Analysis of Hänsel & Gretel

Attention:

How many of you, when you were younger (or perhaps even still today)
have made those little gingerbread houses out of pieces of graham crackers
or even real gingerbread, gumdrops, candycanes, M&Ms and other stuff?

You know what I’m talking about. You use frosting as the cement mortar to
keep the walls together, they always come out looking creepy and
completely unappetizing.

The question also occurs to you as to why you’re even doing this? Spending
so much time designing and building something that’s meant to be
destroyed, broken, devoured and digested…

Well, it might not surprise you to know that the history of the Gingerbread
House (or, das Hexenhäuschen as it’s called to in German) comes from the
very famous fairytale: Hänsel & Gretel.

But, it might surprise you to learn that the paradox of specifically building a
house that’s meant to be destroyed and consumed is also a central part of the
psychology of the Hänsel & Gretel story. A story, that (according to
psychoanalyst and author Bruno Bettelheim) deals primarily with the
journey from the destructive immaturity of oral fixation to competent and
mature adulthood.

Purpose:

In this short presentation, I will discuss Hänsel & Gretel within the larger
sphere of the Grimm’s collection and contemporary popular culture.

Following that I will offer an analysis of the story’s value system along
with important symbolic representations present in this classic fairytale.
Preview:

To do that, I will provide you with a brief summary of the story,

followed by its historical, regional, and cultural contexts.

Next, I’ll discuss a previous interpretation of Hänsel & Gretel

and, finally, I’ll offer my own analysis of the story and its symbols.

Summary:

Hänsel and Gretel is the story of a woodcutter who lives in poverty with his
wife and two children: aptly named, Hänsel & Gretel.

When famine strikes, the children are abandoned in the woods at their
stepmother’s request, but they find their way home by following a trail of
pebbles that Hansel leaves behind.

Soon after they return, though, hunger sets in once again and the children are
brought out a second time. But this time, Hansel is unable to gather stones,
so he leaves a trail of breadcrumbs.

Unfortunately the birds of the forest eat the breadcrumbs, so they can’t find
their way home.

Hansel & Gretel get lost, but finally arrive at a house made of bread, cake,
and sugar and they begin to eat away at it.

The old woman who owns the house takes them in, but the next morning she
reveals herself to be a witch who has plans of eating Hansel, and Gretel must
help her prepare the meal.

In the climactic scene, Gretel shoves the witch into the oven.

Having escaped from the clutches of the evil witch, Hansel and Gretel gather
treasures from the house and return home to their father. In the meantime,
stepmother has died and they live happily ever after.
History:

The first recorded version of Hansel & Gretel is Wilhelm Grimm’s hand-
written manuscript from 1810.

According to his annotations published in 1856, the story comes from

multiple tales originating in the German province of Hessen, but most agree
that the definitive version was told to him by (his future wife) Henriette
Dorothea Wild.

The first printed version of Hansel & Gretel appeared in the original Kinder-
und Hausmarchen published in 1812. Since then, multiple changes to the
story were made. These occurred in the following order:

In the second edition published in 1819, the Grimms expanded the story
(after the death of the witch) to include a duck that carries Hansel & Gretel
over a steam one at a time.

After the second edition (in 1819) father tricks the children into thinking
they are hearing the sound of his axe by tying a branch to a tree.

In the fourth edition (1840), the Grimms made the critical decision to change
the “mother” character to a “stepmother.”

It’s only after the fifth edition (1843), that a white bird leads the children to
the witch’s house.

Also after the fifth edition (1843), comparisons between the stepmother and
the witch became evident through language (they both refer to the children
as “lazy” at various points).

In Ludwig Bechstein’s “Deutsches Marchenbuch” (1845), the story “Vom

Hanschen und Gretchen die in die roten Beeren gingen” appears and
expands the story further to include a white bird who leads the children back
to their home.

