Presented at the CiRCE Spring Regional Conference 2022.

Where is the mother in fairy tales? Why is the stepmother always evil? What saves the child in the mother’s apparent absence? Fairy tales once served as the means to impart wisdom and scripture to children. Through the use of symbols and archetypes, they formulated a potent language by which to express reality. Because of their depth, this talk will turn to fairy tales and ask, “will beauty save the child?”