Who did Kai and Gerda live with? "Snow Queen", Gerda and Kai: characteristics and history of images

07.01.2016

Many of us at least once read the fairy tale of the famous children's writer Hans Christian Andersen "The Snow Queen". There is probably no better story about the triumph of good over evil and the value of true friendship. So many characters, emotions and feelings are intertwined in this fairy tale that it may well become a good textbook that will tell about human values ​​and shortcomings using examples. So what is the story of the Snow Queen that prompted the writer to come up with such an instructive tale?

The Snow Queen: creation story and autobiographical moments

The fairy tale "The Snow Queen" was written more than 170 years ago and first saw the light of day in the distant 1844. This is the longest fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, which, moreover, is very closely connected with the life of the writer.


Andersen himself once admitted that he considers The Snow Queen to be the fairy tale of his life. She had lived in it since the time when the little boy Hans Christian played with his neighbor, the blond Lisbeth, whom he called his sister. She accompanied Hans Christian in all games and undertakings, and was also the first listener of his fairy tales. It is very possible that it was this girl from the childhood of a famous writer who became the prototype of little Gerda.


Not only Gerda actually existed. Andersen's biographers state that The Snow Queen was inspired by Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind. with whom the writer was in love.


The cold heart of the girl and unrequited love prompted him to write the story of the Snow Queen - a beauty who is alien to human feelings and emotions.
You can also find information that Andersen was familiar with the image of the Snow Queen from early childhood. In Danish folklore, death was often called the Ice Maiden. When the boy's father was dying, he said that his time had come and the Ice Maiden had come for him. Perhaps Andersen's Snow Queen has much in common with the Scandinavian image of winter and death. Just as cold, just as insensitive. Just one kiss from her can freeze the heart of any person.

History of the Snow Queen: interesting facts

In addition to Scandinavian mythology, the image of the Ice Maiden is also present in other countries. In Japan it is Yuki-onna, and in Russia it is Mara-Morena.
Andersen really liked the image of the Ice Maiden. In his creative heritage there is also the fairy tale “The Maid of Ice”, and the prose “Snow Queen” in seven chapters was given the fairy tale of the same name in verse about the mysterious Snow Queen, who stole her fiancé from a young girl.
The tale was written in a difficult year for history. There is an opinion that the image of the Snow Queen and Gerda Andersen wanted to show the struggle between science and Christianity.
They say that H.-G. Andersen wrote the tale with many grammatical errors. When pointed out by the editors, he pretended it was his idea.

It was Andersen's Snow Queen that inspired the writer Tove Jansson to create "Magic Winter".
It should be mentioned that in the Soviet Union this story was censored. There were no mentions of Christ, the Lord's Prayer and the psalm sung by Kai and Gerda. It was also not mentioned that the grandmother read the Gospel to the children, this moment was replaced with an ordinary fairy tale.


Andersen's fairy tale has gained immense popularity. It was translated into languages ​​of different countries so that the story of the Snow Queen would be known to children all over the world. In addition, there are multiple film adaptations and dramatizations, the most famous of which are the film "The Secret of the Snow Queen" and the cartoon "Frozen". The story of Kai and Gerda became the basis of the opera of the same name.
Be sure to read The Snow Queen again. Now, knowing the history of the creation of this fairy tale, you will definitely discover something new for yourself and realize it in a different way.

We have created more than 300 costless fairy tales on the Dobranich website. It is pragmatic to remake the splendid contribution to sleep at the homeland ritual, the recurrence of turbot and warmth.Would you like to support our project? Let's be vigilant, with new strength we will continue to write for you!

The fairy tale "The Snow Queen" is an extraordinary story about a boy Kai and a girl Gerda. They were separated by a shard of a broken mirror. The main theme of Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen" is the struggle between good and evil.

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So, let's start retelling the summary of the "Snow Queen". One day, an evil troll created a mirror, looking into which all goodness decreased and disappeared, while evil, on the contrary, increased. But, unfortunately, the troll's students broke the mirror in a dispute, and all its fragments scattered around the world. And if at least one tiny piece fell into the human heart, then it froze and became a piece of ice. And if he got into the eye, then the person stopped seeing the good, and in any act he felt only malicious intent.

