Myth criticism grew in part as a reaction to the formalism of New Criticism, while archetypal criticism based on Jung was never linked with any academic tradition and remained organically bound to its roots in depth psychology: the individual and collective psyche, dreams, and the analytic process. Earnest Cassirer, a social anthropologist was an important influence on myth criticism. The tragedy of Othello is not a fault of a single villain, but is rather a consequence of a wide range of feelings, judgments and misjudgments, and attempts for personal justification exhibited by all of the participants. Archetypal analysis is an appropriate model for customer heterogeneity whenever the underlying structure is best defined by the extremes. The young Venetian noblewoman, Desdemona, has eloped with the middle-aged Othello, the military commander of the armed forces of Venice. However, these fields of study contributed a lot to the development of archetypal criticism through the characters of Sir James Frazer and Carl Jung. Desdemona is oblivious to what is going on around her and stays loyal to her morals but Iagos rumours lure Othello to thinking otherwise. The fulfillment of the wedding night that should come at the climax of the comedy is relocated to act 2, with the aftermath of the courtship and the wedding now taking center stage. At mid-century, Canadian critic Northrop Frye (1912-91) introduced new distinctions in literary criticism between myth and archetype. Joseph P. Strelka, 1976); Karin Barnaby and Pellegrino DAcerino, eds., C. G. Jung and the Humanities: Toward a Hermeneutics of Culture (1990); Martin Bickman, The Unsounded Centre: Jungian Studies in American Romanticism (1980); Maud Bodkin, Archetypal Patterns in Poetry: Psychological Studies in Imagination (1934); Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays (1957); Albert Gelpi, The Tenth Muse: The Psyche of the American Poet (1975); Naomi Goldenberg, Archetypal Theory after Jung, Spring (1975); Julia Kristeva, Stabat Mater (1977, The Kristeva Reader, ed. Van Meurss bibliography conveys the great variety of Jungian writings on literature even within one language, the increasingly recognized potential for further development and use of Jungs ideas, and the growth in numbers of literary scholars falling under the influence of Jung. No products in the cart. They're not intended to be submitted as your own work, so we don't waste time removing every error. Given this background, it is not surprising to find in a 1976 essay entitled Jungian Psychology in Criticism: Theoretical Problems the statement that no purely Jungian criticism of literature has yet appeared (Baird 22). (And nope, we don't source our examples from our editing service! Consider the implications of this idea. OTHELLO: My name, that was as fresh. Source: Groden, Michael, and Martin Kreiswirth. Othello is a tragedy plan written by William Shakespeare. archetypal criticism in othelloboone county wv obituaries. Othello's Integrity One of Othello's admirable qualities is that he believes that men should be transparent and honest as he is; "Certain, men should be what they seem" (Act 3 Scene 3 Line 134). What is striking about Shakespeares alteration of Cinthios grisly tale of murder and villainy is the shift of emphasis to the provocation for the murder, the ennobling of Othello as a figure of great stature and dignity to underscore his self-destruction, and the complication of motive for the ensigns actions. Othello demonstrates all of these characteristics in the play, proving him to be a tragic hero. The first systematic application of Jungs ideas to literature was made in 1934 by Maud Bodkin in Archetypal Patterns in Poetry: An attempt is here made to bring psychological analysis and reflection to bear upon the imaginative experience communicated by great poetry, and to examine those forms or patterns in which the universal forces of our nature there find objectification (vii). Some of these include the downfall from high position Othello goes from being the general, to being convicted of being a murderer. The Women of Othello There are only three female characters in Othello, and each plays a critical role in Shakespeare's artfully crafted plot of jealousy and retribution. But heres my husband; In Re-Visioning Psychology, the published text of his 1972 Yale Terry Lectures (the same lecture series Jung gave in 1937), Hillman locates the archetypal neither in the physiology of the brain, the structure of language, the organization of society, nor the analysis of behavior, but in the processes of imagination (xi). "Now will I question assio of ianca, As he shall smile, Othello shall go mad; . Archetypal criticism gets its impetus from psychologist Carl Jung, who postulated that