Jungian Archetypes in “Perseus”
The use of Jungian archetypes in the Roman myth, “Perseus,” demonstrates common unconscious prototypes that humanity as a whole shares. In addition, analyzing the myth through these archetypes enlightens modern society about why we have the preconceived images that we do about our societal roles.
The Jungian archetype theory has been used for many years to analyze myth, as well as religious and psychological ideas. The definition of the word archetype without the context of Jung’s theory is “ the model image of a person or role” (Psychologist World para. 13). When this word is applied to Jung’s archetypal theory, the definition is expanded to include a cognitive perspective about the unconscious mind. Jung recognizes …show more content…
We can often compare ourselves to the hero archetype mentioned before, but only during certain times in our lives. We hope that the journey that we’re on in each of our lives is one that will eventually allow us to realize our purpose in life and find what we are passionate about. However, there are always struggles and confusion along the way. A part of Jung’s explanation of our psyche, the principle of opposites, applies here. This principle states that for every good and helpful thought that we have, there is also an opposite, negative thought that comes with it. When we feel that our actions do not match those of a hero such as Perseus, there is a negative, downside of that heroic feeling that comes through. This also explains why Perseus has to experience trials in his life, such as the loss of his dad, in order to appreciate the good times with his family and Andromeda (Boeree para. 52). We can also see the effects of the wise old man archetype in our views of elderly people. As the name of this archetype indicates, we often think of our parents or grandparents as wise and more experienced than us, often because they have lived longer. This may stem from the fact that the older mortals and gods in myth, like Hermes and Athena, are often the people who guide and direct the younger, more naive heroes. There are also many religions and cultures …show more content…
15). Additionally, the word stereotype has more of negative connotation, because it often leads to discrimination of a certain group of people. The complexity of archetypes, specifically the parts of our psyche that Jung describes, are what keep them from becoming “one-sided”. Archetypes can quickly become stereotypes when they lose their “opposite” feeling (such as focusing solely on the bad that an archetype represents instead of both the good and the bad). Because of this, it is important that we look at archetypes the way Jung did: examine both the positive and negative energy linked to a archetype. Reaching this point in our lives where we can see and accept both the good and bad sides of all archetypes is known as the principle of entropy (the third dynamic of our psyche that Jung describes). Entropy, in physical science terms, is the amount of random energy in the universe. Jung’s theory states that, during the course of our life, this energy decreases as the opposing forces in our life come together and resolve themselves. This puts us in a state of transcendence, or being able to see both the good and bad parts of ourselves, which allows us to be able to rise above these differences (Boeree para.
The use of Jungian archetypes in the Roman myth, “Perseus,” demonstrates common unconscious prototypes that humanity as a whole shares. In addition, analyzing the myth through these archetypes enlightens modern society about why we have the preconceived images that we do about our societal roles.
The Jungian archetype theory has been used for many years to analyze myth, as well as religious and psychological ideas. The definition of the word archetype without the context of Jung’s theory is “ the model image of a person or role” (Psychologist World para. 13). When this word is applied to Jung’s archetypal theory, the definition is expanded to include a cognitive perspective about the unconscious mind. Jung recognizes …show more content…
We can often compare ourselves to the hero archetype mentioned before, but only during certain times in our lives. We hope that the journey that we’re on in each of our lives is one that will eventually allow us to realize our purpose in life and find what we are passionate about. However, there are always struggles and confusion along the way. A part of Jung’s explanation of our psyche, the principle of opposites, applies here. This principle states that for every good and helpful thought that we have, there is also an opposite, negative thought that comes with it. When we feel that our actions do not match those of a hero such as Perseus, there is a negative, downside of that heroic feeling that comes through. This also explains why Perseus has to experience trials in his life, such as the loss of his dad, in order to appreciate the good times with his family and Andromeda (Boeree para. 52). We can also see the effects of the wise old man archetype in our views of elderly people. As the name of this archetype indicates, we often think of our parents or grandparents as wise and more experienced than us, often because they have lived longer. This may stem from the fact that the older mortals and gods in myth, like Hermes and Athena, are often the people who guide and direct the younger, more naive heroes. There are also many religions and cultures …show more content…
15). Additionally, the word stereotype has more of negative connotation, because it often leads to discrimination of a certain group of people. The complexity of archetypes, specifically the parts of our psyche that Jung describes, are what keep them from becoming “one-sided”. Archetypes can quickly become stereotypes when they lose their “opposite” feeling (such as focusing solely on the bad that an archetype represents instead of both the good and the bad). Because of this, it is important that we look at archetypes the way Jung did: examine both the positive and negative energy linked to a archetype. Reaching this point in our lives where we can see and accept both the good and bad sides of all archetypes is known as the principle of entropy (the third dynamic of our psyche that Jung describes). Entropy, in physical science terms, is the amount of random energy in the universe. Jung’s theory states that, during the course of our life, this energy decreases as the opposing forces in our life come together and resolve themselves. This puts us in a state of transcendence, or being able to see both the good and bad parts of ourselves, which allows us to be able to rise above these differences (Boeree para.