Snow Queen: Old Woman's Flower Garden

4 Febr 04 Snow Queen: Old Woman's Flower Garden
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/16568/106388

From the beginning of the story, Andersen introduces blindness and journey as symbols. Eons before the story takes place, a demon constructed a mirror that contorted the images of reality so that beautiful things looked loathsome. The demon becomes the foil of Kay who goes out one day to skate. A splinter of the broken mirror his pierced his eye and froze his heart so that anything that previously beautiful became ugly and distasteful.

However, simplistic this sounds, the message conveys psychological truth. How often, we become embittered by a particularly shattering experience and are no longer able to see the beauty within the world. We lose a job, and suddenly life becomes a terrible struggle without the means for financial support or social engagement. We no longer have the means to enjoy public entertainment or spend money on delightful things. Our perspective becomes twisted like the images in the mirror made by the demon.

Kay goes off to skate, abandoning his friend, Gerda. Entranced with the Snow Queen, he ties his sled to her sledge and vanishes from Gerda's life. His disappearance alarms Gerda. Although not rich, Gerda is determined to find him and bring him back into her life. The theme is that of Rake's Progress, composed by Strawinsky and written by Auden, based on the etchings of Hogarth. Abandoning the security of her home, Gerda forsakes persoanl belongings, sacrificing her new red shoes to the river in hopes of finding Kay again.

More poetically Shakespeare presents Sonnet 116, using the ship following the stars to reach its goals. The turmoil and dangers in the sonnet are hidden, as the lofty goal of love is raised to its zenith.

Shakespeare, Sonnet 116 Let me not to the marriage to
http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/116comm.htm

Gerda is no poet or lady of the white glove. She is as poor as the Goose-girl, but more generous. Climbing into a boat, she entrusts her fate and journey to God, and sets out. In the third chapter, Gerda enters the garden of the Old Woman. Andersen, contrives the accidental encounter. We do not see him scheming in the background with the meeting of the two women: one is old and childless; the other, young and childless. Andersen insists that the old woman is not a bad witch, but still a witch who can order the arrangement of her garden to suit her needs, manipulating the memory of Gerda. The one is childless from old age—and also possibly selfishness. She cannot take the risks that Gerda is willing to make and she will not give up the comfort of her tidy world to venture into harsh realities outside. The garden is an image of containment, self-interest and selfishness. Gerda is isolated where no outside force is allowed to influence or touch her. The old woman desires selfishly to retain her company. She will take no risk in allowing Gerda any freedom, including Gerda's dreams and past memories. She contrives to erase all memories of Gerda's past life by banishing the roses underground and maintaining an eternal springlike season in her garden.

In comparison, Gerda began her journey by casting away her new red shoes. Although the gesture is foolish, the reader sympathises with someone so selfless as to endure discomfort in hopes of recovering a lost love. And although, the old woman seems to be quite kind and compassionate to Gerda, she is cruel. Through deception, Gerda comes to believe that Kay is dead. Nothing can be much moer cruel than this. It ranks among the top ploys of extracting information out of a prisoner under torture and rendering a person to a zombie state.

The selflessness of Gerda is further contrasted with the stories of the flowers who are filled with self-admiration. Each is absorbed in its own small story. The Tiger-Lily sees itself as a martyr, the Convolvulus winds itself about a fantasy readily found in immature romances that idealize love as the waiting princess on a balcony. Gerda has no patience for this. She is practical and recognizes the limitation of time; she is also aggressive in her endeavor. Goals are not won by dreaming about them in airy ways. The epitome of inhumane callousness, though, is found in the Hyacinth, who repeats its story like the knell of a funeral bell and then snaps at Gerda, "We do not tolling for little Kay—we don't know him; we only sing our song, the only one we know."

Although the garden is well-ordered and flowers beautiful, there is no compassion among there. The narcissim wears away Gerda's patience. When she brushes against the Jonquil—daffodil or narcissus—her patience ends. Bending over to catch the words in hope of discovering some information regarding her lost friend, she hears,

"I can see myself! I can see myself!"

The Jonquil is immersed in absurd fascination with its own image. Of all the flowers in the garden, only the Roses have some relevant response. The imagery fits: roses have thorns. Love brings pain into the beloved's life. Without pain, there is no real love; without love, there is also no deep pain. Asleep under the ground, they have not seen him and so assume that Kay must still be among the living on earth, offering small hope to Gerda.

Remaining within the garden is not for Gerda, regardless of the easy life and the eternal joys of spring. Yearning to confront reality and overcome life's obstacles to achieve her goal, she breaks out. She leaves with no shoes and nothing in hand but hope. Regardless of the length or harshness of the journey, she is determined to find Kay and bring him back into the world she understands and sees as beautiful. Her love will sustain her through all perils. She has no real selfish interest and she puts the welfare of her beloved above her own. She is the ideal of romantic love, the idealist who lives for a dream and the peole who give themselves to their professions for a higher cause.

Shakespeare's Sonnets
http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/

116 Let me not to the marriage to
http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/116comm.htm

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http://pogoland.blogspot.com/2003/12/snow-queen.html

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