Bettelheim Cinderella

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Critique of ““Cinderella”: A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts.”
In the article ““Cinderella”: A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts.”, Bruno Bettelheim expresses how Cinderella is apparent in the lives of citizens. Cinderella, “the best known fairy tale” (278), depicts the struggles of sibling rivalry. Sibling rivalry becomes a concern due to a number of reasons, such as one child feeling inferior or sensing he or she deserves to be degraded. Despite jealousy commonly intervening between siblings, the parents fail to recognize the issue and therefore, are unable to resolve the problem. Although Bruno Bettelheim in ““Cinderella”: A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts.” claims that Cinderella causes sibling …show more content…

The background information was meant to help readers understand the story, yet this material appears of very little relevance to the underlying meaning. Although the origins of the fairy-tale story were irrelevant, Bettelheim states examples which help the reader relate to the topic of sibling rivalry. He shares examples such as the story of Cain and Able to connect the reader to the biblical side of destruction and greed (279). Granted Bettelheim incorporates useless information in the beginning of the article, he is able to strengthen his argument by including references to biblical examples of sibling …show more content…

Bettelheim claims that this time in a child’s life is completely normal and most children experience this feeling. Once again, Bettelheim fails to strengthen this idea with facts. Bettelheim attempts to convenience readers that the oedipal period also causes sibling rivalry and destruction. This oedipal period is a theory and cannot be used as a cause of sibling rivalry. Therefore, readers are forced to make their own decision about this unique time period in a child’s

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