Carl Jung

Jungian criticism attempts to explore the connection between literature and what Carl Jung (a student of Freud) called the “collective unconscious” of the human race: “…racial memory, through which the spirit of the whole human species manifests itself” (Richter 504). Jungian criticism, closely related to Freudian theory because of its connection to psychoanalysis, assumes that all stories and symbols are based on mythic models from mankind’s past.

Based on these commonalities, Jung developed archetypal myths, the Syzygy: “…a quaternion composing a whole, the unified self of which people are in search” (Richter 505). These archetypes are the Shadow, the Anima, the Animus, and the Spirit: “…beneath…[the Shadow] is the Anima, the feminine side of the male Self, and the Animus, the corresponding masculine side of the female Self” (Richter 505).

In literary analysis, a Jungian critic would look for archetypes (also see the discussion of Northrop Frye in the Structuralism section) in creative works: “Jungian criticism is generally involved with a search for the embodiment of these symbols within particular works of art.” (Richter 505). When dealing with this sort of criticism, it is often useful to keep a handbook of mythology and a dictionary of symbols on hand.

Typical questions:

• What connections can we make between elements of the text and the archetypes? (Mask, Shadow, Anima, Animus)
• How do the characters in the text mirror the archetypal figures? (Great Mother or nurturing Mother, Whore, destroying Crone, Lover, Destroying Angel)
• How does the text mirror the archetypal narrative patterns? (Quest, Night-Sea-Journey)
• How symbolic is the imagery in the work?
• How does the protagonist reflect the hero of myth?
• Does the “hero” embark on a journey in either a physical or spiritual sense?
• Is there a journey to an underworld or land of the dead?
• What trials or ordeals does the protagonist face? What is the reward for overcoming them?

Here is a list of scholars we encourage you to explore to further your understanding of this theory:

• Maud Bodkin – Archetypal Patterns in Poetry, 1934
• Carl Jung – The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Vol. 9, Part 1 of Collected Works. 2nd ed. Trans. R.F.C. Hull, 1968
• Bettina Knapp – Music, Archetype and the Writer: A Jungian View, 1988
• Ricahrd Sugg – Jungian Literary Criticism, 1993

Text Attributions

• Written by Allen Brizee, J. Case Tompkins, Libby Chernouski, Elizabeth Boyle for the Purdue OWL.  Last updated 2013-06-03, no longer available online. Adapted by Octaviano Gutierrez © Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Licence.