Hello candy cravers! For today’s blogpost we will uncover the underlying motivations of the evil and wicked forces that push our beloved Hansel and Gretel into the darkness of the forest. And I’m not talking about the witch.
That’s right, many fans have already picked up on the inconsistency of the children’s father. Yes, a man portrayed to be faithful to his children yet inferior to his wife has become the subject of endless internet memes, conspiracies, and tweets alike. Though he claims to feel an inclination to be loyal to his children despite their family’s poor conditions, he also consistently abandons them. He allows his primitive desires to override his love for his own children, rendering him powerless and victim to exhibiting evil behaviors.
See what fellow candy cravers have to say:
How can we possibly justify the father’s strange behavior?
Freud buffs in the candy craver community speculate that it was the father’s id that drove him to abandon his children, despite his rational inclination to be faithful to them. According to Freud, there are three structures of the mind: the id, ego, and superego. The id is a part of a person’s unconscious, and acts to immediately satisfy instinctual impulses and desires. Meanwhile, the super-ego contrasts the id as it promotes socially acceptable behavior, while the ego works to accommodate the id’s desires within the restrictions of the super-ego.
Though Hansel and Gretel’s father clearly has a conscience and understanding of the cultural value of a family unit, his id ultimately takes control. The stepmother continuously prods him with the notion of getting rid of the children to be able to satisfy his own hunger and he gives in. Not only once, but twice
.“Once you’ve said yes, it’s hard to say no, and so it was that the woodcutter gave in again,” (144).
And so, fellow candy cravers, this leaves us with the question: once you give in to your id, are you bound to a continuous loop of satisfying your most basic needs at all costs? Can hunger overpower love?
