Bruno Bettelheim is a Freudian psychologist, who works with disturbed children. He believes that children should be read fairy tales. He also has some interesting ideas as to what children learn from fairy tales. The following is an attempt to describe what Bettelheim and Freud would have to say on the Grimms' omitted tale "The Three Sisters."
The story "The Three Sisters" was omitted from the Grimms' collection, because they discovered that it had a literary source. Nonetheless, it is a fairy tale from which children can learn many things.
The father in this story represents the id. The father does what he wants, regardless of the wants and desires of the other characters. Because of the father's actions, the child Reinald the Wonder Child is created. He represents the ego, as he works to undo the damage done by his father. The animals also represent a contrast to the id and the ego. On the seventh day, week, or month, the animals became human. On these days, they are controlled by their ego and superego, and they act rationally. They obey their reality principle. On the other days, they are controlled by their id and their pleasure principle, and act solely on what they want.
This story creates many characters with which young children can identify. First, of course, the children can identify with the father, who does only what he wants. Many children find it hard to understand that others have feelings too, and thus can easily identify with the father's position. Given money, they will easily spend it on useless items. Of course, the children can also identify with the sisters. Whenever they are sent to their rooms for disobeying an order, they feel that their father is unjustly treating them, just as the sisters should feel in the story. Next, they can identify with Reinald. Every child would like to travel through an enchanted forrest, and save his long, lost sisters. Finally, children can identify with the animals. Even children who are generally well-behaved have moments when they act purely on their emotions. The animals that are sometimes human help children better understand their own animalistic tendencies.
Interestingly, the father and the animals both represent, at times, the same part of the personality, the id. Thus, both the father of the sisters and the husbands of the sisters represent the same thing, which demonstrates the Electra Complex, and the fact that young girls are attracted to their fathers. Similarly, the sister of the animals must represent the mother of the Reinald, demonstrating the Oedipus Complex.
Also, notice that the sisters are all married to animals, and they reproduce with these animals. Clearly, the sisters find the animals more sexually appealing than humans. Children are fascinated with this idea. But, they would never freely admit it. By hiding this meaning inside a story, children can deal with this idea, and thus reduce their anxiety about sexuality. The fact that all the animals become human at the end helps reduce their anxiety even more. In the end, the sisters choose humans over animals.
Thus, this story helps children on two levels. First, it helps them to externalize the conflict between the id and the ego. The transformation from human to animal helps children understand their own actions when they act solely on their own desires. The actions of the father also shows children that even adults act on their pleasure principle sometime. Of course, both the father and the animals eventually change. After giving away his three daughters, the father learns to use his reality principle. And, the animals all become human. The message is that it is okay to act on one's id sometimes, but eventually one must learn to use one's reality principle if one wants to survive in the world. Second, the story helps the children come to terms with some aspects of sexuality that they may not have been prepared to deal with yet in any form other than a simple tale.
Written by Maria Sloughter
Read the Bettelheim parody.
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