Document Type : Original Article
Author
Associate Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Humanities Sciences, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran.
10.30465/lir.2021.37716.1366
Abstract
This study does an archetypal reading of Ghesehaye Irani and examines the process of individuation and how things that form the process happen. The question is how in such a process the hero gets rejoining with anima and animus. Analyzing the content of the Ghesehaye Irani text, first we found the manifestation of archetypes, and then the two-stage nature of the process of individuation - which falls into two categories of Wisdom-driven and power-driven - became known. Findings show that there are complicated links between the hero’s ego, or the conscious part, and unconscious parts such as anima, animus, the wise old man, and the shadow. The shadow is of the same nature as the hero, and the unknown, repressed, and challenging part of the psyche. Things that happen in the process of individuation are based on challenges caused by the shadow for the hero. The tales with their bipartite and sometimes epizod structure go through two stages. In the first stage, the hero’s effort to join with anima or animus. This symbolizes socialization of the individual in the first half of life. In other stage of rejoining, the hero’s join to anima and animus runs up against problems, and to get rejoining with them, he has to have a decisive battle against the shadow. At this point, there are female and male narratives of the realization of individuality. In the female Wisdom-driven narrative, the hero triumphs over the shadow with the guidance and assistance of the wise old man, and gets rejoining with animus, often forgiving and accepting the shadow after he has defeated it. In the male power-driven narrative, the hero still has the guidance and assistance of the wise old man, yet, relying on his power in a head-to-head battle, overcomes the shadow and often kills or drives it away.
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