Fairy Tales: The Magic Mirror

Perceptions.

"The Lion’s Castle" reflects Egan’s fourth paradigm of literary understanding for it addresses issues in this phase of development. In the ironic stage, general schemes are insufficient to represent the complexity of how one views reality. What has been previously viewed as truth is, in this stage, empty. The individual still seeks truth but now realizes that the particulars can be established as truth, not the general schemes (Egan, 1979).

This marks the end of narcissism. Adulthood is being able to pursue knowledge unfettered by immaturity (Egan, 1979). In previous stages, it seemed enough to marry and live happily ever after. In this stage, there is life after the happy ending that must be addressed: there will continue to be struggles within an intimate relationship and these struggles need to be confronted and resolved for one to be whole and complete.

In the story "The Lion’s Castle", everything up to and including the union of the girl and the lion is background information. The initial incident is the decision that the lion will accompany the girl to her sister’s wedding. Although living in the castle with the lion is the symbol for marriage, the actual marriage of the two at the end is the symbol of resolution.

"The Lion’s Castle" is a fairy tale in the mature phase of development and corresponds to the characteristics of Egan’s ironic phase. Reality becomes more complex and "The Lion’s Castle" reflects the complexity of reality through a more involved, complex plot. The journey takes longer; it goes through more steps. The setting changes rapidly. The challenges are numerous and complicated on the heels of more challenges. Compared to Jack having to climb the beanstalk (albeit three times) and Cinderella having to pick peas out of the ashes (albeit twice), the girl in "The Lion’s Castle" faces more complex and difficult tasks. She must follow the dove’s blood and feather trail as it flies. She must fly across the treacherous sea obeying specific instructions, defeat a dragon in battle, find the castle where the lion/dove/prince is held captive, search for her love, then outwit the princess and win the prince’s heart again.

What previously has been viewed as truth is now empty. In fairy tales from previous stages, the energy was directed to overcoming internal psychological obstacles. Hansel and Gretel had to decide to face their situation and overcome their oral fixation. They were at first unwilling to leave the nurturing mother. She forced them out on their own assuming the role of the evil stepmother. Hansel and Gretel still refuse to gain some independence, as represented by their return home following the white pebbles. Eventually, they accept their independence because they have no alternative. Snow White needed her time in latency for her emotional readiness to catch up to her sexual readiness. The Princess in "The Frog Prince" eventually overcame her repulsion and with that change emerged a new perspective of her partner. All three categories prepare the protagonist for a better relationship with self and others.

In "The Lion’s Castle", the protagonist is already integrated psychologically. Therefore, the "previous truth" or previous worldviews are empty. They are no longer useful to support the final stages of maturity. In this story, as in the ironic stage, the individual must reach farther outside her/himself to affect the life of another. The girl has to inconvenience herself, risk her life to seek, rescue, and bring back the lion/prince. The heroine’s quest involves committing her life selflessly to encourage the transformation of another . The end result is, of course, the restoration of their relationship. Whereas in other stages the focus is on self-development and the result is self-transformation, in this phase, the reaching out changes someone else’s life. According to Bettleheim (1977), that is maturity and is our ultimate goal as human beings.