Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...
Reflections, Obsessions and Portals in the Faery Tale
Mirrors are strange portals. Faery Tales are littered with them. How one deals with one’s own reflection, and whatever one may see of oneself in the mirror, or what else one may see, has fascinated us since, well at least since the Greek God Narcissus used to look adoringly at himself in the water’s reflection, not knowing it was himself he was so mesmerised by, and yet refusing all others who pursued this handsome hunter from Thespiae in Boeotia.
Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen begins with an evil, magical mirror shattering. This mirror’s evil owner—a demon, hobgoblin, or troll —designed it to do the opposite of most mirrors do, so that instead of revealing truth, it distorts reality by making good things appear bad and bad things appear good. Sounds like today’s mainstream media! When the evil mirror shatters, tiny fragments no bigger than grains of sand blow across the earth and into the eyes and hearts of mankind.
One of the victims of the mirror is the main character’s best friend in the story. The little boy treats the heroine horribly, and is kidnapped by the villainous Snow Queen.
A broken mirror proves to be very bad luck- it has perhaps been the ultimate symbol of bad luck for thousands of years. The power of the mirror shards in the Snow Queen shatter truth.
And, mirrors are portals, as we’ve seen in Lewis Carroll's 1871 book “Through the Looking-Glass” has one of the most beloved magical mirrors in modern literature.
Through the Looking Glass, Chapter VII, The Lion and the Unicorn, recited by Adrian Pretzellis in New Zealand.
“The Picture of Dorian Gray“ by Oscar Wilde revolves around a perfect portrait of Dorian Gray, a kind of magical mirror in itself. But for Dorian, life is about Art for Art’s Sake. It is about hedonism and an obsession with beauty that drives Dorian to sell his own soul so that the portrait, the perfect reflection of himself, fades in time so that he remains free to pursue a libertine life. But the portrait records his every sin. It has echoes of the narcissism of the Evil Stepmother Queen in Snow White, tormented by the beauty of her young stepdaughter. And of course Narcissus.
The truth-telling power of magic mirrors reveals people lost in time, or space. In medieval stories, witches and wizards looked into crystal balls or enchanted mirrors to divine the future or spy on people. This has been known since Egyptian times as “scrying,” and there are plenty of stories where mirrors are used in this way. If you watch Snow White the movie from 2001, starring Miranda Richardson as the Queen, you will see a very developed use of the ‘scrying’ quality of the mirror.
A study from the University of Urbino in 2009 by Giovanni Caputo (Strange face in the Mirror illusion, Dept of Psychology, Univ of Urbino) took fifty naive individuals were given a task to gaze their reflection at the mirror for 10 minutes. After the session, the participant was asked to write what he or she saw in the mirror.
The participants experienced a bit different results, but there were also some similarities. The participants saw things such as:
(a) huge deformations of one’s own face (66%)
(b) a parent’s face with traits changed (18%), of whom 8% were still alive and 10% were deceased;
(c) an unknown person (28%)
(d) an archetypal face, such as that of an old woman, a child, or a portrait of an ancestor (28%)
(e) an animal face such as that of a cat, pig, or lion (18%)
(f ) fantastical and monstrous beings (48%).
Caputo also describes the surroundings in his study:
“These observations were made in a quiet room dimly lit by a 25 W incandescent light. The lamp was placed on the floor behind the observer so that it was not visible either directly or in the mirror. A relatively large mirror (0.5 m60.5 m) was placed about 0.4 m in front of the observer. Luminance of the reflected face image within the mirror was about 0.2 cd mÿ2 and this level allowed detailed perception of fine face traits but attenuated colour perception. The illusion occurred even at higher levels of illumination of observer’s face (from 0.2 to 1.6 cd mÿ2 ).”
SNOW WHITE
The story of Snow White pivots around the curiously evil Stepmother, whose archetypal jealously of her beautiful, innocent young stepdaughter encapsulates the perfect dichotomy of evil and good. There is a mirror that is in fact based on a real mirror. The tale was inspired by the young Maria Sophia Margaretha Catharina von Erthal, daughter of a wealthy ambassador in eighteenth century Germany. She matched Snow White’s appearance perfectly and had a jealous stepmother. A stepmother who owned a famous mirror known as “The Talking Mirror.” Maria von Erthal , born in 1725 in the Prince Elector’s Castle in Lohr am Main, near Bamberg in southern Germany, was princess material with her ‘angel of mercy and kindness’ nature and she was ‘charitable to the poor and suffering in the hearts and minds of people’.
