20 Unsympathetic Characters You Sort Of Understand

The Evil Queen’s vanity is murderous, which is hard to soften. Still, her obsession with youth and beauty reflects a brutal social logic: in many fairy-tale worlds, a woman’s power, desirability, and security are tied to appearance. Snow White’s innocence becomes a threat because it signals replacement. The Queen responds with poison, which is not ideal career management. But underneath the magic mirror is a fear that culture keeps teaching women to have: become older, become invisible.