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

Life Divined from the Inside

Bettelheim argues that in fairy tales, “internal processes are externalized and comprehensible” (25). He recalls a tradition in Hindu medicine where a patient is given a fairy tale to meditate on when faced with a problem. While his external problems will be different from the fairy tale protagonist’s, his internal conflict will be similar. Importantly, the fairy tale does not dictate the solution; rather, the meditator uses the tale as a guide to find his own solution and so is active in the model of his own healing.

Bettelheim continues to emphasize the role of fairy tales in “achieving a more mature consciousness to civilize the chaotic pressures of their unconscious” (24). These stories have evolved over generations to address universal concerns and provide the reassuring message that a good life is possible as long as we do not evade the struggles that push our current, limited identity toward a more mature and satisfying one. Bettelheim emphasizes that reading the story aloud to a child is the most helpful method of disseminating it as the parent thus affirms the child’s process of using fairy tales as a guide to overcoming obstacles.

“The Fisherman and the Jinny”: Fairy Tale Compared to Fable