564. The Meaning Of: Hansel & Gretel
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Hello everybody. So in the past I have Told or read. Stories for children and offered An analysis. And I recently released a new Episode of that sort. discussing the Grimms Brothers Snow White. And people seem pretty happy with that. I'll read you a couple of comments. Can we have a whole psychoanalytic series on fairy tales? So many hidden lessons. It also reminds me of the Peterson lectures I listened to on the Lion King, Peter Pan and Pinocchio. That was some years ago. Yes, more of these. Please do more of these. All the best from the UK. Storytime with doctor Peterson. Too awesome.
Well
The episode proved quite popular and people's responses were very positive and I like doing narrative analysis.
What is Dr. Peterson’s opening premise for analyzing Hansel and Gretel?
Um and so we're gonna try another one today. Hansel and Gretel. And you all know that story, so we'll see how it goes. Hard by a great forest dwelt a poor woodcutter. with his wife and two children. The boy was called Hansel and the girl Gretel. He had little to bite and to break, and once when great scarcity fell on the land, he could no longer procure daily bread. Now when he thought this over by night in his bed and tossed about in his anxiety, he groaned and said to his wife more about her in a moment What is to become of us? How are we to feed our poor children when we no longer have anything even for ourselves? Now you see, there's something Troublesome right there already. Because His priorities are backwards.
He says when we no longer have anything even for ourselves, well, a father with his priorities right. would be more concerned about his children's hunger than his own. And so The teller of the tale, the writer, the author of the tale, sets up the situation for us with that. Foolishness. This woodcutter is Selfish, and as we'll see also weak. And That places his children at great risk. How are we to feed our poor children when we no longer have anything even for ourselves? prioritizing himself first. I'll tell you what, husband, answered the woman, early tomorrow morning, we will take the children out into the forest to where it is the thickest. There we will light a fire for them. and give each of them one piece of bread more, and then we'll go to our work and leave them alone.
They will not find their way home again, and we shall be rid of them. No, wife, said the man, I will not do that. How can I bear to leave my children alone in the forest? The wild animals would soon come. And tear them to pieces. Oh, thou fool said she, then we must all four die of hunger. Thou mayest as well plane the planks for our coffins. And she left him no peace until he consented. But I feel very sorry for the poor children all the same, said the man. Well, there's quite a tale of domestic catastrophe in that opening paragraph, because his wife, who turns out to be the children's stepmother, as we see in the next paragraph, is quite the horrid piece of work, and he doesn't stand up to her. He proclaims that he feels sorry for his children, but he doesn't
throw his wife out of the house, which would be approximately the appropriate move under such circumstances, when her proclivity is to not only ensure that she's fed first, which makes her a very bad mother, but also to trick the children, take them to where it's maximally frightening, the darkest part of the forest, leave them there, and then harass her weak husband to death until he agrees. Now, another thing we might give some thought to with this opening is Why? the poverty exists. And we could feel sorry for the poor woodcutter and his poor New wife. Or we could note very carefully that their poverty might have something to do with their misplaced priorities and their selfishness. So let me give you a counterexample.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:28
2
What is Dr. Peterson’s opening premise for analyzing Hansel and Gretel?
1:28–8:19
3
How does the story’s opening illustrate parental selfishness and scarcity?
8:19–17:15
4
Why does the stepmother’s plan to abandon the children reveal moral failure at home?
17:15–25:44
5
What symbolic meaning does the forest hold for the children’s unknown future?
25:44–34:37
6
How do Hansel’s pebble‑trail and Gretel’s sharing demonstrate sibling reciprocity?
34:37–42:50
7
What does the witch’s candy house represent about false virtue and hidden danger?
42:50–50:25
8
How do the children’s cleverness and bravery defeat the witch and secure treasure?
50:25–54:35