The queen is already beautiful even for a Middle Aged woman. Did she honestly believe she'd remain "fearest of them all" as she aged. She'd eventually become an elderly disabled woman and younger people would take her place
shareThe underlying meaning of the story is that the Queen in essence goes crazy, and suffers a mental breakdown because she realizes she's getting older. Snow White is younger and is taking the attention away from her so she must be destroyed, however even if she had suceeded in eliminating Snow White, the Queen doesn't realize in her madness, that their would be other 'Snow Whites', eventually as time marches on, etc
The Queen was headed towards eventual self destruction one way or another because her physical beauty had been her only thing of self worth, not her heart, just her looks....and physical beauty fades eventually.
That's what the story of Snow White is, a metaphor of the danger of vanity and of the folly of placing your physical looks above your heart.
The ultimate irony is that the Queen was incapable of really understanding why everyone loved Snow White, because for her nothing exists beyond the physical....but it was Snow Whites inner beauty, her good heart, that drew people to her . The Prince saw her singing to the birds, the animals responded to her kindness, and the dwarfts became her friends because of her kindness to them....none of this has anything to do with her looks and everything to do with her heart.
The mirror said 'rags can't hide her gentle grace'....it was ultimately Snow Whites inner beauty that made her the fairest in the land, but the Queen never understood that. She clings onto a beauty that fades, hence her growing madness, while Snow White possess a beauty that can never fade with age.
I have a better theory-it's probably because the EQ was a regant for Snow (being the rightful heir) and the Queen just have beening the Queen consort for Snow's late father. One day someone (like the mirror) tells her that one day she will have to give up the day-to-day power to Snow
shareThat makes a lot more sense in real-world terms, less so for a fairy tale. Good fairy tales are about some universal emotion, such as age being jealous of youth's good looks.
Because if you look at the story in real-world terms rather that terms of universal feeling, it makes little sense for a widowed queen to be obsessed with her looks. People who are obsessed with their own beauty tend to think it's their only source of power, a ruling queen has armies and treasuries and makes the law.
but remember a Queen consort or a guardian of a underage heir doesn't have that much power in the first place
shareActually, a regent runs the government in the name of the young monarch, and can do whatever they like with the armies and the treasury and such. A regent is a ruler, although not a king or queen. The only thing a regent really had to worry about is how much the young monarch resents the shit done in their name or on a personal level, because someday soon the rightful heir is going to reign for real and will be free to imprison or execute their former regent.
And that is why history is so full of regents who've tried to take the throne for real.
Simple.
Snow White was hotter (in modern day parlance!) than she was.
It is my interpretation that the queen is not just vain, but crazy.
So she can't see that she becomes evil or even that it's foolish to be this obsessed with being the fairest.