Bettelheim questions

11)      Bettelheim argues that fairy tales, such as Cinderella, teach children about morals and good vs. evil, through providing clear cut good characters, e.g. Cinderella herself, and bad characters, such as the evil stepmother. By doing this, children are able to learn that doing and feeling bad things, such as not liking a parent, is not a bad thing to do. Furthermore, they also allow children to come to these decisions themselves, rather than being forced into them.

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22)      Bettelheim describes the ‘duality’ of the fairy tale genre, which is also associated with the gothic. This idea of ‘duality’ explains why there are rarely purely good and purely bad characters in the gothic, as everyone is realistically a mix of both. The purpose of the gothic is similar to that of the fairy tale genre, i.e. to allow people to see the distinction between good and bad and to make their own decisions about it. However, the gothic does this in a more complex way than fairy tales.

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33)      Carter mixes the fairy tale and gothic genres in ‘The Bloody Chamber’ in order to show the reader the flaws within society, for example the way in which women are treated, and then to allow them to think about the wider implications of that issue and also to think about how to deal with it.