The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales

“When unconscious material is to some degree permitted to come to awareness and worked through in imagination, its potential for causing harm—to ourselves or others—is much reduced; some of its forces can then be made to serve positive purposes.”

Bettelheim overturns the contemporary trend of trying to protect children from the worst of human experience; he argues that it is essential for children to address their taboos. When taboos appear in the imaginative form of literature, they can be safely worked through; whereas if they are repressed, they have more potential to cause harm. In stating that the “forces” of the unconscious can be useful, Bettelheim also encourages the controlling parent to not fear this more obscure side to their child.

“The figures in fairy tales are not ambivalent—not good and bad at the same time, as we all are in reality. But since polarization dominates the child’s mind, it also dominates fairy tales. […] Presenting the polarities of character permits the child to comprehend easily the difference between the two, which he could not do as readily were the figures drawn more true to life, with all the complexities that characterize real people. Ambiguities must wait until a relatively firm personality has been established on the basis of positive identifications.”

The polarities of good and bad in fairy tales suit a young child’s grasp of reality. Bettelheim argues that unrealistically good or bad characters are helpful, as the child with their personality in flux is looking for someone with whom to identify. Later, when the child has made enough positive identifications, they are more ready to cope with ambiguous characters.

“Only a small number of fairy tales are widely known. Most of the points made in this book could have been illustrated more vividly if some of the more obscure fairy stories could have been referred to. But since these tales, though once familiar, are presently unknown, it would have been necessary to reprint them here, making for a book of unwieldy size.”

Bettelheim’s reference to the loss of fairy tales underscores their fragility and value. By stating that the most obscure tales could perhaps be the most useful, Bettelheim suggests that some of the most precious examples have been lost. As a tool of persuasion, this theoretically creates nostalgia in the reader and supports Bettelheim’s campaign in rescuing the fairy tale from oblivion.

“Fairy tales have great psychological meaning for children of all ages, both boys and girls, irrespective of the age and sex of the story’s hero. Rich personal meaning is gained from fairy stories because they facilitate changes in identification as the child deals with different problems, one at a time.”

Here, Bettelheim makes the crucial point that, in the process of making identifications, children are often more sophisticated than their parents think they are. Thus, two very different children at different stages of development will each derive a highly specific, individual meaning from the same tale. In emphasizing that the child will deal with their problems one at a time, Bettelheim acknowledges the slow nature of child development.

“The fairy tale is therapeutic because the patient finds his own solutions, through contemplating what the story seems to imply about him and his inner conflicts at this moment in his life. The content of the chosen tale usually has nothing to do with the patient’s external life, but much to do with his inner problems, which seem incomprehensible and hence unsolvable.”

Here, Bettelheim emphasizes the active nature of the fairy tale, whereby the Hindu patient subconsciously applies the story to their inner life. While the problems previously seemed beyond the patient, the tale may help them reorganize their internal world and find their own creative solutions for what keeps them stuck. Thus, by contemplating heroes, the patient learns to be the hero of their own story.

“To the child, the parent’s absence seems an eternity—a feeling that remains unaffected by Mother’s truthful explanation that she was gone for only half an hour. So the fairy tale’s fantastic exaggeration gives it the ring of psychological truth—while realistic explanations seem psychologically untrue, however true to fact.”

Bettelheim shows how the fairy tales’ untruths, such as exaggerated timescales that deal with eternity, are closer to the child’s inner experience of truth than are empirical realities. This means that the fairy tale has a unique appeal to the child because it addresses how they already see the world; whereas the realistic narrative falls short on truth despite its mission to accurately portray reality.

“The fairy tale […] is very much the result of common conscious and unconscious content having been shaped by the conscious mind, not of one particular person, but the consensus of many in regard to what they view as universal human problems, and what they accept as desirable solutions.”

Here, Bettelheim illustrates the unique power of the fairy tale, in being a collection of manifold consciousnesses over time rather than the work of one particular author. This gives power to the fairy tale’s notions of good and evil, as they have been formed by multiple generations over time. Bettelheim presents fairy tale morality as a universal without judging that its attitudes to have been shaped by centuries of European culture.

“Life on a small planet surrounded by limitless space seems awfully lonely and cold to a child—just the opposite of what he knows life ought to be. This is why the ancients needed to feel sheltered and warmed by an enveloping mother figure. To depreciate protective imagery like this as mere childish projections of an immature mind is to rob the young child of one aspect of the prolonged safety and comfort he needs.”

Bettelheim wrote during the early period of space exploration, when research increasingly showed the smallness of earth in comparison to the entire universe. He argues that coming to terms with this bleak reality and one’s own insignificance in the world ought to be the province of a developed, rational mind. A child’s mind, in contrast, may be harmed by such a stark presentation of reality. The “protective imagery” of fairy tales, however, provides a period of prolonged safety that will enable the child to deal with the real world. Still, while Bettelheim advocates a child’s exposure to the reality of feelings, no matter how intense, he also advises delaying a child’s discovery of scientific facts that diminish their place in the universe.

