564. The Meaning Of: Hansel & Gretel

The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast

DailyWire+

Education, Science, Society & Culture

4.6 • 34.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this narrative analysis, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson breaks down the Grimm Brothers’ “Hansel and Gretel,” revealing the psychological and symbolic dimensions hidden within the classic tale. From the selfishness of weak fathers and malevolent stepmothers to the false promises of hyper-solicitous care, Peterson explores how the abandonment of children into the unknown mirrors moral failure at home—and how faith, courage, and sibling love can redeem it. With echoes of biblical stories and and all too modern warning about overprotective parenting, this fairy tale becomes a rich allegory for navigating betrayal, scarcity, and emerging maturity. This episode was filmed on July 5th, 2025. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Mickey could try to sell his car privately.
0:03.0	Or get it sold today with we buy any car.
0:07.0	He could spend days on end trying to sell to a bunch of time wasters.
0:13.0	Or selling a flash and head to the fun fair with the kids.
0:17.0	Proper gutted.
0:20.0	Or proper impressed. To get a quote in 30 seconds, kids. Proper gutted.
0:22.5	Or proper impressed.
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1:01.3	Hello, everybody.
1:12.3	So in the past, I have told or read stories for children and offered an analysis.
1:22.1	And I recently released a new episode of that sort discussing the Grimm's Brothers Snow White.
1:24.5	And people seem pretty happy with that.
1:26.2	I'll read you a couple of comments.
1:28.7	Can we have a whole psychoanalytic series on fairy tales? So many hidden lessons. It also reminds me of the Peterson lectures I listened to
1:35.7	on the Lion King, Peter Pan and Pinocchio. That was some years ago. Yes, more of these. Please do more
1:42.9	of these. All the best from the UK.
	...

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