A Jungian Reading of Beowulf
This essay will propose an alternative means by which to examine the distinctive fusion of historical, mythological, and poetic elements that make up the whole of Beowulf. Jeffrey Helterman, in a 1968 essay, “Beowulf: The Archetype Enters History,” first recognized Grendel as a representation of the Shadow archetype and identified Grendel’s mother as an archetypal Anima image; I wish to extend the scope of the reading by suggesting that the dragon, too, represents an archetype: the archetype of the Self. John Miles Foley, in his landmark 1977 essay “Beowulf and the Psychohistory of Anglo-Saxon Culture,” first suggested that the progression of battles between man and monster in Beowulf symbolically recalls the primal myth, the “monomyth,” which recounts both the process of individual psychological growth and the development of universal human consciousness. I will explore in greater detail the idea that the progression of battles specifically represents the process of individual psychological development through which the ego confronts personal archetypes in order to achieve complete self-knowledge: the process of individuation.
According to Jung, an archetype represents “certain instinctive data of the dark, primitive psyche…real but invisible roots of consciousness (9,i:271). He notes that the “ultimate core of meaning may be circumscribed, but not described,” as elements represented by the archetypal image remain unconscious; yet he also proposes that the individual psyche responds to the presence of the archetype by imprinting it with its own psychic material, thus creating a series of images informed by both universal understanding and personal experience. Jung compares the origina...
... middle of paper ...
...arry, Jr., and H. Marshall Leicester, Jr. “Social Structure as Doom: The Limits of Heroism in Beowulf.” In Old English Studies in Honor of John C. Pope. Eds. Robert B. Burlin and Edward B. Irving, Jr. Pp 37-79.
Foley, John Miles. “Beowulf and the Psychohistory of Anglo-Saxon Culture.” American Imago 34(1977): 133-153.
Helterman, Jeffrey. “Beowulf: the Archetype Enters History.” English Literary History 35(1968): 1-20.
Hume, Kathryn. “The Theme and Structure of Beowulf.” Studies in Philology 72(January 1975): 1-27.
Jung, Carl G. The Collected Works of Carl Jung. R.F.C. Hull, trans. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953-1971.
Niles, John. Beowulf: The Poem and its Tradition. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1983.
Thormann, Janet. “Beowulf and the Enjoyment of Violence.” Literature and Psychology 43:1(1997): 65-76.
Originating in the urban Bronx area of New York hip-hop culture emerged in the 1970’s as a way for minorities to form identifies and social status. Contemporarily, hip-hop has evolved to contain numerous activities such as, “spoken word poetry, theater, clothing styles, language, and some forms of activism,” (Petchauer). Also, in his Journal of Black Studies, author Tobey S. Jenkins states that the core framework of hip-hop culture consists of five elements, and those elements are, “the B-boy/B-girl (dance or break dance), the emcee (voice), the DJ (music), graffiti (art), and knowledge (the consciousness),”(Jenkins,2011). Jenkins also states that it is common for society to replace these elements when a person is to affiliate themselves with a product of hip-hop by five core stereotypes of the Black male hip-hop artist: “the nihilistic, self-centered, caked-out mogul with a god complex; the uneducated, lazy, absentee father; the imprisoned and angry criminal;
Chadwick, H. Munro. “The Heroic Age.” In An Anthology of Beowulf Criticism, edited by Lewis E. Nicholson. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1963.
Hines, Thomas S. “Housing, Baseball, and Creeping Socialism The Battle of Chavez Ravine, Los Angeles, 1949-1959.” Journal of Urban History, 8.2 (1982): 123-143. Print.
Clark, Gorge. “The Hero and the Theme.” In A Beowulf Handbook, edited by Robert Bjork and John D. Niles. Lincoln, Nebraska: Uiversity of Nebraska Press, 1997.
Carl Gustav Jung, “The Principle Archetypes” in The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends, ed. David H. Richter (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989), 666.
