University of Edinburgh

Department of Asian & European Languages

Professor Scheunemann

Literary Theory Paper

A Critical Assessment of Aspects of Bettelheim’s Psychoanalytical Interpretation of Fairy Tales.

© 2001
Nafisa Abd El-Sadek

Unlike today, in the 18^th & 19^th century fairy tales received continual criticism and “almost anyone conscious of a moral sense disliked them heartily.” [1]

With few exceptions the world of the supernatural was banished by the educationalists. It then became fashionable for the psychoanalysts to turn their attention to the inner meaning of fairy stories, two of the best-known being Erich Fromm and Bruno Bettelheim. They have given fairy tales a thorough working over, isolating hidden symbols, unconscious themes, and psychic mechanisms. Bettelheim considers fairy tales to be therapeutic for children because they help them to defuse anxieties, overcome the problems of growing up and to integrate their personalities, whereas Fromm is interested in the decoding of their symbolic language. He interpreted the tale as a riddle about the collective unconsciousness in primitive society, and he solved it “without difficulty” by decoding its “symbolic language.” “The story concerns an adolescent’s confrontation with adult sexuality”, he explained. “Its hidden meaning shows through its symbolism- but the symbols he saw in his version of the text were based on details that did not exist in the versions known to peasants in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.”[2]

 Nowadays fantasy is generally considered helpful to development; beneficial as well as enjoyable for young people. Bettelheim entitles one section of his book ‘Transcending Infancy with the Help of Fantasy’ and according to Kornei Chukovskii [3], literary critic and preeminent Soviet children’s author:

‘Fantasy is the most valuable attribute of the human mind and it should be diligently nurtured from earliest childhood, as one nurtures musical sensitivity- and not crushed…. Without imaginative fantasy there would be complete stagnation in both physics and chemistry….the value of such tales [is] in developing, strengthening, enriching, and directing children’s thinking and emotional responses.’

 The aspects of Bettelheim’s analysis of fairy tales which will be examined in this essay have been taken from the following criticisms: Robert Darnton[4]contends that Bettelheim’s interpretations of folktales can be reduced to four false propositions; 1) that the tales have usually been intended for children, that 2) they must always have a happy ending, that 3) they are timeless and that 4) they can be applied, in the versions familiar to modern Americans, to “any society”.

 Taking Darnton’s first contention that Bettelheim considers the tales to have originally been written for children, I have been unable to pinpoint any particular passage which states that fairy tales have usually been intended for children whereas Bettelheim [5] says, ‘Since there are innumerable fairy tales, each having some different form of a basic conflict for its topic, in their combination these stories demonstrate that in life we encounter many conflicts which we must master, each at its time (in our life),’ suggesting that fairy stories can apply to people of all ages. And although he says that fairy tales are the only works of art that children can completely understand, he continues, [6] ‘As with all great art, the fairy tale’s deepest meaning will be different for each person, and different for the same person at various moments in his life. The child will extract different meanings from the same fairy tale, depending on his interests and needs of the moment. When given the chance he will return to the same tale when he is ready to enlarge on old meanings, or replace them with new ones.’

He also states [7] ‘A fairy tale can have as important a meaning to a five-year-old as to a thirteen-year-old, although the personal meanings they derive from it may be quite different’, and [8] ‘As we cannot know at what age a particular fairy tale will be most important to a particular child, we cannot ourselves decide which of the many tales he should be told at any given time or why.’ This is quite different from saying that these stories were originally intended for children.

And finally:[9] ‘Through the centuries (if not millennia) during which, in their retelling, fairy tales became ever more refined, they came to convey at the same time overt and covert meanings – came to speak simultaneously to all levels of the human personality, communicating in a manner which reaches the uneducated mind of the child as well as that of the sophisticated adult, very definitely showing that fairy tales are not only intended for children.’

 On the question of the happy ending, however, Bettelheim is indeed adamant and anything which does not follow his pattern and definition is simply not a fairy story! He starts with the contrast of miraculous and ordinary as definers of myths and fairy tales:

‘There are not only essential similarities between myths and fairy tales; there are also inherent differences. Although the same exemplary figures and situations are found in both and equally miraculous events occur in both, there is a crucial difference in the way these are communicated. Put simply, the dominant feeling a myth conveys is: this is absolutely unique; it could not have happened to any other person, or in any other setting; such events are grandiose, awe-inspiring, and could not possibly happen to an ordinary mortal like you or me. The reason is not so much that what takes place is miraculous, but that it is described as such. By contrast, although the events which occur in fairy tales are often unusual and most improbable, they are always presented as ordinary, something that could happen to you or me or the person next door when out on a walk in the woods. Even the most remarkable encounters are related in casual, everyday ways in fairy tales.’[10] Then he goes on to say that all fairy stories with sad endings are not fairy stories, either because they are ‘modern’ or because they are myths:

