Anne Sexton’s Rewriting of Fairy Tales: Fighting Universal and Personal Monsters

This paper explores Anne Sexton’s retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, from her collection Transformations (1971), through feminist, mythological, and psychoanalytical frameworks. It argues that Sexton reimagines the traditional fairy tale to challenge archetypal images of women and interrogate gender roles imposed by both cultural narratives and personal experiences. By blending collective myths with autobiographical elements, Sexton critiques the persistence of reductive feminine stereotypes and lays bare the psychological and societal pressures shaping women’s identities. The study positions Sexton’s version as both a feminist subversion and a complex literary artifact that maintains the ontological resonance of myth in a contemporary setting.