Cinderella: A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts by Bruno Bettelheim - Essay Example

Cinderella, a girl degraded by her stepmother and siblings, rises to a heroine position at the end resolving the conflicts she faced. The story inspires confidence. It is related to children towards the end of their oedipal stage because of the feelings of guilt overwhelming them. The feelings present the sense of unworthy of the parents’ love at a prime time of high need to it. The feelings lead to fear of rejection by the child giving them the distress of others being favored over them.

Therefore, sibling rivalry arising. Among the fairy tales best known, “Cinderella” puts a mark. The story has its origin related to German and Chinese culture. Bettelheim applies to reason that the bona fide meaning behind the fairy tale, “Cinderella” is sibling rivalry. However, he theorizes that the use of stepmother and stepsisters is intentional to condone the antagonism present among actual brothers and sisters. Granted, a realistic situation does not tend to be as inordinate as that of Cinderella, in the child’s perspective, they feel just as degraded.

The phrase “Sibling rivalry” is used by Bettelheim to advertise a pattern of intense emotions evoked in a child. Sympathy and empathy are present in a child’s feelings toward Cinderella (Behrens & Rosen, 2008). A child may be aware that their situation is not as worse as Cinderella’s but not fully be able to look at his own predicament in an unbiased manner. Bettelheim points out that a child tends to see things in an abstract way, therefore in the majority of circumstances, the way they feel is an inconsistency of excerption on Cinderella.

A child’s imagination brings a feeling of degradation by their siblings as Cinderella by her stepsisters. However, the other aspect of this story that brings appeal to children is a successful conclusion. A child will hope for the same ending, a rescue from the current situation. The happy conclusion gives conviction and optimism to the child lacking the confidence to gain triumph in the future. Bettelheim suggests that the fairy tale gives hope to children. At the same point, every child is overwhelmed by the feeling of debasing due to lack of confidence; When something unpleasant happens to them, they feel as if they deserve it.

The child craves assurance of simplicity and purity in which they assume their siblings inherit, causing animosity between siblings. The children hope for equality among themselves. Fairy tales give images to children in which they can express their perception of how they feel they are treated. Bettelheim uses a five-and-a-half-year-old girl as an example who felt being treated as Cinderella. Not only did she use images from the fairy tale to exaggerate her feelings, but demonstrated the intuitive message she gained from the story by stating her sister’s jealousy of her beauty.

The girl was able to subliminally notice Cinderella's prevalence to the stepsisters and stepmother (Behrens & Rosen, 2008). Bettelheim reinforces this by pointing out that Cinderella is saved by her prince at the end of the story. The child understands that firstly it is through Cinderella’s own efforts and her personality that enables her to transcend gorgeously her degraded state, despite the insuperable obstacles. The child gains confidence in expecting the same. The story relates to what has caused both the child’s conscious and unconscious guilt.

“Cinderella” illustrates sibling rivalry in its most extreme manner: the jealousy and antagonism of the stepsisters, and Cinderella’s sufferings.