A Critical Study of the Functional Distinctions between Fairy Tales and Myths in Bruno Bettelheim's Psychoanalytic Approach

Bruno Bettelheim is a post-Freudian psychologist who has made significant contributions to psychological literary criticism, and has always been considered highly by psychoanalysts and critics of children’s literature. The functions he attributes to fairy tales have created a wide variety of research subjects in literary criticism. In this article, the authors, by studying Bettelheim’s major works, critically examine the functional distinctions of fairy tales and myths in his psychoanalytic approach, and, ultimately, classify his views in two general categories: in one category, his ideas include similarities and differences between fairy tales and myths, including the manifestation of the experience of the society of fairy tales and mythical stories, the hope for a happy ending, the polarity of the characters, and the pleasure principle vs. the reality principle in fairy tales. The other category shows that Bettelheim was affected by certain contradictions in explaining the functional distinctions between fairy tales and mythical stories, for instance, the meaning of life and the special function of fairy tales in giving meaning to life, the emphasis on the therapeutic function of fairy tales in ancient times and among Hindus, the explanation of the functions of fairy tales based on the Freudian pattern of personality levels, and the hero’s place in fairy tales and myths. The critical reappraisal of these at-times contradicting functional distinctions, can promote the accuracy of the literary critics among his followers in their application of his ideas, and can also prevent post-Freudian psychoanalysts who follow Bettelheim’s approach from making probable errors.
  
Extended Abstract
 
1. Introduction
Bruno Bettelheim, who used Freud’s ideas to explain issues such as the functions of fairy tales, is one of the post-Freudian psychologists who has had a profound impact on child psychology and the analysis and criticism of children’s literature. Bettelheim puts great emphasis on learning from patients throughout psychoanalytic and clinical treatment. The bond between psychoanalysis and art in the ideas of Bettelheim makes his works ideal for psychological literary criticism and consequently many articles have been written based on his ideas about fairy tales and myths in the past two decades. In the present study, Bettelheim's views on the functional distinctions between fairy tales and myths and the ideas of mythologists such as Mircea Eliade and Claude Lévi-Strauss have been employed to study the distinctions between fairy tales and myths.
 
2. Theoretical Framework
In Bruno Bettelheim's psychoanalytic approach, understanding the distinction between fairy tales and myths is of great importance for two reasons: First, without understanding this distinction, employing either of them instead of the other one can disrupt the fairy tales’ functions that Bettelheim has proposed for the treatment and prevention of psychological problems. Second, relying on his views in literary criticism without fully understanding these functional distinctions can undermine literary criticism.
 
3. Methodology
The present study relies on library resources and qualitative data analysis to answer the main question of the article: what are the distinctions between fairy tales and myths based on Bettelheim's psychoanalytic approach?
 
4. Findings
Determining the exact boundary between fairy tales and myths seems to be difficult or even, as some scholars have pointed out, impossible. Probably for the same reason, Bettelheim believes that no distinct boundary can be drawn between fairy tales and myths and their common function, according to him, is providing a venue for the realization of society’s experience. Although he provides a precise definition for the fairy tale and myth, he does not provide us with a comprehensive, well-organized understanding of them. Instances of contradiction can be found in his work and in some cases his views disagree with the findings of mythologists.
 
5. Conclusion
According to Bettelheim, in most cultures no clear boundary can be found between fairy tales and myth, and they both reflect the collective experience of society and people’s desire to reclaim the wisdom of the ancestors and pass it on to future generations. An important aspect of fairy tales, stressed by Bettelheim as being useful for children and as a feature distinguishing them from myths, is the hope for a happy ending, which is transferred to the audience from the very beginning. Another difference underlined by him is the polarity that can be found in fairy tales, which agrees with the mental system of children. Bettelheim believes that in dilemmas between perusing pleasure and abstaining from it in fairy tales, the reader is not directly recommended to choose either path, and it is only through imagination and interesting events that children are directed toward one way or the other. However, in myths, the audience is directly spoken to and involved in the situation.