Feminine archetypes/feminine culturetypes: Images of women in the "Aeneid", "The Faerie Queene", and "Paradise Lost"
Abstract
The traditional literary epic, an androcentric genre produced within patriarchial cultures by male authors, nevertheless presents a wide spectrum of female characters. Recent sociologically and politically based critical theories account for some of the images of women, but not all. Many characters in Vergil, Spenser, and Milton are powerful in ways that a conventionally conceived patriarchy would not authorize. An application of C. G. Jung's psychological model, with substantial modifications, demonstrates not only the existence of such theoretically unexpected characters, but also suggests that such characters are necessary and inevitable. When characters, images, settings, and plots are recognized as "culturetypes," able and provocative culture-bound readings can be entertained without ignoring the transtemporal, transcultural dimensions so prominent in literary epics. A culturetype is an instance of an archetype; it may support or subvert the culture in which it appears, but it is not wholly determined by that culture. In this study, the archetypes of the feminine, and their appearance as culturetypes, are recategorized as Maiden, Medial, and Mother. The Maiden, representing the earliest biological stage of a woman's life, signifies disengagement with males and patriarchal institutions. Her detachment from masculinity undermines patriarchy. The Medial, neither virginal nor maternal, has relationships primarily with her intellectual or social peers. She is neither inferior nor superior to male characters. The Mother, the most encompassing archetype of feminine power, provides an original identity for the hero, and, at the end, she is the feminine counterpart of the "wise old man" toward which the hero has grown. This study facilitates an inclusive reading of the epic that acknowledges the imprint of the patriarchy and celebrates the presence of powerful female characters. It finds in the contrasexual givens of humanity an explanation for gender complementarity in that most "male" of genres, the western literary epic.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Miller, Purdue University.
Subject Area
British and Irish literature|Womens studies
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