Kai and Gerda

The summary of the "Snow Queen" should be continued with information that friends lived in one small town: a boy and a girl, Kai and Gerda. They were brother and sister to each other, but only until the moment when the fragments got into the boy's eye and heart. After the accident, the boy became embittered, became rude and lost his brotherly feelings for Gerda. In addition, he stopped seeing good. He began to think that no one loves him and everyone wishes him harm.

And then one not very good day, Kai went sledding. He clung to the sleigh passing by him. But they belonged to the Snow Queen. She kissed the boy, thereby making his heart even colder. The queen took him to her ice palace.

Journey of Gerda

Gerda grieved for the boy for the rest of the winter and waited for his return, and, without waiting, went in search of her brother as soon as spring came.

The first on the way Gerda met a woman-sorceress. She put a spell on the girl that deprived her of her memory. But when she saw the roses, Gerda remembered everything and ran away from her.

After that, on her way she met a raven, who told her that a prince very similar to Kai had wooed the princess of his kingdom. But it wasn't him. The princess and the prince turned out to be very kind people, they gave her clothes and a carriage made of gold.

The girl's path lay through a terrible and dark forest, where a gang of robbers attacked her. Among them was a little girl. She turned out to be kind and gave Gerda a deer. On it, the heroine went further and soon, having met pigeons, found out where her named brother was.

On the way she met two more kind women - a Lapland and a Finn. Each helped the girl in search of Kai.

The Snow Queen's Domain

And so, having reached the possessions of the Snow Queen, she gathered the remnants of her strength and went through the strongest snowstorm and the royal army. Gerda prayed all the way, and angels came to her aid. They helped her reach the ice castle.

Kai was there, but the queen was not. The boy was like a statue, all frozen and cold. He did not even pay attention to Gerda and continued to play the puzzle. Then the girl, unable to cope with her emotions, wept bitterly. Tears thawed Kai's heart. He also began to cry, and the shard fell out along with the tear.

The main characters of the fairy tale "The Snow Queen". Gerda

There are many characters in the story, but they are all secondary. There are only three main ones: Gerda, Kai, the queen. But still, the only truly main character of the fairy tale "The Snow Queen" is only one - little Gerda.

Yes, she is very small, but also selfless and brave. In the fairy tale, all her strength is concentrated in a kind heart, which attracts sympathetic people to the girl, without whom she would not have reached the ice castle. It is kindness that helps Gerda defeat the queen and unfreeze her named brother.

Gerda is ready to do anything for the sake of her neighbors and is confident in her decisions. She does not hesitate for a second and helps everyone who needs it, not counting on help. In the fairy tale, the girl shows only the best character traits, and she is the embodiment of justice and kindness.

The image of Kai

Kai is a very ambiguous hero. On the one hand, he is kind and sensitive, but on the other, frivolous and stubborn. Even before the fragments hit the eye and heart. After the incident, Kai is completely under the influence of the Snow Queen and follows her orders without saying a word against. But after Gerda frees him, everything is fine again.

Yes, on the one hand, Kai is a positive character, but his inaction and passivity prevent the reader from falling in love with him.

The image of the Snow Queen

The Snow Queen is the embodiment of winter, cold. Her home is an endless ice space. Just like ice, she is very beautiful in appearance, as well as smart. But her heart does not know feelings. That is why she is the prototype of evil in Andersen's fairy tale.

History of creation

It's time to tell the story of the creation of Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen". It was first published in 1844. The tale is the longest in the author's bibliography, and Andersen claimed that it was connected with the story of his life.

Andersen said that the "Snow Queen", a summary of which is contained in the article, appeared in his head even when he was little and played with his white-headed neighbor friend Lisbeth. To him, she was practically a sister. The girl was always next to Hans, supported in all games and listened to his first fairy tales. Many researchers claim that she became the prototype of Gerda.

But not only Gerda had a prototype. Singer Jenny Lind has become the living embodiment of the queen. The author was in love with her, but the girl did not share his feelings, and Andersen made her cold heart the embodiment of the beauty and soullessness of the Snow Queen.

In addition, Andersen was fascinated by Scandinavian myths, and there death was called an ice maiden. Before he died, his father said that the maiden had come for him. Perhaps the Snow Queen has the same prototype as the Scandinavian winter and death. She also has no feelings, and the kiss of death can freeze forever.

The image of a girl made of ice attracted the storyteller, and in his legacy there is another tale about the Snow Queen, who stole her lover from his bride.

