The general aim of a fairytale is to entertain but the psychoanalysts would say that underneath the entertainment value of the tale lies the real meanings that focuses on the readers subconscious and uncovers material not consciously present in the mind of the reader but hidden away until the thoughts are provoked into life. Fairy tales can mean different things to different people; each finds a different type of sanctuary within the world of the make believe.

The general view is that fairytales reflect patterns of emotional life, and they are things that we can relate to whether that be directly or indirectly due to our ability to recognize certain factors of the tales. Zipes, a theorist of fairytales believed that it

Grimm's story of Hansel and Gretel is an example of underlying hidden meanings that cannot be easily missed or ignored. The typical situation of that period that is described in the story was a poor and peasant family, a family with specific aspirations and dreams that a peasant family would have back then, today of course a similar family would have similar dreams of wanting things they could not have. The tale of Hansel and Gretel is the most politically and socially correct tale of all of Grimm's creations. The situation in which they find themselves in was not uncommon in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, especially in Europe. The desperateness of their predicament was almost natural for any family at the time. Those who were not members of the aristocracy or bourgeoisies upper and middle classes had a tough time battling to merely survive. The fact that a father was willing to sacrifice his own children for his survival shows the seriousness and the selfishness of the situation. This could not be read and go unnoticed by a reader.

The fairytale world is a good model to a child because it is realistic and shadows the then 'modern issues'. They show a world in which evil is a real force and that good does not always triumph. Bettelheim suggests that because the fairytales are so 'matter of fact' in their presentation of evil, they can help children to come to terms with their own unconscious feelings of aggression and hatred, therefore helping to dissemble unconscious conflicts in their mind. A child will not be able to fully assess and comprehend the moral path and meanings laid out in a fairy tale like an adult would, but with frequent interaction with the story they will become accustomed to it and understand what the apparently simple meanings really imply.

Bettelheim suggested that the fairytales were so affective because they hit upon a 'raw nerve' with our dreams and wants, and this can be explained in the story of Hansel and Gretel. The very fact that such a poor family, who couldn't afford to feed themselves, end up stumbling across a sweet and sugar house is typically apt for the time. The readers of these stories would have been the poor and the peasants - told by word and mouth - and their one true dream would have been to have sufficient food to eat. The story is a struggle of people who want more and that is why we can relate so well to it - simply because we always want more too. Our subconscious mind who be envious of anyone who had what we wanted and desperate for more of hat we could not have. The pattern of emotional and social life in the story is reflected in our own lives. The theory of dreams says that in our dreams our secret expressions and our desires are exposed. The dreams of the peasant family was to have more food and when it came down to it, the children were willing to go to great lengths to obtain it, including pushing the witch into the oven. Freud said that probing deeper into the dreams of people establish what makes us tick and the very fact that the dream of Hansel and Gre

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2053
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)