characters go-ahead to live happily ever after.