Andersen wrote the fairy tale in a very difficult time, when religion and science were at odds. Therefore, there is an opinion that the confrontation between Gerda and the queen describes the events that took place.

In the USSR, the tale was remade, since censorship did not allow the mention of Christ and the reading of the Gospel at night.

"The Snow Queen": analysis of the work

Andersen in his fairy tales creates an opposition - the opposition of good and evil, summer and winter, external and internal, death and life.

So, the Snow Queen has become a classic character of folklore. Dark and cold mistress of winter and death. She is opposed to the warm and kind Gerda, the embodiment of life and summer.

According to Schelling's natural philosophy, Kai and Gerda are androgynes, that is, the opposition of death and life, summer and winter. Children are together in summer, but in winter they suffer separation.

The first half of the tale talks about the creation of a magic mirror that can distort good, turning it into evil. A person injured by its fragment acts as an enemy of culture. On the one hand, it is a myth that affects culture and breaks the connection between man and nature. So Kai becomes soulless and rejects the love of summer and the beauty of nature. But he begins to love the creations of the mind with all his heart.

The fragment that ended up in the boy's eye allows him to think rationally, cynically, to show interest in the geometric structure of snowflakes.

In a fairy tale, as you know, there can be no bad ending, so Andersen contrasted Christian values ​​with the world of technology. That is why the children in the fairy tale sing psalms to the rose. Although the rose fades, but the memory of it remains. So memory is a mediator between the world of the living and the dead. This is how Gerda, having got into the garden of the sorceress, forgets Kai, and then her memory returns to her again, and she runs away. It is roses that help her in this.

The scene in the castle with the false prince and princess is very symbolic. At this dark moment, Gerda is helped by ravens, symbolizing the powers of the night and wisdom. Climbing the stairs is a tribute to the Platonic myth of the cave, in which non-existent shadows create a representation of a false reality. Gerda needs a lot of strength in order to distinguish between lies and truth.

The further the fairy tale "The Snow Queen" advances, the summary of which you already know, the more often peasant symbols are found. Gerda, with the help of prayer, copes with the storm and falls into the domain of the queen. The atmosphere of the castle was created by the author himself. It emphasizes all the complexes and failures of the poor writer. According to biographers, the Andresenov family had some mental disorders.

So the powers of the queen can symbolize actions that can drive you crazy. The castle is motionless and cold, crystal.

So Kai's injury leads to his seriousness and intellectual development, and the attitude towards relatives changes dramatically. Soon he is completely alone in the ice halls. These features characterize schizophrenia.

Kai meditates over the ice, showing his loneliness. Gerda's coming to Kai suggests his salvation from the world of the dead, from the world of madness. He returns to the world of love and kindness, eternal summer. The couple is reunited again, and the person gains integrity through a difficult path and overcoming himself.

We will be very happy to meet our neighbors, friends of the same age and other citizens! =)

Gerda Johansen and Kai Larsen are ordinary Copenhagen teenagers, dairy brother and sister. Offspring of worthy, but impoverished families.

About family

There was a man named Hans Johansen, a self-taught artist and the son of a bookseller. His close friend was Soren Larsen, he was a technician and spent several years in England. Søren and Hans invented a new way to print color prints. They took out loans, entered into a share and became the owners of a small printing house "Larsen and Johansen". Published luxurious gift books. Especially for children! And I must say, young people were a little ... idealists. Didn't get the right patents. Soon their equipment was mastered by competitors and strangled, bankrupted. It happened fifteen years ago. Books "from Larsen and Johansen" are now selling for three times the old price, the books are hunted by a collector. And the children of publishers huddle in the attic ...
Trouble does not come alone - Christina, the young wife of Hans Johansen, died in childbirth. Little Gerda was brought up by Soren's wife, Camille Larsen, who had a boy named Kai a little earlier. The misfortune only strengthened the friendship between the two houses. They also rent housing next door! The parents of Gerda and Kai had to work together with the very competitors that ruined them - for fifteen years they have been delivering books to the bearish corners of dear Denmark, spinning like a squirrel in a wheel and rarely happen at home ...
Until now, “the fragments of imperial greatness” are kept in the atmosphere of our dwellings. Parents cherish old things and samples of their luxury publications. They want to save money and start a business again. They dream of bringing children into people. They save, save, save a penny, feel like the last poor people! But arrogance, arrogance ...
Kai's mother is a companion of the old countess, lives in her country estate. The countess has a “charitable cause”: she keeps twenty-eight virgins of Balzac age without dowries and strives with all her might to “arrange their happiness.” True, the old woman has memory lapses, and she tries to marry Kai's mother to the company. Camilla rereads, a scandal rises, the “ungrateful” rolls into the attic to Kai in tears. But mother and countess can no longer live without each other, everything returns to normal. The old woman is pathologically stingy and with a difficult character, but wants to bequeath part of the estate to her companion if she "proves her gratitude."
Gerda and Kai are left with Magda Johansen, Gerda's grandmother. Now Kai considers her a grandmother. Here our dear grandmother told about herself: http://community.livejournal.com/andersen_tales/29984.html