‘An even more significant difference between these two kinds of story is the ending, which in myths is nearly always tragic, while always happy in fairy tales. For this reason some of the best-known stories found in collections of fairy tales don’t really belong in this category. For example, Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Match Girl and The Steadfast Tin Soldier are beautiful but extremely sad; they do not convey the feeling of consolation characteristic of fairy tales at the end. Andersen’s The Snow Queen on the other hand, comes quite close to being a true fairy tale. The myth is pessimistic, while the fairy story is optimistic, no matter how terrifyingly serious some features of the story may be. It is this decisive difference which sets the fairy tale apart from other stories in which equally fantastic events occur, whether the happy outcome is due to the virtues of the hero, chance, or the interference of supernatural figures.’

 Is there no pessimistic fairy story? So what are these stories? Are they in fact myths? Bettelheim  asserts that an element of threat is crucial to the fairy tale; a threat to the hero’s physical existence or to his moral existence. This may be so, but it is also a common plot in many other types of story.

In Hans Christian Andersen’s stories every other hero dies a tragic death:

The Happy Prince; gets pecked to pieces by birds.

The Steadfast Tin Soldier; is melted in the fire.

The Little Matchgirl; freezes to death.

In The Red Shoes,  Karen has her feet chopped  off and dies.

The Little Mermaid; casts herself into the sea; because her beloved marries the wicked witch, and turns to foam.

 Bettelheim[11] asserts that ‘each tale projects at its “happy” ending the integration of some inner conflict.’ Yet he does accept that Little Red Riding Hood is eaten by the wolf: [12]

‘It is interesting to observe that, for example, some see in the motif of Little Red Riding Hood’s being swallowed by the wolf the theme of night devouring the day, of the moon eclipsing the sun, of winter replacing the warm seasons, of the god swallowing the sacrificial victim, and so on.’

  He seems to have chosen stories from a certain period to fit his theme- not the seventeenth and eighteenth century tales or older with their original tragic endings and not the ‘new’ nineteenth century tales with their equally gloomy outcomes, but more an optimistic Enlightenment-mixed-with-morality flavor. He constantly dismisses ‘modern’ fairy stories:

‘Many of these new tales have sad endings, which fail to provide the escape and consolation which the fearsome events in the fairy story make necessary, to strengthen the child for meeting the vagaries in his life… In the traditional fairy tale, the hero is rewarded and the evil person meets his well-deserved fate, thus satisfying the child’s deep need for justice to prevail.’ [13]

  Lynn[14] questions his judgement on modern stories stating that in The Uses of Enchantment, Bettelheim devoted only 5 of the 328 pages of his analysis of the effects of fairy tales on children to the thousands of modern fantasy novels for children. She asserts that in these five pages he makes two questionable judgements, the first[15] concerning sad endings. She feels that a more up-to-date reading of children’s fantasy novels is required given that the only modern tale Bettelheim mentions by name is the Blue Bird a play written by Maurice Maeterlinck in 1909.

Lynn continues: ‘In his second criticism Betteleim dismisses “modern” fantasy because “when children are asked to name their favorite fairy tales, hardly any modern tales are among their choices.” To back up this statement he cites a 1958 study in which 264  college students were asked to recall their favorite children’s stories. The study found that 59% of the women and 30% of the men preferred fairy tales to fiction (including “new tales of magic like The Wizard of Oz, Brer Rabbit, and Little Black Sambo).’

She considers that aside from the fact that the Wizard of Oz is a fantasy novel, not a fairy tale and that the study’s findings do not seem to support Bettelheim’s thesis, a study of adult memories of books read over 40 years ago could not possibly provide any significant information about the reading habits of contemporary children. She ends: ‘To dismiss the entire genre of children’s fantasy on such a basis is indefensible.’

 We can find sad endings in fairy stories from many time periods and places, the problem is that only a certain type of story will fit Bettelheim’s theory so he makes use of those and ignores the others, naming the ones which fit his theory ‘traditional fairy stories.’

In the Wee Bannock,[16] the bannock falls down a fox’s hole and is eaten up by the fox. In Se Mahi from Kalile va Demne[17] the little red fish gets caught by the fishermen. This same story is in the Panchatantra[18] and so is definitely not a new tale. In Le Petit Prince[19] the Little Prince is bitten by a snake and dies. In the original story which became Red Riding Hood the little girl is eaten by the wolf. Eleanor Brockett[20] tells of the sad  ending of the hero Jamsheed who lost everything including his princess when he was captured and tortured to death by the evil Zohak.