humankind has a "collective unconscious," a kind of universal psyche, which is manifested in dreams and myths and which harbors themes . What hooks you? Othello is the most painfully exciting and the most terrible. Of all Shakespeares tragedies . As Hillman puts it, Corbins insight that Jungs mundus archetypalis is also the mundus imaginalis that corresponds to the Islamic alam al-mithl (3) was an early move toward a reappraisal of psychology itself as an activity of poesis (24). Between William Shakespeares most expansive and philosophical tragediesHamlet and King Learis Othello, his most constricted and heart-breaking play. A tragic hero has many characteristics, 3 of them being that they must have an error in judgement, they must have a reversal of fortune, and they must recognize that the reversal of fortune was brought about by their own actions. The movie Zootopia uses animals to portray racism and sexism; predators do not like prey and vice versa. Spring: A Journal of Archetype and Culture, Spring: An Annual of Archetypal Psychology and Jungian Thought, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, Analysis of Stuart Halls Encoding/Decoding, Jacques Derrida's Structure, Sign and Play. Despite this, Desdemona continued to stay true to Othello. Further, the text offered confirmation (and poetic representation) of the only direct contribution Jung made to literary theory: a distinction between psychological and visionary texts (Collected 15:89-90). The critical annotations are astute and, given their brevity, surprisingly thorough and suggestive. He carries out his own execution for a violation that threatens social and psychic order. 364-367). Indeed, myth criticism seems singularly unaffected by any of the archetypal theorists who have remained faithful to the origins and traditions of depth, especially analytical, psychologyJames Hillman, Henri Corbin, Gilbert Durand, Rafael Lopez-Pedraza, Evangelos Christou. O, farewell! Desdemona on her deathbed, still defends her Lords actions. This heuristic distinction was formed, however, solely on psychobiographical grounds: Did the text originate in, and remain principally shaped by, the authors experience of consciousness and the personal unconscious or his or her experience at the level of the archetypal collective unconscious? Othello is first shown as a hero of war and a man of, The extent of which Othello is a tragic hero has been open to much debate; the basis on which he is judged falls to Aristotles established view of the crucial elements that distinguish whether a person is truly tragic. What is a tragic hero and why is Othello considered one? According to Hillman, that discourse was anticipated by Evangelos Christous Logos of the Soul (1963) and extended in religion (David L. Millers New Polytheism, 1974), philosophy (Edward Caseys Imagining: A Phenomenological Study, 1976), mythology (Rafael Lopez-Pedrazas Hermes and His Children, 1977), psycholinguistics (Paul Kuglers Alchemy of Discourse: An Archetypal Approach to Language, 1982), and the theory of analysis (Patricia Berrys Echos Subtle Body, 1982). . Carl Jungs Contribution to Psychoanalytic Theory. Jung and the Humanities: Toward a Hermeneutics of Culture. The three women are Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca. Desdemona senses a change in Othello and she has a feeling that she will die soon due to the hands of Othello. The contrast is most pronounced from the beginning of the play to its conclusion, switching from being calm and peaceful to acts of uncontrolled venomous rage. The play is set in Venice and Cyprus where a Moor, Othello, General of the Venetian army gets secretly married to a Venetian noblemans daughter, Desdemona. For the onlookers on stage, the final tableau of the dead Desdemona and Othello poisons sight and provokes the command to Let it be hid. The witnesses on stage cannot compute rationally what has occurred nor why, but the audience has been given a privileged view of the battle between good and evil worked out in the private recesses of a bedroom and a human soul. FREE Archetype Essay Essay - Example Essays This recurring idea of an evil witch is extremely common and archetypal. Placing responsibility in the stars - he calls Desdemona an "ill-starred wench" - is hardly a gallant course of action. Thus criticism evolving from his work is more accurately named archetypal and is quite distinct from myth criticism. An example, is that they had to overcome a huge obstacle such as love because Othello and Desdemona were in love but her father did not approve of it. reflects the archetypal villain" (Sen, ). The essays in our library are intended to serve as content examples to inspire you as you write your own essay. Archetypal Literary Criticism. But the