Children live in neighboring attics. Between their humble dwellings is a beautiful little rose garden!
Of course, the parents are virtual characters, only Gerda appears in the game ( Mirish ), grandmother ( glornaith ) and Kai (me).

About Gerda

She just turned 13. She looks like an ordinary city girl: well-educated (grandmother did her best, taught politeness), neat, shy, beautiful. Moderately cheerful, moderately quiet, moderately devout. In a word - an exemplary bride will grow up! Only trouble with the dowry. And I read a lot of books.
Gerda is a kind and sympathetic girl, but she knows how to insist on her own, if she is sure that she is doing well. People are drawn to her...
Gerda's girlfriends know her excessive flight of imagination, which is why not everyone can play with her: it's hard to keep up. Therefore, Gerda speaks and plays more and more with Kai, and with the girls - insofar as.
Kai loves like a brother. He considers him the smartest boy on Earth and even in all of Copenhagen. Lately, Gerda doesn't even know who is smarter, grandma or Kai. Although the authority of the grandmother, of course, is indisputable.
“We have a stupid last name with my grandmother,” Gerda laments. - Larsen is cooler.
Ah, what a juicy street dictionary: “cooler, stupid” ... How good that grandmother didn’t hear this - Gerda would have been thrashed!

As you can see, Gerda is a multifaceted nature.

About Kai

To the best of an original city teenager of fourteen years old, of an indefinite social status: dressed poorly, but with a pretense. However, the boy is pleasant, friendly, not boring, with a variety of hobbies. I studied at school for several years, while there was enough money. Seems to be a child prodigy. Dreams of going to university in the future!
Runs around libraries, reads a lot. “A lot, but all nonsense,” the neighbor laughed without malice. There was a case, Kai was caught with a volume of Voltaire in his hands.
They arranged the boy for a printing house - he worked for three weeks, then something did not work out with the owner ...

Gerda loves like a sister. Walk together, adventure! Gerda and Kai seem to balance each other out. Gerda with a boy - Common Sense.

Kai and Gerda also play tricky games. It happens that you don’t even know whether it’s a trick or an innocent game, and you just wave your hand so that you don’t mess with their grandmother once again: she knows better what children can do.

There is a rumor that Kai has recently had some cockroaches ... And there was such a good boy with beady eyes! Another kind boy, Kai, knows how to spit poison.


01
In a big city there lived a boy and a girl who loved each other very much, like brother and sister. The boy's name was Kai, and the girl's name was Gerda. Their parents, who lived under the very roof of the house, had a large wooden box each, where rose bushes grew. Kai and Gerda visited each other and played among the roses.


02
They came to each other in winter, and the old grandmother told them about the queen of white snowflakes, often flying through the streets of the city at night and covering the windows of houses with frosty patterns. Gerda was afraid that the Snow Queen might enter their house, but Kai promised: "I will put her on a warm stove, so she will melt."



03
Going to sleep, Kai looked out the window and saw "a woman wrapped in the thinnest white tulle, woven, it seemed, from millions of snow stars." She beckoned Kai with her hand, but he got scared and moved away from the window.


04
Gerda instantly noticed the changes that had taken place in her friend: the roses that he used to love, now he began to call ugly ...


05
One day, Kai went to ride in the square with other boys. Suddenly, a large white sleigh appeared on the square, to which Kai tied his sledge. Finally, the woman sitting in the sleigh looked around, and the boy recognized her as the Snow Queen.