Bettelheim[21] talks about the function of fairy stories and a timeless element he perceives:

‘If we want to understand our true selves, we must become familiar with the inner workings of our mind. If we want to function well we have to integrate the discordant tendencies which are inherent in our being. Isolating these tendencies and projecting them into separate figures is one way fairy tales help us visualize and thus better grasp what goes on within us.’

 Imagination and personification are seen as therapeutic and character-building. Furthermore: ‘Another fairy tale approach to showing the desirability of this integration is symbolized by a hero who encounters these various tendencies one at a time and builds them into his personality until all coalesce within him, as is necessary for gaining full independence and humanity.’

The example Bettelheim gives of a fairy story of this type is the Brothers Grimm’s The Three Languages, a story with a long previous history and with European and Asian versions. Bettelheim recognizes in this story the same conflict that exists between modern adolescents and their parents. He mentions however that it is unusual for a fairy story to begin with a specific place name and suggests that this is because the tale originates with an event that actually took place. The version of The Three Languages used as Bettelheim’s example begins with an old count in Switzerland, but given that he admits the existence of the story’s different historical versions in Europe and Asia it cannot have begun with an event in Switzerland! He gives the Pied Piper of Hamelin as another example of a story resulting from an event and keeping its place name, hypothesizing that in the city of Hameln at one time a group of children may have been abducted, which led to the story of the Pied Piper and the disappearing children. He doesn’t regard this as a ‘proper’ fairy story, however, due to the unsatisfactory resolution of the story rather than its possible factual origin.

 Kaledon Naddair, who writes from a Keltic Shamanistic viewpoint is not impressed with Bettelheim’s interpretations, especially with the idea of timelessness. He says[22]: ‘Discernment is also required in deciding what you should or should not do to Folk and Faerie Tales when ‘interpreting’ them. Whilst writing this book I came upon Bruno Bettelheim’s The Use of Enchantment; the Meaning and importance of Fairy Tales and was staggered by the cretinous level of discernment displayed within. For example, when relating ‘motifs’ to ‘Freudian concepts’ he assures us that in tales, birds = the superego, animals = the ordinary ego and toads/ reptiles/ amphibians = the id (sexual drive) this is total rubbish. It does not even bear thinking about as a hopelessly inadequate generalization, for in the Shamanistic traditions there are many animals that are magically more important and powerful than certain birds. Such modern inanities also do not do justice to the complex richness of Shamanistic law and the principles upon which it operates.’

He goes on to say[23] that time and place and associations all change and that modern academics have no conception of these and so cannot fully understand motifs and their meanings, e.g. the mighty Faerie Queen might appear through a ‘noble’ white hind at one point in the year’s cycle, and yet through a ‘lowly’ frog (as was recorded in Arran) in another part of the Shamanistic cycle.

  The last criticism of the idea that fairy stories can be applied, in the versions familiar to modern Americans, to “any society” continues from above as it implies a similar idea to ‘fairy stories are timeless’ or contain timeless elements. Bettelheim admits that; ‘on an overt level fairy tales teach little about the specific conditions of life in modern mass society; these tales were created long before it came into being.’[24] But he continues, ‘more can be learned from them about the inner problems of human beings and of the right solutions to their predicaments in any society, than from any other type of story within a child’s comprehension.’

 He sees fairy stories as a psychological tool for dealing with universal problems, maintaining that, ‘Applying the psychoanalytic model of the human personality, fairy tales carry important messages to the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious mind, on whatever level each is functioning at the time. By dealing with universal human problems, particularly those which preoccupy the child’s mind, these stories speak to his budding ego and encourage its development, while at the same time relieving preconscious and unconscious pressures. As the stories unfold they give conscious credence and body to id pressures and show ways to satisfy these that are in line with ego and superego requirements.’ [25]

Bettelheim[26] states that three is a common number in fairy tales and refers to the three aspects of the mind; id, ego and superego.

  Darnton allows that Bettelheim’s view of symbolism makes for a less mechanistic interpretation of the tale than does Fromm’s notion of a secret code, but considers that it too proceeds from some unquestioned assumptions about the text. Although he cites commentators on Grimm and Perrault, showing some awareness of folklore as an academic discipline, Bettelheim seems to read the tales as if they had no history or as if any history they had were irrelevant. He teats them, according to Darnton,[27] ‘ like patients on a couch, in a timeless contemporaneity. He does not question their origins or worry over other meanings that they might have had in other contexts because he knows how the soul works and how it has always worked.’

