Shakespeare and Jungian typology
Subtitle: a reading of the plays
By: Kenneth Tucker.
Publisher: McFarland & Co.
Published: 2003
Place of publication: Jefferson, N.C
Language: eng
Number of pages: 169
Subjects: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Knowledge -- Psychology; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Characters; Jung, C. G. 1875-1961; Typology (Psychology) in literature; Drama -- Psychological aspects; Psychology in literature; Typology (Psychology)
Description: "The reader of Shakespeare has always been curious about the Bard's actual religion, opinions, sexual orientation, and relationships. We would like to ask him why his Hamlet is so indecisive, whether Henry V is his ideal ruler, and whether he himself fell in love with Rosalind. The Jungian theories of psychology used in literary interpretation have almost always involved a broader theory of archetypes rather than concentrating on more specific psychological types, despite Jung's belief that an understanding of these types is vital to self-realization. Jung's topological theories, applied to literary studies, may illuminate the personalities of fictional characters and indeed of the author himself." "The psychological type of a writer's character can be understood as a projection of the author's own personality: Iago can show Shakespeare's rational function whereas Othello embodies the expression of the dramatist's capacity to experience emotion. Thus Jungian typology initiates a quasi-biographical approach to understanding writers and their works. Instead of directing attention toward an author's education, class prejudices, and so on, it leans toward important emotional undercurrents within the writings, which in turn express similar currents within the author's psyche. Jungian psychetypology is long overdue in gaining recognition as a tool for literary analysis, and this work applies these theories to the full spectrum of Shakespeare's plays in detailed individual readings and comparisons."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 162-166) and index.
Table of contents: title: "Cry havoc!" : King John and darkling plain; title: One man's meat is another's poison : psychetypes and individual realities; title: Thought and feeling in the comedies; title: Antony and Cleopatra and Troilus and Cressida : lovers and other strangers; title: "Stay, we must not lose our senses" : the emergence of the inferior function; title: Hamlet in Hell : psychotypological chaos; title: Shakespeare's romances : the return to Eden and the return of the goblins.