06
She put the boy in her sleigh, kissed him on the forehead, and Kai forgot all his relatives and Gerda. Kai decided that he had not seen anyone smarter and more beautiful than this woman. The Snow Queen, having picked up the boy, soared into the black sky.


07
The girl put on her new red shoes and went to the river to ask about Kai. She decided to give her shoes to the river, if only she would return her friend to her.


08
The old woman treated Gerda with cherries and combed her hair with a golden comb. The longer she combed her guest's curls, the more she forgot Kai.


09
Gerda sank to the ground and wept, and her tears fell right on the spot where the rose bush had once been. As soon as the tears moistened the earth, the rose bush in an instant grew as blooming as before. Gerda remembered Kai and that he needed to be found.


10
Gerda sat down to rest. A large raven jumped in the snow beside her. Suddenly, the bird said hello in human language to the girl


11
The raven brought Gerda to the palace to his bride, who found Gerda's story very touching. She told Gerda to take the lamp and follow her forward.



12
The next day, they dressed Gerda in beautiful clothes - shoes, a muff, a wonderful dress, put her in a carriage made of pure gold and wished her a happy journey.


13
“She will play with me,” said the little robber. “She will give me her muff, her pretty dress, and sleep with me in my bed.


14
When the little robber fell asleep, the pigeons told Gerda that they saw Kai sitting in the Snow Queen's sleigh and that they were probably heading to Lapland.


15
The little robber took pity on the girl, helped her escape and even released the reindeer in exchange for taking Gerda to the Snow Queen's palace. The reindeer set off at full speed to the North Pole, and very soon they found themselves in Lapland.


16
The Lapland woman said that they needed to get to Finland, and wrote a message on dried cod addressed to a Finnish woman living there. Deer and Gerda quickly found the Finns' accommodation.


17
... The deer did not dare to stop until he ran to a bush with red berries. Then he lowered the girl, kissed her on the lips, and large, shiny tears rolled down his cheeks. Then he shot back like an arrow. The poor girl was left alone in the bitter cold, without shoes, without mittens.

The tale of H. H. Andersen is dedicated to the very famous in the 18th century Jenny Lind, an opera actress. She had a phenomenal range. Berlin, Paris, London and Vienna applauded her. Her voice was admired, and the performances were sold out. Andersen was subdued to the depths of her soul by her beautiful voice. Lind and the writer met in Copenhagen. Literally at first sight, he fell in love with the singer. Whether the feeling was mutual is unknown. But she greatly appreciated his writing talent. Andersen could not speak beautifully about his love, so he decided to write about it and confess his feelings. After sending a letter confessing to Lind, he did not wait for a response. And so the famous fairy tale was born, telling about the touching love that Gerda and Kai experienced for each other. The prototypes of heroes in a fairy tale Two years later, Lind and Andersen met. The actress invited Andersen to become her brother. He agreed (because 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 realm of the Snow Queen, which for him was Copenhagen. Everything in life is not like in a fairy tale. The image of Kai and Gerda, invented by Andersen and personifying him and Lind, was just as pure. In life, Kai was never able to fall in love with Gerda and escape from the kingdom of the Snow Queen. A Brief Analysis of the Fairy Tale G. H. Andersen is the first Danish writer whose works entered the 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 about devotion and betrayal. The image of the Snow Queen in the fairy tale was taken for a reason. Andersen's father told him before he died that the Ice Maiden had come for him. In his fairy tale, the writer personified the Snow Queen precisely with the Ice Maiden, who took his dying father with her. The tale at first glance is simple and does not contain a deep meaning. Going deeper into the process of analysis, you understand that the plot raises some of the most important aspects of life - these are love, devotion, determination, kindness, the fight against evil, religious motives. The story of Kai and Gerda This is a touching story of friendship and love between two fairy tale characters from Andersen's fairy 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 and melt his icy heart. Kindness and faith in the salvation of a friend gave the girl strength and confidence. The fairy tale teaches to be devoted to one's feelings, not to leave a loved one in trouble, to be kind and, despite the difficulties, strive to achieve the goal. Characteristics of Kai and Gerda Andersen's fairy tale describes to us a kind, attentive and sympathetic Kai. But after a challenge to the Snow Queen herself, he turns into a rude and angry boy, capable of offending anyone, even Gerda and his grandmother, whose fairy tales 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 kept trying to put the word "eternity" out of ice cubes, but he couldn't. 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...