“Fairy tales offer figures onto which the child can externalize what goes on in his mind, in controllable ways. Fairy tales show the child how he can embody his destructive wishes in one figure, gain desired satisfactions from another, identify with a third, have ideal attachments with a fourth, and so on, as his needs of the moment require.”

Bettelheim illustrates how polarizing figures in fairy tale worlds can help the overwhelmed child negotiate their chaotic inner life and process their most destructive feelings. By creating a figure onto whom the child can channel these emotions, a fairy tale prevents overwhelm and provides space for other aspects of the child’s consciousness. Additionally, Bettelheim’s idea that the child will “identify with a third” embodies his belief that the child is always third in a fairy story, as figures one and two signal the child’s parents. Again, he emphasizes that the fairy tale is adaptable and services the child’s particular needs in the moment.

“A small child can do little on his own, and this is disappointing to him—so much so that he may give up in despair. The fairy story prevents this by giving extraordinary dignity to the smallest achievements, and suggesting that the most wonderful consequences may grow out of it.”

Bettelheim shows how the fairy story adapts itself to a child’s perception of the world. Far from trivializing a child’s small gestures towards independence, the fairy tale celebrates and encourages these efforts. The story thus gives the child faith that every developmental step is important and that everyday achievements can lead to a marvelous future of autonomy.

“Given the contradictory tendencies residing within me, which of them should I respond to? The fairy-tale answer is the same one which psychoanalysis offers: To avoid being tossed about and, in extreme cases torn apart by our ambivalences requires that we integrate them. Only in this way can we achieve a unified personality able to meet successfully, with inner security, the difficulties of living.”

Bettelheim asserts that the integration of our contradictory tendencies is essential to personal growth. He parallels the fairy tale’s use of moralistic and animalistic personalities with psychoanalysis’ reference to the superego and the id. While one is in judgment of the other, we will be riven with conflict. However, the fairy tale offers many examples of how the two can live in harmony, as a superego-dominated character exerts power and influence over an id-dominated one.

“The unconscious is the source of raw materials and the basis upon which the ego erects the edifice of our personality. In this simile our fantasies are the natural resources which provide and shape this raw material, making it useful for the ego’s personality-building tasks. If we are deprived of this natural resource, our life remains limited; without fantasies to give us hope, we do not have the strength to meet the adversities of life. Childhood is the time when these fantasies need to be nurtured.”

Bettelheim argues that far from being frivolous, fantasy enables children to imagine and build a future-orientated ego. Without fantasy, a child will only attain limited development, and they will be ill-equipped to meet challenges. This is arguably because they have not practiced imagining themselves as more creative and capable than they are at present, and thus future challenges will seem insurmountable.

“Listening to a fairy tale and taking in the images it presents may be compared to a scattering of seeds, only some of which will be implanted in the mind of the child. Some of these will be working in his conscious mind right away; others will stimulate processes in the unconscious. […] But those seeds which have fallen on the right soil will grow into beautiful flowers and sturdy trees—that is, give validity to important feelings, promote insights, nourish hopes, reduce anxieties—and in doing so enrich the child’s life at the moment and forever after.”

By using the metaphor of seeds and plants, Bettelheim conveys the tale’s organic effect on the child’s conscience. Through the image of germination in dark soil, Bettelheim alerts the parent that the fairy tale is having an effect beyond the immediate moment. As the story takes root in the child’s unconscious, time will pass before results appear.

“Fairy tales speak to our conscious and unconscious, and therefore do not need to avoid contradictions, since these easily coexist in our unconscious.”

Bettelheim argues that the contradictions in fairy tales are consonant with those of the human unconscious. While the conscious human wishes to avoid contradictions to make life simpler, the fairy tale is wiser in allowing the conflicting psychic elements to coexist.

“Giving up oral dependency is acceptable only if the child can find security in a realistic—or more likely, a fantastically exaggerated—belief in what his body and its organs will do for him. But a child sees in sexuality not something based on a relation between a man and a woman, but something that he can achieve all by himself.”

Bettelheim explains how the phallic stage of development displaces the primary oral stage as Jack gives up hope that his mother will be the supreme provider and begins to rely on himself and the apparent magic within his increasingly capable body. While the phallic stage is not the ultimate stage of development, Bettelheim shows how a child’s progression towards adulthood is evolutionary, as one less immature stage succeeds another. The adult reader, who realizes that nothing in life can be achieved on one’s own, knows that Jack has not reached the apex of maturity.

“The magic mirror seems to speak with the voice of a daughter rather than that of a mother. As the small girl thinks her mother is the most beautiful person in the world, this is what the mirror initially tells the queen. But as the older girl thinks she is much more beautiful than her mother, this is what the mirror says later. […] The mirror says: ‘She is a thousand times more beautiful’—a statement much more akin to an adolescent’s exaggeration which he makes to enlarge his advantages and silence his inner voice of doubt.”

