Psychoanalysis of Fairytales
Psychoanalysis of FairytalesExamine one or more fairytales from a psychoanalytic perspective. How valid, in your view, is such an approach when applied to fairytales in general?
The psychoanalysts' view of the fairy tale varies greatly between individuals. Tales are, to the general public audience, a mode of entertainment. To the person interested in the hidden meanings and interpretation of the human condition, they are vehicles for the distribution of latent content. This content can generally be seen to embody both phallic and moralistic features. The tales of Sleeping Beauty (Briar Rose) and Little Red Riding Hood (Little Red Cap) both illustrate sexual maturity and moral instruction. As with all areas of psychology, there is room for variance in the interpretation of images and actions. There does seem, however, to have a general consistency in the interpretation of symbols and signs, allowing for the stating of perhaps taboo topics in an illustrative manner.
Tales are said to contain more than meets the eye. Initially, there is the surface, or manifest content; presented and taken, generally, at face value. As with Freudian theories regarding dream interpretation, this is what is 'seen' as opposed to the 'hidden' latent content. It is this constituent that lies open to interpretation, depicting what the tale is 'actually' about, through symbolic representation.
Symbols, as used in the interpretative sense, are objects, colours, people or scenes that represent the inner moods or occurrences around us or needing to be addressed. The argument that is presented regarding the interpretation of these symbols is: what are the standards and who sets them? Over time there have come to be certain accepted symbols for major themes such as sexuality and fear. Erich Fromm writes in his The Forgotten Language that, "If one fails to grasp the true meaning of the myth, one finds oneself confronted with this alternative: either the myth is...a naive picture of the world and of history and at best a product...of imagination or...the manifest story is true...a correct report of events which actually happen in 'reality'". Thus, his argument being: the tales are too naive and fantastical to be believable so therefore there must be underlying meaning in order to justify their creation. There are a great number of critics and sceptics to this view. In analysis, however, the pattern and commonality of a number of symbols is perhaps too frequent to be coincidental.
Little Red Riding Hood can be said to be one of the most widely known fairy-stories. On the surface it is a tale of deception ending in the destruction of the 'evil' and deceptive source. The story does, at the same time, lend itself to Freudian interpretation regarding the male/female relationship and conflict. The tale's primary character is a young girl who is obviously carefree and loving, thus representing her youth. She is given a red velvet cap by her grandmother, which she chooses to wear all the time. Red is one of the most dramatic and most widely recognised symbols....
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