great literary text for Jungs life and work was Johann Wolfgang von Goethes Faust, not because of its literary qualities but because he sensed that the drama expressed his own personal myth (Letters 1:309-10). When Othello cant dismiss his suspicions of his wife being unfaithful any longer he starts to lose his morality . ("Literary Criticism.") Othello is now reduced to questioning his wife's maid, Emilia, looking for evidence of Desdemona's infidelity. This explains his fascination with a text like Rider Haggards novel She: The History of an Adventure (1886-87), with its unmediated representation of the anima. As Jung himself noted: Literary products of highly dubious merit are often of the greatest interest to the psychologist (Collected 15:87-88). An archetypal critic would suggest that all human experience is linked through literature and that this experience is expressed again and again using the same patterns throughout time and space. Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature with Critical Theory. Shakespeare often focuses his plays on human nature as well as fate, which Othellos fate ended in the tragic ending due to his reversal of fortune once the claims against Desdemona begin. In-text citation: Perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand, Mythological literary critics look for archetypes, characters and/or symbols with traits that are seen throughout literature regardless of time or place. In. And so much duty as my mother showd That such a man should fall so far and so fast gives the play an almost unbearable momentum. To wronged Othellos service. His destruction is essentially precipitated by his own actions, as well as by the actions of the characters surrounding him. Othello must now face the realization of what he has done. Othello assumes that Emilia is helping Desdemona in her infidelity. Archetypes Archetypal criticism focuses on patterns in a literary work that commonly occur in other literary works. Richer than all his tribe. I will withdraw The traits of the tragic hero lead the audience to feel compassion for the helpless victim. In Cinthios story, Alfiero, the scheming ensign, lusts after the Moors wife, named Disdemona, and after she spurns his advances, Alfiero seeks vengeance by accusing her of adultery with Cassio, the Moors lieutenant. the characters in Shakespeare's play Othello ever challenge the right of a husband to murder a wife accused of adultery. Thus Jungian theory provided no clear avenue of access for those outside of psychology, and orthodox Jungians were left with little in the way of models for the psychological analysis of literature. Where a malignant and a turband Turk She is not as strong-willed like the other ladies and is Shakespeares example of the archetype of the innocence and has the bases of a flat character. 1. Beat a Venetian and tradud the state, Issues of genre, period, and language were ignored or subjected to gross generalization as Jung searched for universals in texts as disparate as the fourth-century Shepherd of Hermas, the Divine Comedy, Francesco Colonnas Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499), E. T. A. Hoffmans tales, Pierre Benoits LAtlantide (1919-20), and Henry Wadsworth Longfellows Hiawatha, as well as works by Carl Spitteler and William Blake. He had even gone as far as hitting her (4.1 134). While acknowledging the grave weaknesses of much Jungian writing on literature as unsubtle and rigid application of preconceived psychological notions and schemes resulting in particularly ill-judged or distorted readings, van Meurs still finds that sensitively, flexibly and cautiously used, Jungian psychological theory may stimulate illuminating literary interpretations (14-15). Consistent with his role as guardian of order in the state, Othello carries out his own execution, by analogy judging his act as a violation reflected by Venices savage enemy: And say besides, that in Aleppo once, Archetypal criticism is a product of both cultural anthropology and psychoanalysis which are academic fields that might seem to be far from the concept of archetypal criticism. Frazers and Jungs texts formed the basis of two allied but ultimately different courses of influence on literary history. Archetypal school of literary criticism is a type of literary criticism that is concerned with recurring myths and archetypes in symbols, characters, actions, and situations within literary pieces. Key quotation (Aside) O, you are well tuned now!But I'll set down the pegs that make this music, As honest as I am. The formerly self-sufficient Othello has now staked his life to his faith in Desdemona and their union, and she has done the same. Such characters can be found in works of fiction, long or short, and in more poetic