The perfect model for Snow White. Dr. Karlheinz Bartels claims that Maria Sophia’s father, Phillip Christoph von Erthal was treated like royalty by the people of Lohr as he worked as an ambassador for the Archbishop of Mainz and this had him rub shoulders with kings and emperors. Maria’s mother died in 1743 and her father married Claudia Elisabeth Maria von Vennignern, imperial countess of Reichenstein. She became the Stepmother to von Erthal’s seven children and, being a force to be reckoned with, became the perfect role mother for Snow White’s stepmother as she detested Philip’s children, and only loved their children from the new marriage.
The Magic Mirror
Philip gifted the Countess a ‘magic mirror’, 1.6 metres high and decorated intricately, made by von Erhahl’s ‘Mirror Manufacture’ in 1720. His factory was a great success in Lohr, a town with a great production of mirrors and glass. The mirror is now in the Sepssart Museum in Lohr Castle. It is the very mirror that inspired the Brother’s Grimm. Its inscription is Amour propre (French for ‘pride’)
The mirror is the source of truth. The the evil queen gazed into it and asked ‘Who is the fairest in the land?’ The mirror would reply “My queen you are the fairest in the land.”
Apparently the real mirror had an echo effect. You can check it out for yourself in the museum in Lohr Castle. What could have possessed this mirror? When the mirror responds to the Queen’s questions - is it her own voice she hears, or is the mirror possessed by the soul of an all- knowing fortune teller? Or is there perhaps an imprisoned soul cursed by her in the mirror hologram, condemned to answer questions truthfully for all eternity? There are many tales of souls trapped inside of mirrors. This is why many cultures drape mirrors with fabric or turn them toward the wall when someone dies: to prevent the soul of their deceased loved one from entering the mirrors and haunting the living. Maybe that’s how the evil queen’s mirror became a talking mirror.
It certainly makes you wonder whose truth-telling soul may be trapped inside . . . so, take care of the mirrors in your own house- are they antique? Do you know their provenance? Could somebody be trapped in there? Try checking in with the mirror, ask it where it is from, most especially if it is old, covered in black spots or, alas, cracked! Mirrors hold great power and can enhance your home if used well and according to good Feng Shui practices... a mirror placed correctly can enhance safety, wealth and love in your home!
The poisoned apple.
The town of Lohr, where Snow White is supposedly based upon, has many orchards and the plant that poisoned the apple given by the Queen to Snow White was the Atropa belladonna/ Black Cherry, which has an anaesthetic effect that might have caused Snow White/ Maria-Sophia’s temporary death. She died in 1796 and was buried in Bamberg but her gravestone was taken to a hospital founded by Maria Sophias’ brother, when the church was knocked down. It was moved again in 1970s to a Museum in Bamberg. The Brother’s Grimm lived 50 km from Lohr am Main. Maria Sophia went blind and died in a convent at 71 years. Her gravestone inscription:
“The noble heroine of Christianity: here she rests after the victory of Faith, ready for transfigured resurrection.”
Listen the Grimm Brother’s version of the tale here, I recorded it today:
A Magic Mirror in Granada, Spain
When the king of the kingdom of Granada was ready to marry, it was announced throughout the kingdom. He sought the most deserving woman in the Kingdom. He told the court barber, then the night watchmen, and last with all of the elderly ladies who sold fruit and cloth at the market.
The court barber informed all of his clients, and they informed all of their acquaintances. The night watchmen yelled the news so loudly that all the young girls woke up to the news. It was the gossip of the markets throughout the Kingcom.
"How will the king pick a wife?" everyone wondered.
“He’ll have a hard job finding a deserving woman.” said the Barber.
"What are you talking about?" they roared at the barber "What do you have to do with the king's search for a wife?"
He stated, "I am the one man closest to the monarch and I have a magical mirror," he told them defiantly “If any lady with a tainted heart looks into my mirror, she will see the reflection of her faulted nature."