Bettelheim offers the fresh argument that the famous magic mirror in “Snow White” speaks in the voice of the daughter who takes her mother as a role-model but, as she grows, seeks to surpass her in beauty and influence. The exaggeration on the daughter’s part demonstrates how she uses her fantasy to overcome her mother by imagining herself as superior. Such boldness is needed to erase the terrifying doubt that the mother may always be the more powerful and the daughter’s existence superfluous.

“The number three is central in ‘Goldilocks’ […] it relates to […] finding out who one is biologically. Three also stands for the relations within the nuclear family, and efforts to ascertain where one fits in there. Thus, three symbolizes a search for who one is biologically (sexually), and who one is in relation to the most important persons in one’s life.”

Bettelheim claims the precedence of the number three in “Goldilocks” is not incidental. The number of bears—and subsequent number of chairs, beds, and bowls of porridge—represents the “nuclear family” of two parents and a child. Goldilocks oscillates between the three positions in her attempt to discover her role in the family setup. This role relates to her identity.

“What may seem like a period of deathlike passivity at the end of childhood is nothing but a time of quiet growth and preparation, from which the person will awaken mature, ready for sexual union. It must be stressed that in fairy tales this union is as much one of the minds and souls of two partners as it is one of sexual fulfillment.”

Bettelheim argues that the extraordinary hundred-year sleep in “The Sleeping Beauty” has a parallel in adolescent development. In a comparison to the Beauty’s sleep, he cites the recognizable introversion that affects many adolescents, where the child turns away from the world to be better able to face it as a mature person. For Bettelheim, as for the fairy tale, the epitome of maturity is characterized by union with a partner. While, on a literal level, this refers to sex and marriage, on a metaphorical level, the ability to unite with other bodies and souls indicates a readiness to actively engage with the world.

“One of the greatest merits of ‘Cinderella’ is that, irrespective of the magic help Cinderella receives, the child understands that essentially it is through her own efforts, and because of the person she is, that Cinderella is able to transcend magnificently her degraded state, despite what appear as insurmountable obstacles. It gives the child confidence that the same will be true for him, because the story relates to his conscious and his unconscious guilt.”

Bettelheim posits that despite the magical nature of fairy tales, they enable children to understand that the protagonists triumph because of their character and not because of magical assistance. As the child has none of the magical tools available to Cinderella but believes themself capable of having her character, her story is still encouraging for them. Bettelheim also believes that because the tale addresses the child’s guilt about wanting to eliminate or punish their parents, the child’s positive identification with the protagonist has deep roots.

“It seems as if these stories deliberately avoid stating that the heroines are in love; one gets the impression that even fairy tales put little stock in love at first sight. Instead, they suggest that much more is involved in loving than being awakened or chosen by some prince.”

Bettelheim here references the bashfulness of heroines such as Snow White and Sleeping Beauty towards their rescuing princes, as the tales elaborate little on their feelings. Thus, in those fairy tales, the components of being “in love” remain mysterious, especially on the feminine part. While, in the cultural imagination, fairy tales seem to embody the stereotype of love at first sight, the truth is more complicated. Rather than love happening automatically, the heroine must reach a new stage of developmental maturity before she can fall in love.

“Fairy tales suggest that eventually there comes a time when we must learn what we have not known before—or, to put it psychoanalytically, to undo the repression of sex. What we had experienced as dangerous, loathsome, something to be shunned, must change its appearance so that it is experienced as truly beautiful. It is love which permits this to happen.”

In his introduction to the animal groom cycle of fairy tales, Bettelheim prepares the reader for a group of stories that depict the transformation of sexual repression through the sublimating feeling of love. The magic lies in the fact that something formerly loathsome acquires beauty, while the development in the hero or heroine occurs when they rediscover, in a new light, what they previously termed as animalistic.

“We do not learn why the groom was forced to take on the form of an ugly animal, or why this harm inflicted on him remains unpunished. This suggests that the change from the ‘natural’ or beautiful appearance took place in the unfathomable past when we did not know why something happened to us, even when it had the most far-reaching consequences. Shall we say that the repression of sex occurred so early that it cannot be recalled? None of us remember at what moment in our life sex first took on the form of something animal-like.”

Bettelheim argues that the mystery of why the groom was transformed into an animal in fairy tales parallels our own confusion about when sex became repressed in our own psyches. The “unfathomable past” refers to a time before our conscious memories and is thus inaccessible. However, the fairy tale’s ambiguity about this transformation-repression allows us to contemplate that a similar process may have occurred in us.

“Our oedipal attachments, far from being only the source of our greatest emotional difficulties (which they can be when they do not undergo proper development during our growing up), are the soil out of which permanent happiness grows if we experience the right evolution and resolution of these feelings.”

In explaining how Beauty’s extended attachment to her father transforms into a more mature love for the Beast, Bettelheim demonstrates how Beauty’s earlier immature love already contained the seeds of the one that would ensure her future happiness. The metaphor of fertile soil indicates the basic primary materials for creating something visibly beautiful in the future. Thus, says Bettelheim, as long as the early oedipal attachments evolve and are redirected, they become a precondition of marital felicity. Bettelheim’s idealistic vision of permanent happiness mirrors the attitude at the end of fairy tales.