works. Unfortunately, this got the ball rolling for Othello's inevitable downfall. Othello as a character of noble blood seems to conform to all these. The romantic climax comes in the trial scene of act 1, in which Othello success-fully defends himself before the Venetian senate against Brabantios charge that Othello has beguiled his daughter, stoln from me, and corrupted / By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks. Calmly and courteously Othello recounts how, despite the differences of age, race, and background, he won Desdemonas heart by recounting the stories of his exotic life and adventures: She loved me for the dangers I had passed, / And I loved her that she did pity them. Wonder at Othellos heroic adventures and compassion for her sympathy have brought the two opposites togetherthe young, inexperienced Venetian woman and the brave, experienced outsider. Even though Othello had a reputation as a hero, he ends up being one of the most gullible characters in the play when he completely falls into the evil trap that Iago set for him. Literary Critics on Othello. "), "An Archetype Criticism of Othello, a Play by William Shakespeare." "Othello is essentially an noble character, flawed by insecurity and a nature that is naive and unsophisticated". Othello, though, decides to kill her. Archetypal criticism, then, construed as that derived from Jungs theory and practice of archetypal (analytical) psychology, is a fledgling and much misconstrued field of inquiry with significant but still unrealized potential for the study of literature and of aesthetics in general. Rashness: The play is replete with rash decisions. And will upon the instant put thee tot. We'll take a look right away. Lon S. Roudiez, 1986); Estella Lauter and Carol Schreier Rupprecht, Feminist Archetypal Theory: Interdisciplinary Re-Visions of Jungian Thought (1985); Erich Neumann, Art and the Creative Unconscious: Four Essays (trans. A Christian Moor and general of the armies of Venice, Othello is an eloquent and physically powerful figure, respected by all those around him. The tragic heros downfall, said Aristotle, was brought upon by some error of judgement. Ironically, as in the feminist revisioning of explicitly male-biased Jungian theory, the rise in the 1980s of Reader-response theory and criticism and the impetus for canon revision have begun to contribute to a revaluation of Jung as a source of literary study. Having triumphantly bested the social and natural forces aligned against them, having staked all to the devotion of the other, Desdemona and Othello will not be left to live happily ever after, and the tragedy will grow out of the conditions that made the comedy. In the essay Frye critically analyses literature against the backdrop of rituals and myths. Egypt) and titles (e.g. New theoretical approaches appear to legitimize orthodox Jungian ways of reading, sanction Jungs range of literary preferences from She to Faust, and support his highly affective reaction to Ulysses, which he himself identified (positively) as a subjective confession (i5:io9n). In his "The . Othello makes an error in judgement, which leads to his change in fortune, and later realizes that his actions are what caused said change in fortune. His expression of his jealousy quickly devolves from the conventional"Farewell the tranquil mind"to the absurd: Farewell the plum'd troops and the big wars. 3. The Moor is eventually captured, tortured, and slain by Disdemonas relatives, while the ensign dies during torture for another crime. However, the Moor and Alfiero join forces to kill Disdemona, beating her to death with a stocking filled with sand before pulling down the ceiling on her dead body to conceal the crime as an accident. Othello accused her of being unfaithful, when she never was. He has promoted Cassio to lieutenant while leaving Iago as ensign. Archetypal Criticism Archetypal criticism argues that archetypes determine the form and function of literary works, . These archetypalists, focusing on the imaginaland making central the concept that in English they call soul, assert their kinship with Semiotics and Structuralism but maintain an insistent focus on psychoid phenomena, which they characterize as meaningful. Twere now to be most happy, for I fear Furthermore, they must also have a fatal flaw, that eventually leads to their downfall. Come, go with me apart. 125-126). He has already judged and condemned her, but he is still hunting evidence, seeking to justify to himself the stand he has already taken. My life and education both do learn me I know not ift be true; But I, for mere suspicion in that kind, Will do as if for surety (2.1.
Foul Mouthed Parrot Joke, Eastern District Of California Court Calendar, Christine Lahti Daughter, Articles A