"Is staring into your mirror one of the requirements for marrying the king?" thye asked him. "That is the only condition," the barber answered, with his thumbs in the armholds of his waistcoat.
"Is there an age limit?"
"Any lady over the age of 18 is eligible," said the barber.
"Then every woman in Granada will be lining up for the opportunity to be queen!" the ladies said.
"That is true," he answered, "but each woman will have to look in the mirror with me by her side."
Many women laughed, but none of them approached the barber to have a look in the mirror. Days and weeks passed. The king was still looking for a wife. Some females tried to persuade their friends to appear in front of the mirror, but none were bold enough to do so. Since the king was a very attractive man, adored by all of his subjects for his numerous qualities, it was astonishing that none of the kingdom's attractive ladies would even consider becoming his bride. They did not want to look in the mirror .
Some said they had already made plans to marry. Others claimed they were too self-conscious to go into the barber’s shop. Others declared the option to be single, better. The king asked the barber every morning if any young lady had come forward to look in the mirror, but the answer was always the same - that many people watched his shop to see if others walked inside, but no one had been bold enough to come in herself.
The monarch said, "Ah, Granada, Granada!" "Doesn't any maiden in this land want to be my bride? A monarch should have no problem obtaining a suitable young bride.”
"Barber!" said the king, "You shall get for me a woman as dazzling as the sun, as pure as dew, and as good as gold - one who will not be scared to gaze into your magical mirror!"
"Your Majesty," the barber answered, "there is just one chance. A lonely shepherd girl lives alone on a remote hillside. She might be bold enough to gaze in the mirror, but would you marry a lady from such humble beginnings?"
The king said, "Bid her come. Let the shepherd girl gaze in the mirror in front of my convened court after you have informed her what will happen if she dares to look."
The young woman was dragged to court by the barber. The entire kingdom flocked to the royal hall to behold the brave and proud girl who dared to look into the magical mirror. The girl entered the royal hall, staring at the attractive men and women in the court. The King was enthralled by her looks, mesmerised. He reminded her that she would have to look into the magical mirror if she wanted to be his wife. The mirror would reflect as many dark stains on its surface as there were in her past if she had done something dishonest.
"Everyone makes errors, and I am no exception," the Shepherdess said. “With my flock, I've made blunders. But they must forgive me since they allow me to take care of them over and over again every day. They flock to me for protection when they believe the danger is approaching. I adore my sheep and do everything in my power to care for them. With all due respect, sir, I am not very interested in being a queen. But I have no qualms about peering into that enchanted glass."
She stepped over to the mirror and looked in it, somewhat flushing at the sight of her own reflection. The women of the court encircled her. They seized the miraculous mirror from her and passed it from one lady to the next when they noticed there were no stains on its surface. They yelled, "Take a look! There's no magic in this mirror; it's all a ruse!"
"You have only yourself to thank. You would not have been terrified to look in the mirror if you were as secure in yourself as this young girl, who is now going to be my queen."
A Magic Mirror Tale in Japan“The Mirror of Matsuyama.”
A mother falls tragically ill (as so often happens to daughters in faery tales) and gifts her daughter a beautiful mirror. The mother tells her daughter to look in the mirror whenever she misses her and she will see her mother’s face. After her death, the daughter discovers her claim to be true and believes that her mother’s soul is in the mirror. Only years later does she realize that she’s seeing her own face in the mirror, which has grown into the spitting image of her mother.
The evil power of the mirror shards in the Snow Queen is one thing. But a mirror that can make a selfish dictator young forever is disturbing. Again, like many faery tales.
THE LADY OF SHALOTT and her MIRROR...
In Tennyson’s poem “The Lady of Shalott.”, the heroine is trapped in a tower, cursed and isolated from the outside world. She weaves a tapestry day in and day out and can only look at the images reflected in her magic mirror. When she chooses to look directly through her window at the dashing Sir Lancelot, her magic mirror promptly announces her doom.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack’d from side to side;
“The curse is come upon me,”
cried The Lady of Shalott. - Lord Alfred Tennyson
The Lady of Shalott and her cursed magic mirror fit right in with the fairy tale genre, the medieval Rapunzel trapped in her tower. Or perhaps a medieval Beauty from Beauty and the Beast with only a mirror to see the world beyond her stone walls.....
