In the poem “Snow White and the Seven Deadly Sins” (reprinted in Thomas R. Arp, Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense, 7th ed. [Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1998] 854), author RS Gwynn presents the reader with the story of a woman's struggle to remain faithful to both her husband and God. The poem overtly alludes to the fairy tale of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. However, Snow White in this poem lives anything but a fairy tale existence. The first two stanzas of the poem deal with the woman's first reactions to her relationship with her husband. The wife entered the marriage in faith and she rarely questioned her husband's sinful nature, behaving like the "good Catholic girl" she was raised to be. Yet as time passes and her husband's abuse becomes more frequent and destructive, doubts and confusion emerge in her mind and she begins to lose some faith and hope. The woman confesses her concerns to a priest who, instead of directing her to a place where she could get help, directs her to "texts in Romans / And the first epistle of Peter, chapter III." These are biblical writings that preach that a wife should remain subordinate to her husband like her master's servant, and that suffering for good is better than doing evil. This causes the wife to put aside her doubts and her duty to her husband prevails. The woman's husband's sins were rather small at first, but as the years pass, his sins become more aligned with the seven deadly sins and the woman finds herself directly involved in his sins. The sin of pride is the first sin mentioned in the poem. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay You may also like The Evolution of Buddhist Philosophy in the West The woman's husband is extremely vain, and because of his vanity she has to keep herself beautiful. This is evident because of the “smudged lip prints” on the mirror. Gwynn's use of the word "ogled" personifies the mirror, implying that it taunts the woman, forcing her to contemplate her and her husband's sins. The man's superficiality is even more evident in his feelings of envy. He tells his wife to sew a designer label on a generic shirt, just for appearance and image reasons. The man engages in lustful activities and forces his wife to participate in his twisted sexual fantasies. She does not protest, because once again, she feels obliged to fulfill her duties as a wife. Additionally, man is guilty of gluttony, avarice, and laziness, sins apparent because of the empty liquor bottles, cards and chips on the table, and dirty clothes in the bathroom. Surrounded by the remnants of her husband's sins that have also become hers, the wife reflects on each one and grows more and more desperate as she realizes the gravity of what she has endured for so long. There is no salvation for these sins and the woman has completely lost hope. However, in the sixth and seventh stanzas, she finally realizes the necessity of true salvation. The inclusion of the lines "She knelt on the cold floor of the master bathroom as a petitioner before the Pope" fully illustrates the woman's growing need for redemption. While wiping the mirror, the woman notices how her marriage makes her look haggard and aged. This observation really makes her recognize that she shouldn't have to tolerate her husband's anger, and that she really needs to be saved: ""How gray and pale she was, and how much more..