Some Theoretical Approaches to Reading FolktalesStructuralist and Psychoanalytical ApproachesFree Online Text Of Little Red CapFree Online Text Of Grimm's Cinderella |
The question of how a text should be interpreted dates back to the days when Plato and Aristotle pondered the same question. Over time, scholars have attempted to narrow the scope of focus to simple separable elements of a text, which should be used for interpretation. These elements may include for example: the time period the text was written, by whom it was written, the form in which it is written, its overt functions, the individual characters' personalities, symbols present, etc. As the scopes became narrower, and elements of the text became separable, so too did various literary schools of critical theory develop. Theories based on the separable elements might also have gained support from other fields of scientific study. By early 20th century, theories on analyzing literary texts have gained momentum with help from a variety of disciplines, including and not limited to: linguistics, anthropology, psychology, economics, biology, sociology, and the humanities. These along with other disciplines have aided in the flourishing of structuralist and psychoanalytical theories. In this essay, I will summarize each of these theoretical approaches with examples from fairy tales.
Structuralism, as the name implies, emphasizes the importance of structure and order to the heterogeneity of a text (1). The foundation for structuralism can be traced back to linguistics, the scientific study of language, which in many instances argues that language should be studied as if it were frozen in time and cut transversely like a leaf. What will result is a vision of the entire language system as it exists in implied or unconscious fashion in any spoken utterance. Therein reside the rules of the system that lend order to the language. Likewise, if a text is studied in a similar fashion, therein the reader should also find the order or structure that lends uniformity to the text. Two notable proponents of this theory are Vladimir Propp and Claude Levi Strauss. Propp, Author of Morphology of the Folktale, sought out, scientifically, to elucidate the innate order that existed in a wide range of texts. Propp studied over a hundred Russian folktales and came to the conclusion that there is indeed an innate binding pattern, which constitutes their morphology. This inner structure or repeating pattern he observed in the tales he read is described and summarized by him in The Functions of Dramatis Personae. Here is a truncated version of the pattern as summarized by Propp.
These are the first six of thirty one such functions. Immediately, one can use the first seven and identify their presence in Little Red Cap, better known as Little Red Riding Hood. A brief analysis reveals that the young girl is asked to leave from home and go to her grandmothers (I). She is then told not to leave her path (II). The young girl breaks this interdiction (III) after being persuaded by the wolf/villain (IV) to collect flowers for her grandmother along the way. The wolf also collects information about where her grandmother lives and where Little Red Cap is going, in order to prepare himself to eat her (V). Later, while at the grandmother's house, the wolf attempts to disguise himself in order to deceive Little Red Cap (VI)...And so the analysis can continue. Propp's Functions of Dramatis Personae can readily be applied to the adventure tales involving boys in pursuit of something, usually the marriage of a beautiful princess. Propp's work arguably set the stage for further advancement of the structuralist approach to understanding folktales.
During the middle of the 20th century, Claude Levi-Strauss, aided by his strong background in anthropology, observed that structure within myths resides in the form of binary oppositions, i.e., night/day, good/evil, nature/culture. Levi-Strauss saw the existence of these oppositions in nature and naturally in the human mind and therefore expressed in tales(4). These tales may reveal the mediations used to resolve the issue between the oppositions created by the binary. Returning back to our example of Little Red Cap, the binary opposition posed there is nature/culture, where the wolf, representative of nature, may over power Little Red Cap, representative of culture. The mediation used to solve this problem is the hunter's pair of scissors used to remove the humans from the belly of the wolf and then he packs the wolf's abdomen with stones in order to drown him. In this case culture, which is a human entity, transcends nature in order to resolve the conflict posed by the binary opposition.
While Vladimir Propp might have elucidated the inner structure or pattern of the folktale, Claude Levi-Strauss provides grounds for why it is structured the way it is and how to possibly interpret it. Both, however, fall short of providing a thorough understanding of why humans think as they posit. This question is taken up by another school of thought, namely psychoanalysis.