  Obviously, to support any theory, it is necessary to ignore exceptions to the rule, but in the case of Bettelheim, he seems to have invented new rules and ignored all other evidence in a single-minded effort to apply his chosen psychological interpretation and have it seen as a universal truth, which it plainly cannot be. The Shamanistic view of fairy stories, originating from a cultural understanding of the time and the meaning of the motifs in their primary setting offers a clear contrast to Bettelheim’s ideas.

Appendix

  As Bettelheim creates his own definitions of myths and fairy stories, a look at the dictionary definitions was felt to be useful:

Oxford English Dictionary, 2^nd edition 1989.

  Epic :          pertaining to that species of poetical composition which celebrates in the form of a continuous narrative the achievements of one or more heroic personages of history or tradition.

Fable: 1]    a) a fictitious narrative or statement; a story not founded on fact.

                  b) a fictitious story relating to supernatural or extraordinary persons or incidents and more or less current in popular belief; a myth or legend.

                  c) a foolish or ridiculous story, idle talk, nonsense esp. in phrase – old wives’ (women’s) fables.

                  d) a fiction invented to deceive, a falsehood, fabrication.

                  e) something falsely affirmed to exist.

           2]    a short story devised to convey some useful lesson esp. one in which animals or inanimate things are the speakers or actors; now the most prominent sense.

Fairy tale: a) a tale about fairies also gen. fairy legend.

                  b) an unreal or incredible story.

                  c) a falsehood.

Folklore:   a) the traditional beliefs, legends and customs current among the common people; the study of these.

                  b) recently in extended use: popular fantasy or belief.

Legend:     Latin-legenda; what is read.

a)      the story of the life of a saint or saints.

b)      a story, history, account (esp. of someone famous).

c)      An unauthentic or non-historical story, esp. one handed down by tradition from early times and popularly regarded as historical, (based on events.)

Myth: a) a purely fictitious narrative usually involving supernatural persons, actions or events and embodying some popular idea concerning natural or historical phenomena.

b) an untrue or popular tale, a rumor (distinguished from legend which implies a nucleus of fact but often used vaguely to include any narrative having fictitious elements… it is sometimes traditional, sometimes newly invented.)

Chambers Concise Dictionary , Edinburgh, Chambers Cambridge, 1988.

  Fairy tale : a story about fairies or other supernatural beings; a folktale, a romantic tale; an incredible tale, a lie, a marvel.

  Myth :       an ancient traditional story of gods or heroes esp. one offering an explanation of some fact or phenomenon; a story  with a veiled meaning; a commonly held belief that is untrue or without foundation.

Bibliography

Andersen , Hans Christian, Hans Andersen- His Classic Fairy Tales; illustrated by Michael Foreman, newly translated by Eric Haugard, 1974.

  Bettelheim, Bruno, The Uses of Enchantment (London, Thames & Hudson Ltd. 1976).

  Brockett, Eleanor, Persian Fairy Tales, (London, Frederick Muller Ltd. 1962).

  Bushnaq, Inea, Arab Folk Tales, (New York, Pantheon, 1986).

  Chukovskii, Kornei, From Two to Five, (Berkely, University of California Press, 1963.) pp116-117, 124.

  Darnton, Robert, The Great Cat Massacre (Middlesex, Penguin Books Ltd. 1985.)

  Field, E.M. The Child and his Book: some accounts of the history and progress of children’s literature in England. 2^nd ed. 1892. Wells Gardner, Darton.

  Japanese Children’s Favorite Stories, (Tokyo, Charles E.Tuttle 1958 )(1995 - 44^th printing).

  Kalila wa Dimna; Fables from a 14^th Century Arabic Manuscript, Esin Atil (Washington D.C. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981).

  Lynn, Ruth Nadelman,  Fantasy Literature for Children & Young Adults- 4^th edition (New Jersey, R.R. Bowker, 1989).

  Muhawi, I. & Sharif Kanaana, Speak Bird, Speak Again; Palestinian Arab Folktales, (Los Angeles, University of California Press 1989).

  Naddair, Kaledon, Keltic Folk and Faerie Tales: Their Hidden Meaning Explored, (London, A Rider Book, 1987).

  Powell-Jamali, Sarah, Folktales from the City of the Golden Domes, (Beirut, Khayats, 1965).

  THE PANCATANTRA, translated by Patrick Olivelle (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1997).

THE PAÑCATANTRA , Visnu Sarma, translated by Chandra Rajan (London, Penguin Books, 1995).

  Saint-Exupéry, Antoine, Le Petit Prince (Orig.pub. in France, U.S. pub.1943, Harcourt, 1943, 1982, pap.)

  Scottish Fairy Tales, (Edinburgh, Lomond Books, 1988).

  Se Mahi - Stories in Persian from Kalile va Demne, (London, Al-Hoda.)

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