Bonus Episode 14: Who Is Out Here Poisoning Apples?

A dangerously fascinating history of myth and myth-making

🎙️ Transcript

Hey everyone,

Welcome to another bonus episode of Unruly Figures! In these short episodes I take a look at something that came up in a previous episode and dive a little deeper into it. This time I’m looking at the poisoned apple, a staple of religion, myth, fairy tale, and history.

The Evil Queen, disguised as a hag, offers her stephdaughter a poisoned apple. Image credit: Allstar Picture Library Limited/Alamy Stock Photo

The apple conjures up all kinds of symbolism and meaning in Western thought, ranging widely from rhymes about healthy eating to the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. It was a falling apple that caused Newton to explain gravity, and in the US 58% of smart phone users use a device from a company called Apple.¹ Apple picking is a seasonal past-time in many places and if you’re up on your mythology you know that apples were the key to immortality for the Norse gods and that in Greek myth Paris awarded a golden apple to Aphrodite in a contest that indirectly led to the Trojan War.

So of course the fruit’s symbolism is ripe for subversion. (Do not pardon that pun I really love it.)