Bettelheim's Three Pigs

Dear Dr Hayley,

In his The Uses of Enchantment, Bruno Bettelheim offers a reading of the story of the Three Little Pigs as the triumph of the reality principle over the pleasure principle. Briefly, according to Bettelheim, the first two pigs build their houses 'as quickly and effortlessly as they can, so that they can play …' which shows that they are governed by 'immediate gratification'. Heedless of the 'dangers of reality', they are eaten by the wolf; whereas the third pig, who is 'able to postpone his desire to play', builds a sturdy brick house and defeats the wolf (Bettelheim, 1978, p. 42). Yet for all its plausibility, Bettelheim's interpretation contains major sins of both omission and commission: it fails to explain the story's most striking and engaging element and also misdescribes its leading character.

Bettelheim's major sin of omission is his failure to explain the huffing, puffing and blowing of the wolf. Why, in short, does the wolf try to blow down the pigs' houses when he might easily push them down or kick them down? Bettelheim seems to recognize that this is probably the most engaging feature of the story, for he says: 'Children are enraptured when the huffing and puffing of the wolf at the pigs' door is acted out for them' (Bettelheim, 1978, p. 41). Yet he offers no explanation of the wolf's anomalous mode of attack, or the rapture it produces in children.

Among Bettelheim's sins of commission is that there is no mention in the Halliwell (1874) version, which Bettelheim uses (note 13), that the first two pigs build their houses quickly so that they can play. Far more serious, however, is Bettelheim's characterization of the wolf: 'The wild and destructive wolf [he says, p. 42] stands for all asocial, unconscious, devouring powers …' But this is profoundly untrue. The wolf is persistently courteous, restrained and conventional. He politely asks to be admitted to the pigs' houses. Again, when he is unable to gain access to the third pi