Chapter - 23

Hansel and Gretel

Bruno Bettelheim

Summary of the story

Bruno is an Austrian child psychologist. He has interpreted this fairy tale from a psychological point of view. He says that gingerbread is a symbol of the mother. As a mother gives food to her children, in the same way, children feed on the gingerbread house, which is made of food.

The first message this fairy tale conveys is that poverty and deprivation do not improve man’s character, but rather make him selfish, less sensitive to the sufferings of others. A selfish person simply starts to do bad deeds. Another message is that greed leads to destruction. The witch wants to eat the children, who acted like greedy animals and therefore, she is killed.

According to Bruno, the story is really about the things that go on in children’s minds. For children, the mother is a source of all food. When they grow up, children must learn to live separately from their parents. This is why they are left in the forest. But they return home but they are not yet old enough to live apart from their parents. The children are left in the forest a second time. They try to solve their problems by concentrating only on food. The witch’s behavior forces the children to start growing up and acting like adults.

The birds play an important role or part of the story. The white duck helps them to get home is a symbol of a new beginning. The duck can only carry one child at a time and this shows that children must learn to live without each other. They learn a lot of things and they also gain treasures, which is a kind of newly won independence. After they got the treasure the children are economically free and live happily afterward.