After the Grimms’ fifth edition (1850) the witch was described in similar
fashion to the witch in Jorinde & Joringel (KHM 69).
Literature:

Now, let’s consider the consequences of this for how characters and narrative
represent the value-system of the story…

Psychoanalyst and author, Bruno Bettelheim in his 1976 book, The Uses of
Enchantment interprets Hänsel & Gretel as a story about parental separation
anxiety and the journey from childhood to adulthood.

According to Bettelheim, breadcrumbs and the witch’s house represent the

“primary oral urge” of the child to have all of his needs met by the mother.

But as the story progresses, and the witch threatens the children with cannibalism,
they are forced to adapt and rely upon their own resourcefulness to survive.

With this, a vital transformation has been made and the children have taken a step
toward adulthood.

Analysis:

The value system of any folktale is revealed by examining character traits in

reference to narrative outcomes. Because folktales depict a world that is
idealized by culture, it is correct to conclude that valued traits will be rewarded and
undesirable traits will be punished.

Consider the following characters and the traits they possess:

Father vs. Stepmother: It’s Stepmother’s idea to abandon the children. Father
thinks it’s better to “share his last bite with his children.” Stepmother is, therefore,
selfish, while father is generous and cares for his children.

Hänsel vs. Father: Father is weak and allows himself to be bullied into
submission by his wife. Hänsel, to the contrary, is resourceful and optimistic.
Stepmother vs. Witch: As in the Wizard of Oz, stepmother and witch are one in
the same, especially after the changes made beyond the 5th edition when each one
uses the same language toward the children. Both of these characters are greedy as
demonstrated by their respective desires to eat (in the first place) the children’s
food and (in the second) the children themselves.

Hänsel vs. Gretel: Like the Stepmother and the Witch, we must (to some extent)
see Hansel & Gretel as the same character. As brother and sister in a dire situation,
they are as close as can be and they always look out for one another. At the
beginning of the story, it’s Hansel who’s resourceful and comforting to his sister,
but by the end, she has saved him from the clutches of the Witch and led them
home again. They are (unlike the evil Stepmother)…loyal to one another.

Based on the outcomes of the story, then, we must conclude that the loyalty (of
Hansel & Gretel to each other), their mutual resourcefulness, and the generosity
among Father and his children are rewarded. These are the values of the story:
Loyalty, Resourcefulness, and Generosity.

On the contrary, the greed and selfishness of the Stepmother and Witch are reviled
and symbolically discarded with the horrible death of the witch and the
subsequently learned death of the Stepmother.

In examining the symbols of Hansel & Gretel, Bruno Bettelheim notes specifically
in his influential 1976 book: The Uses of Enchantment, that the breadcrumbs and
the gingerbread house represent the destructive, immature oral drives of the
children. Simply put, rather than tapping into their own internal resources, the
breadcrumbs and house represent the primitive and childish urge to be fed and
nurtured by mother. At the same time, the Stepmother herself and her rejection of
the children gives voice to the repressed separation anxiety present in all children
when they realize they cannot eternally depend upon their parents for support.

Beyond Bettelheim’s interpretation, though, it’s possible to pry into the symbols
that were added to the story over the years: specifically the duck and the white
birds.
The Duck: The individual trips on the back of the duck represent the ultimate
distinction and maturation of the children. They are now two seperate and unique
individuals that stand apart from each other. Their gender identity is determined
and they’re ready for the adult world and relationships and economic conditions.

The White Birds: Doves. The Holy Spirit. A religious message from the Calvinist
Wilhelm Grimm. The Holy Spirit never abandons you even if your parents do.
Religion is also a means of coping with the parental separation anxiety that we all
feel.

Conclusion:

So, to conclude, I would identify the central values of this tale to be loyalty,
resourcefulness and generosity. Further, I would indicate in addition to
Bettelheim’s insightful psychoanalytic analysis that the white birds are indicators
of a sublimated impulse to control parental separation anxiety in adults: something
that we call religion. To the extent that religion gives us a surrogate mother or
father figure who looks after us in this life and beyond, it is nothing more than a
crutch we use to deal with the primal trauma faced when we realize that mother’s
love is as finite as it is conditional.