Summary of “ ‘Cinderella’: A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts

Bruno Bettleheim, the author of “ ‘Cinderella’: A story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts,” believes that “Cinderella” is one of the greatest fairy tales because it relates to something that everyone has to deal with at some point in their life, sibling rivalry. However, he believes that it goes deeper than that. The story reaches not only the conscious mind, but also the unconscious mind. He believes that the mind has two important elements in which it uses to influence how we behave and what we believe. These two elements are our conscious and unconscious minds. Because Cinderella is a girl whom is degraded by her step siblings and step-mother, and then is risen to position of heroin at the end, she is seen to have resolved her conflicts. The story sends messages to the subliminal mind of how to solve conflicts in realistic situations of sibling rivalry. Not only that, but it also inspires confidence. However, this fairy tale most relates to those children ...