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

The fairy tales discussed by Bettelheim generally feature child or adolescent protagonists; a magical or supernatural element; and a bucolic European, or in some cases, Arabian setting that is far removed from urban 20th-century America in which the author was writing. While the fairy tales were collected and given written form by writers such as the Brothers Grimm or Charles Perrault, they stem from an oral tradition and often collect generations’ worth of stories and wisdom. Significantly, Bettelheim mentions the dominant female role of mothers like his own and that of the German poet Goethe in telling the fairy tales. Bettelheim encourages parents to become part of the oral tradition in telling the tales to their children rather than encouraging the children to independently discover the works. The tale can thus connect parent and child, even as its contents reveal the violent impulses children have towards their parents and vice versa.

While fairy tales, like myths, make use of the supernatural, fairy tales differ from myths in the mundanity of their settings. Their protagonists are not “absolutely unique” either by birth or ability; they are relatable characters who learn to make the best of the opportunities presented to them (37).