The Lady of Shalott (1832)
BY ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON
Part I
On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And thro' the field the road runs by
To many-tower'd Camelot;
The yellow-leaved waterlily
The green-sheathed daffodilly
Tremble in the water chilly
Round about Shalott.
Willows whiten, aspens shiver.
The sunbeam showers break and quiver
In the stream that runneth ever
By the island in the river
Flowing down to Camelot.
Four gray walls, and four gray towers
Overlook a space of flowers,
And the silent isle imbowers
The Lady of Shalott.
Underneath the bearded barley,
The reaper, reaping late and early,
Hears her ever chanting cheerly,
Like an angel, singing clearly,
O'er the stream of Camelot.
Piling the sheaves in furrows airy,
Beneath the moon,
the reaper weary Listening whispers,
' 'Tis the fairy,
Lady of Shalott.'
The little isle is all inrail'd
With a rose-fence,
and overtrail'd With roses:
by the marge unhail'd
The shallop flitteth silken sail'd,
Skimming down to Camelot.
A pearl garland winds her head:
She leaneth on a velvet bed,
Full royally apparelled,
The Lady of Shalott.
Part II
No time hath she to sport and play:
A charmed web she weaves alway.
A curse is on her, if she stay Her weaving,
either night or day,
To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be;
Therefore she weaveth steadily,
Therefore no other care hath she,
The Lady of Shalott.
She lives with little joy or fear.
Over the water, running near,
The sheepbell tinkles in her ear.
Before her hangs a mirror clear,
Reflecting tower'd Camelot.
And as the mazy web she whirls,
She sees the surly village churls,
And the red cloaks of market girls
Pass onward from Shalott.
Sometimes a troop of damsels glad,
An abbot on an ambling pad,
Sometimes a curly shepherd lad,
Or long-hair'd page in crimson clad,
Goes by to tower'd Camelot:
And sometimes thro' the mirror blue
The knights come riding two and two:
She hath no loyal knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott.
But in her web she still delights
To weave the mirror's magic sights,
For often thro' the silent nights
A funeral, with plumes and lights
And music, came from Camelot:
Or when the moon was overhead
Came two young lovers lately wed;
'I am half sick of shadows,' said
The Lady of Shalott.
Part III
A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,
He rode between the barley-sheaves,
The sun came dazzling thro' the leaves,
And flam'd upon the brazen greaves
Of bold Sir Lancelot.
A red-cross knight for ever kneel'd
To a lady in his shield,
That sparkled on the yellow field,
Beside remote Shalott.
The gemmy bridle glitter'd free,
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy.
The bridle bells rang merrily
As he rode down from Camelot:
And from his blazon'd baldric slung
A mighty silver bugle hung,
And as he rode his armour rung,
Beside remote Shalott.
All in the blue unclouded weather
Thick-jewell'd shone the saddle-leather,
The helmet and the helmet-feather
Burn'd like one burning flame together,
As he rode down from Camelot.
As often thro' the purple night,
Below the starry clusters bright,
Some bearded meteor, trailing light,
Moves over green Shalott.
His broad clear brow in sunlight glow'd;
On burnish'd hooves his war-horse trode;
From underneath his helmet flow'd
His coal-black curls as on he rode,
As he rode down from Camelot.
From the bank and from the river
He flash'd into the crystal mirror,
'Tirra lirra, tirra lirra:' Sang Sir Lancelot.
She left the web, she left the loom
She made three paces thro' the room
She saw the water-flower bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
'The curse is come upon me,' cried
The Lady of Shalott.
-Lord Alfred Tennyson
Your account of the lovely mirrors is great, as with Captain Blue Beard it reminded me of mirrors such as Alice Through the Looking Glass. Another thing it reminded me of was when a child I used to delight in holding two mirrors up to each other and saw, well what my elders anyway said were infinity Not only are the mirrors you show fantastic but their backdrops are great! Another mirror was in the philosophy story Sophie's World set in Norway where there's a brass mirror (I think it's entirely brass not bordered) which connects Sophie with another person in a parallel world. Also I remember being disappointed when in a story my mother read me, when the mirror ended up by being broken. So as I say both your mirrors and their backdrops are great! Also the different sizes adds to it
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