Describe symbolism in The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton

Sexton's Snow White is innocent and beautiful just as she is in the original story. In Transformations, however, she is also vapid, superficial, and dull-witted. This is less of a comment on the character herself and more of an attempt by the author to satirize the way in which female protagonists are portrayed in fairy tales. Snow White's only virtue is her beauty, and it is for this reason alone that the evil queen pursues her and the prince rescues her. She is a powerless symbol of dated femininity, propped up by the characters of the queen, the prince, and the dwarfs. Sexton suggests an irony in the fact that Snow White is the central character of a story in which she takes almost no discernible actions.