This seminar explores the Grimms’ fairy tale “The Girl Without Hands” from a Jungian perspective, with particular attention to the dynamics of the negative father complex. We will begin with a brief overview of fairy tale interpretation as articulated by Marie-Louise von Franz, focusing on how fairy tales reveal archetypal patterns and psychic development.

Through symbolic analysis of this haunting narrative, we will consider how internalized parental complexes—especially the father’s shadow aspects—can sever us from our instinctual life, emotional needs, and capacity for agency. The tale presents a profound psychological drama: how ambition, power, and unconscious parental projections can bind the psyche in a devilish bargain, cutting us off from what we most deeply desire.

By tracing the heroine’s path from mutilation to restoration, we will examine how suffering, endurance, and symbolic rebirth contribute to the healing of psychic wounds. Ultimately, the tale offers a painful but redemptive map for reclaiming one’s feeling life and integrating a more conscious, life-affirming relationship to the inner masculine.