Beowulf outlines turmoil between three opponents: Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the Dragon. These separate discords each serve to fulfill different metaphoric purposes. Grendel’s character epitomizes the adverse persona of how an Anglo-Saxon warrior should not be. His mother represents everything that a woman during the time era should seldom be. Lastly, the Dragon embodies all the values that an Anglo-Saxon king should not dare retain. Without a doubt, the symbolic implications of the monsters in Beowulf bring the context to a new level of understanding.
...ranz, M-L. "Science and the Unconscious." Man and His Symbols. Ed. Carl G. Jung. New York: Doubleday, 1964. 304-310.
There are three prominent monsters in the Beowulf text, Grendel, his mother, and the dragon. While the dragon proves to be the most fatale of foes for Beowulf, Grendel and his mother do not simply pose physical threats to the Germanic society; their roles in Beowulf are manifold. They challenge the perceptions of heroism, a sense of unrivalled perfection and superiority. Moreover, they allow the reader to reconsider the gender constructs upheld within the text; one cannot help but feel that the threat that these monsters present is directed towards the prevalent flaws in Beowulf’s world. Moreover, what makes these monsters is not their physical appearance; it is what they embody. Both Grendel and his mother have humanlike qualities yet their monstrous appearance arises from what their features and mannerisms represent. The challenge they pose to societal paradigms makes them far more terrifying to our heroes than any scaled flesh or clawing hand. These monsters provide the ‘most authoritative general criticism […] of the structure and conduct of the poem’. Their presence provides contrast and criticism of the brave society (Heaney 103).
"Nathaniel Hawthorne- Biography." The European Graduate School. The European Graduate School EGS, 1997-2012. Web. 25 November 2013.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. American Literature. Vol. 1. New York: Penguin Academics, 2004. 592-778. Print.
But when they do commit murders, they tend to commit them in a more passive aggressive manner, and it is usually a one time event, either against their husband, or a family member. What causes them to commit homicide in a more violent way? Could it play into how they were raised, or mental illness, which happens to even more rare in serial killers? There could be a multitude of reasons to cause a person to be more violent than any other non-murderous individual. There is a hypothesis that women are more likely to become serial killers if they participate in deviant behaviors throughout their early adolescent years, deviant behavior being, smoking, drinking and high level of sexual activity, could go unnoticed in the bigger picture, their deviant behavior can reflect feelings of low self-esteem (Schurman-Kauflin, 2000, p.
Discovering the meaning and significance of the archetypes in one’s dreams and the dreams themselves were a sort of process that helped lead the individual towards a God. The suffering and process of analyzing the dreams and manifestations of the archetypes was crucial to resolving one’s entire unconscious and thus being at peace with oneself. When this peace was achieved, it allowed the individual to further their religious experience. Jung believed that all humans had a natural religious function and the expression of their unconscious through archetypes and dreams was crucial.
The Black subculture that emerged in the South Bronx in the early to mid-1970s began as what hip hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa called the five elements - graffiti art, break dancing, rapping, deejaying and “doing the knowledge”. Hip Hop culture isn’t just music, it refers to language, body language, fashion, style, sensibility, and worldview. In a book why white kids love Hip-Hop wankstas, wiggers, wannabes, and the new reality of race in America, author Bakari Kitwana writes, “Part of the reason the culture is so influential among today’s youth is that most young people who identify with hip-hop, unlike rock and roll and other musical generes, identify with more than music.[...] Hip Hop’s emergence in a global information age is a major variable that sets it apart, vastly increasing its capacity to reach beyond anythinh the world has
Hip-hop is a form of self expression originating from intercity communities branching off of New York City. There are five pillars that this unique culture is based around. These pillars are DJing, Beat boxing, Break Dancing, Graffiti Art, and Rapping. Originally the music aspect of hip-hop culture was based around disc jockeys that would loop breaks from songs to create a rhythmic beat that later was used as a fore ground for rapping and beat boxing. Rapping is composed of three parts; flow, content, and delivery. It is usually about topics that a...
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Prentice Hall Literature, The American Experience. New Jersey: Oscar F. Bluemner, 1915. 266-67.