Psychoanalysis seeks to provide psychological meaning and interpretation of folktales. Though such a theory has a wide range of possibilities and ideas, early boundaries were set by two notable proponents of psychoanalysis, specifically, Sigmund Freud, known as the father of psychoanalysis and Carl Jung, his student. For Freud, the creation or origin of the folktale may be very similar if not identical to the creation or origin of a dream (2). There are three components to the dream (3). These components are: The work of condensation, the work of displacement and the work of manifestation. Freud collectively calls these components, the dream work. All the components of the dream work, except the work of manifestation, reside in the unconscious compartment of the psyche. These are thoughts or ideas that are repressed, and not allowed to be expressed in civil society. They do, however, manifest themselves during the dream, in the absence of civil society. The putting together of these thoughts and the resulting visual image, one experiences while dreaming is the work of manifestation. For Freud and his followers, a similar process is involved in the construction of fairy tales, i.e., the images presented in the fairytale, may indeed be a manifestation of thoughts or ideas put together that in no other form allowed in civil society. Freud, in defining the psyche, identified three realms therein, the id, ego and superego. The id is the repository for suppressed thoughts and ideas, while the superego contains all the social laws and morals in perfect form, and ego is the balance between the two, which the individual learns to present to society, i.e., he is not to bad and not all perfect, but nonetheless has shown development and is acceptable. Therefore in the case of the dream, it is the repressed ideas within the id that manifest during the dream. To briefly demonstrate how one can apply psychoanalysis to understand the meaning of a folktale let's use Grimm's version of Cinderella as an example. In constructing the tale the original teller might have attempted to emphasize the importance of accepting ones "dirty" side as well as ones "pretty" side. To start off, the name Cinderella derives from cinders, which means ashes. This is where she sleeps,"by the hearth in the cinders", a very repulsive environment, used for derogation and mockery by her step sisters. This environment in which Cinderella finds herself is one that leaves her covered in dirt and unappealing to everyone, i.e., not accepted by civil society. Her state may represent Cinderella's id. Later on when it is time to go to the ball, which may represent civil society, where all perfect laws and morals are practiced, Cinderella is forbidden to attend. This may represent prevention of her full development, as she in not allowed exposure to the superego. However, with the help of birds, she is able to obtain entrance into the realm of the superego, i.e., the ball. Here she meets the prince, who sees her in great beauty or perfection, her superego. This however, isn't enough for Cinderella, because she doesn't want to be viewed as the perfection of civil society. So when the prince seeks her out via the slipper, she remains in rags, but only washes her face and hands for him, before trying on the slipper. Once the slipper fits, the prince notices that the woman of perfection is indeed partly imperfect and is covered in dirt or to put it psycho-analytically showing traces of the id. This combination of the id and superego, which pleases the prince, indicates that Cinderella has developed an ego, which allows her to balance the id and superego in a form that is acceptable to civil society. This may be one way in which the fairytale can be interpreted via psychoanalysis. However, as stated earlier, Carl Jung was also a strong proponent of using psychoanalytical theory to interpret fairytales. Jung's version of psychoanalysis included what he termed The Collective Unconscious, which for Jung was a collection of behavioral archetypes with which human beings are born. Examples of these archetypes include the anima and animus. The anima is the archetypal image of the female that each male has within him. The animus is the archetypal male image that the female has within her. These archetypes are further broken down into the various types of female and male behavioral traits. During growth and as the individual comes into oneself, he or she must internalize the archetypes of the opposite sex in order to fully develop. To understand how one can apply Jung's psychoanalytical approach, we can again turn to Grimm's version of Cinderella. Instead of seeking individuation via development of the ego, we can seek individuation via rejection and acceptance of archetypes. For instance, Cinderella's wanting to marry the prince may represent her need to develop her animus, while at the same time rejecting her step sisters at the end when the birds peck their eyes out, may represent rejection of the over-devious side of the anima. These steps must be taken to fully develop into an individual.
In conclusion, this essay was written to identify some of the ways in which texts can be analyzed. While one approach may provide us with form and structure, another may provide us with meaning and interpretation. One should keep in mind there is no one theory that can answer every question, but a fusion of theories or an understanding of several may provide a thorough understanding of a particular text.
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-O. James
© Orin James 2014