The Snow Maiden. Is she a gentle lonely girl desperate to feel some warmth in her heart or a spoiled kid who wants everything to happen according to her will? It's stated, though, that the only company she had had before for the better part of the year were the animals who served her, so even in the latter case there's the Freudian Excuse that she had never known any other life.
Lel. A carefree lad who genuinely likes all girls and doesn't want to scorn them but searches for his One True Love at the same time? A boy with hormones running high who, similar to Cherubino, is attracted to any female creature in sight? The Casanova who knows about his appeal and delights to play girls against each other using it? Or was he only truly in love with the Snow Maiden, but, finding her hopelessly childish and frigid, settled for Kupava out of sheer pity for the latter?
Mizgir. While he behaves like a complete jerk with Kupava, his motives are arguable. Did he truly discover stronger feelings towards the Snow Maiden? Or was he used to dumping girls after actually winning their affections (or maybe taking them by force), and then it was only the curse cast by the Wood Spirit that made him reconsider his feelings and intentions?
Kupava. Does she love Lel in the end or is it only thankfulness because no one else wants her now?
Grandfather Frost, Spring Beauty and their marriage. Spring Beauty clearly wants the birds and the audience to sympathize with her, saying that Frost is harsh, oppressive and ruthless and that the only reason she hasn't separated herself from him entirely is her love for the Snow Maiden. However, it was her who started flirting with him sixteen years earlier. Moreover, it is Frost who sees to the Snow Maiden's upbringing, it is him who is anxious for her because of Yarilo (Spring doesn't take Yarilo's threat seriously, at least in the prologue), and it is him who orders the Wood Spirit to protect the girl. Spring Beauty isn't so willing to look after her daughter herself, although she is ready to shower the girl with gifts. And from the rational (as contrasted to emotional) point of view, Frost's decision to keep the Snow Maiden away from humans was more sensible as she, being a fairy creature, was completely unable to integrate herself into society. Finally, Frost still cares for his wife and is hurt when she tells him to leave her.
There is also the matter of Yarilo being "jealous" of the marriage. As Yarilo appears as a silent role (if he appears at all), we can only guess the meaning. Was the sun merely angry that summer time grew shorter thanks to the union of winter and spring and a birth of their child? Or was Spring Beauty in a liaison with Yarilo, leaving him for Frost and provoking his revenge on the Snow Maiden?
Berendey. Does he care for his subjects as tenderly as he says? Or is he The Chessmaster and the high priest of the country's pagan cult (not impossible, no priests of Yarilo are mentioned and Berendey plans all the rituals), only manipulating everyone to fit his views of the divine will?
Esoteric Happy Ending: What? The Ingenue who never did any harm is killed by a primitive pagan deity and we're supposed to be happy about it?
On the other hand, she was quite probably facing a Fate Worse than Death after being brainwashed into loving and vowing to obey a selfish, possessive brute.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Spring Beauty’s first and only appearance in A Spring Tale becomes it due to Compressed Adaptation that removes her plotline almost completely. She has never been mentioned before and suddenly pops up several minutes before the end. Viewers unfamiliar with the original might not even grasp who she is at all.
Fridge Logic: There was no way the Snow Maiden would have been happy in a marriage. A Sexless Marriage, a Forced Marriage – or some sort of nocturnal existence, avoiding the sun for the rest of her life.
Moral Event Horizon: Mizgir wasn't much different from the rest of the guys who were besotted with the Snow Maiden, but then he tries to rape her.
Uncertain Audience: A Spring Tale. It has a cheery animated sequence accompanying the credits in the beginning, has a lot of Comic Relief moments included, and has the whole marriage drama of Grandfather Frost and Spring Beauty removed; apparently aiming to make it kid-friendly. However, Mizgir is every bit as unsympathetic and Lel every bit as womanising as in the source material, and the tragic ending is kept vague but not outright changed. As a result, adult fans of the play and the opera would probably be annoyed at the unnecessary comedy and the cuts, while kids would still be pretty baffled by the whole thing.
Values Resonance: For a fantasy play written in the 19th century, it brings up quite a few issues still relevant today:
The relationship of Grandfather Frost and Spring Beauty, with the latter only keeping it up for the sake of the child, would be familiar to quite a few families nowadays. In addition, the clashing parenting styles of the two (Grandfather Frost is the custodial parent who cares for and protects the Snow Maiden, while Spring Beauty is the flashy, flighty Missing Mom who pops up occasionally with rich gifts) would also resonate with many children of divorced parents.
What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: As the Snow Maiden (thanks to the play and the opera) is now a New Year gift-bringer and character of countless fairytales, many parents drag their children to the opera, thinking it's for kids as well. They are in for four hours of Ending Fatigue and a plot that might have easily been NC-17.
The play presents the interaction of mythology, reality, and something in-between (for example, the titular heroine).
The play is a symbol of a rite of passage (from a child to a woman).
The 1952 adaptation:
Fridge Brilliance: As part of Mizgir's Adaptational Heroism, he runs after the Snow Maiden to console her when she is heartbroken. However, there might be even more to it. Kupava ran away to the forest and attempted to drown herself after Mizgir himself dumped her, and it's likely he has heard a lot about it from Lel and/or other villagers. Now the Snow Maiden runs off into the forest in the exact same way after Lel rejects her. It's quite possible Mizgir thinks she is going to kill herself too, so it's not just about offering her comfort: he rushes after her to save (he thinks) her life.
Nightmare Fuel: This Lighter and Softer adaptation has one moment where it's significantly darker than the original. In the original, Kupava attempts suicide in the presence of the whole village (in the heat of the ongoing quarrel with Mizgir). Here, she runs away into the forest to the river, all alone. It's a lot more horrifying than in the original due to how close she came to succeeding, and it's sheer luck that Lel, who has been slumbering nearby, sees and stops her at the last second.
The 1968 adaptation:
Hollywood Homely: Inverted. Many viewers believe the Snow Maiden to be a downplayed case of Informed Attractiveness and that while she is good-looking, Kupava is a lot more beautiful than her — even though it's a plot point that when it comes to looks, the Snow Maiden outshines everyone and Kupava in particular.
