The tale of H. H. Andersen is dedicated to the very famous in the 18th century, Jenny Lind - opera actress. She possessed a phenomenal range. She applauded Berlin, Paris, London and Vienna. Her voice was admired, and the performances were sold out.
Andersen subdued her beautiful voice to the core. The acquaintance of Lind and the writer occurred in Copenhagen. Literally at first glance, he fell in love with the singer. Whether this feeling was mutual is unknown. But she greatly appreciated his writing talent.
Andersen could not talk beautifully about his love, so he decided to write about it and confess his feelings. Sending a letter of acknowledgment to Lind, he did not wait for an answer. So a famous fairy tale was born, telling about the touching love that Gerda and Kai had for each other.
Prototypes of heroes in a fairy tale
Two years later, a meeting of Lind and Andersen took place. The actress invited Andersen to become her brother. He agreed (since it’s better than being nobody), thinking that Gerda and Kai were also like brother and sister.
Perhaps, in search of a real feeling, Andersen spent a lot of time traveling, trying to escape from the kingdom of the Snow Queen, which Copenhagen was for him. In life, everything is not like in a fairy tale. The image of Kai and Gerda, invented by Andersen and personifying him and Lind, was just as clean. In life, Kai was never able to fall in love with Gerda and break out of the kingdom of the Snow Queen.
A brief analysis of the tale
G. H. Andersen is the first Danish writer whose works are included in world literature. The most famous are the fairy tales “The Little Mermaid” and “The Snow Queen”. They are familiar to almost all of us. The fairy tale "The Snow Queen" tells about good and evil, love and oblivion. It also tells of devotion and betrayal.
The image of the Snow Queen in a fairy tale was taken for a reason. Andersen's father before his death told him that the Ice Maiden had come for him. In his tale, the writer personified the Snow Queen with the Ice Maiden, who took his dying father with him.
The fairy tale at first glance is simple and does not contain a deep meaning. Going deeper into the analysis process, you realize that the plot raises some of the most important aspects of life - this is love, devotion, determination, kindness, the fight against evil, religious motives.
History of Kai and Gerda
This is a story of touching friendship and love of two fairy-tale characters of Andersen's tale. Gerda and Kai had known each other since childhood and spent a lot of time together. In the fairy tale, it is Gerda who has to prove the strength of friendship, who went on a long and difficult journey after the boy who became a prisoner of the Snow Queen herself. Having charmed Kai with a piece of ice, she turned him into a callous, spoiled and arrogant boy. At the same time, Kai was not aware of his changes. Having managed to go through many difficulties, Gerda managed to find Kai, to melt his icy heart. Kindness and faith in saving a friend gave the girl strength and confidence. A fairy tale teaches us to be devoted to our feelings, not to leave a loved one in trouble, to be kind, and, in spite of difficulties, to strive to achieve our goal.
Characteristics of Kai and Gerda
Andersen's tale describes to us a kind, attentive and responsive Kai. But after a challenge to the Snow Queen herself, he turns into a rude and evil boy who can offend anyone, even Gerda and grandmother, whose fabulous stories he loved to listen to. One of Kai's tricks ended up being captured by the Snow Queen.
In the palace of the evil queen, he became a boy with an icy heart. Kai always tried to put the word "eternity" out of ice floes, but he did not succeed. Then she promised him to give skates and the whole world. Kai's desire to comprehend eternity indicates his lack of understanding that this cannot be done without true feelings, without love, having only a cold mind and an icy heart.
Deprived of all human feelings, Kai wanted to read a prayer in fear, but could not. Only the multiplication table spun in his head. Frozen figures of the correct geometric shape - this is the only thing that delighted him. Once Kai tramples on his favorite roses, and he looks at snowflakes with interest in a magnifying glass.
The image of Gerda is a contrast to the character of the Snow Queen. To find Kai and rescue him from the ice castle, the girl goes on a long and difficult journey. In the name of her love, a brave little girl goes into the unknown. Obstacles encountered along this path did not make Gerda angry and did not force him to turn back towards the house, to throw his friend in captivity at the Snow Queen. Friendly, kind and sweet, she remained throughout the tale. Courage, perseverance and patience help her not to lose heart, but to humbly overcome all failures. Thanks to this character, she managed to find Kai. And love for him was able to melt his icy heart and cope with the charms of the evil queen.
The description of Gerda and Kai can be a prototype of real people and similar stories in life. It is enough to take a closer look around.
Snow Queen Characteristic
The Snow Queen, the Witch-Blizzard, the Ice Maiden - the classic character of Scandinavian folklore. Lifeless and cold space, snow and eternal ice - this is the Kingdom of the Snow Queen. The tall, beautiful ruler on the throne, located on the lake, which is called the "Mirror of the Mind", she is the embodiment of a cold mind and beauty, devoid of feelings.
Growing up fairy tale heroes
Having been in the kingdom of the Snow Queen, the characters become adults. The moral motive takes on the motive of growing up. Children get older when they face severe life trials, overcoming which Gerda was able to save her beloved man, resisting the difficult searches and intrigues that the Snow Queen arranged for them. Kai and Gerda, despite growing up, preserve children's spiritual purity. They seemed to be born again with the goal of a new adult existence.
Christian motifs in a fairy tale
Andersen's tale is saturated with Christian motifs. In Russian editions this is rarely seen. In the episode, when Gerda tries to enter the Snow Queen’s castle , the guard does not let her in. She was able to get into it thanks to the fact that she began to read the prayer “Our Father”. After which the guard, turning into angels, paved the way for the girl.
At the time Gerda and Kai return to their home, grandmother reads the Gospel. After the meeting, the children all begin to dance around the rose bush and sing the Christmas carol, which ended the instructive tale.
And this mysterious journey from the world of good to the land of evil began with a shard of a broken mirror that fell into Kai’s eye. The mirror crashed due to the fact that trolls (i.e. demons) reflected everything in the world in a distorted form. Andersen explains this by the fact that demons in the lying mirror wanted to reflect the Creator. God, not allowing this, made the mirror break out of the hands of demons and break it.
The image of Hell is reflected in the word "eternity", which the Snow Queen instructed to lay down Kaya. Icy, not created by the Creator, eternity is an image of hell.
In the episode where the deer asks the sorceress to help Gerda and give her the strength of the twelve heroes (twelve apostles), she replies that she will not be able to make the girl stronger than she is. Her strength is a small loving heart. And God helps her anyway.
The contrast of cold and heat
From the prologue of the tale, Andersen begins to write that some people have ice splinters that fall into the heart, which freezes, becomes cold and insensitive. And at the end of the tale, he describes how Gerda’s hot tears fall on Kai’s chest and a piece of ice in his heart melts.
The cold in a fairy tale is the personification of evil, all the bad things on earth, and warmth is love.
Therefore, in the eyes of the Snow Queen Andersen sees a lack of warmth, the presence of cold and insensibility.