Fairy tales are full of rich psychological symbolism that expresses our innermost fears and dreams. Beginning with the fathers of the field, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, numerous psychoanalysts have turned to fairy tales in an effort to understand the human mind. Just as many fairy tales hinge upon a revelation of the truth about those who have been somehow disguised, so too fairy tales cut to the essence of adult identity. Freud suspected that dreams and fairy tales stemmed from the same place, and the relaxation of inhibition that occurs in the dream state is also true of many storytellers. So fairy tales might prove, as with dreams, to be windows opening into the unconscious. (Indeed, many fairy tales include dream-states as important plot points.) For Freud, fairy tales are rife with wish-fulfillment fantasies and complicated sexual undercurrents.
As far as Jung was concerned, the ‘collective unconscious’ that lies at the core of his work, and which he believed is shared by all human beings, is revealed through archetypes, forms and symbols found in ample quantity in fairy tales. Jungian therapists study fairy tales to help analyze the dreams of their patients. Jung’s disciples have gone on to interpret fairy tales as lives in miniature, suggesting, for example, that each character within a tale may represent an aspect of human personality.
More recently, perhaps the best-known—and certainly the most widely- quoted—psychologist to incorporate fairy tales into their practice is Bruno Bettelheim, who published Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales in 1976. Bettelheim argued that fairy tales are an important tool for children learning to navigate reality and survive in a world ruled by adults. The family conflicts and moral education of the protagonists (conveniently often children themselves) could provide models of coping. Others have disputed aspects of this interpretation. The German cultural critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin notes that the morality of fairy tales is rather complicated, with the heroes and heroines often known to lie, cheat, steal and torture villains. But there remains something empowering and psychologically insightful in these stories that, as fairy tale scholar Maria Tatar writes, demonstrate the ‘triumph of small and weak over tall and powerful’.
To sum up: one of the most useful functions of the fairy tale is to use fantasy to help address the problems of growing up. During the course of the fairy tale, the hero or heroine is taken on a journey to greater self-awareness and psychological wholeness. In a child’s life there may be many conflicts and the fairy tale helps the child express the hostility these situations may cause. Many psychologists recommend fairy tales as beneficial to children, believing they help children assimilate problems such as violence, sexuality, growing up and learning to deal with family conflict. In many ways, fantasy dreams share the same functions as fairy tales; not only do they provide a healthy outlet for socially unacceptable behavior, they can also empower the dreamer and teach hidden lessons.
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