20th Century Feminism: A Jungian Exploration of The Feminine Self 
 
by 
 
Christopher Alan Snellgrove 
 
 
A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of 
Auburn University 
in partial fulfillment of the 
requirements for the Degree of 
Doctor of Philosophy 
 
Auburn, Alabama 
August 4, 2012 
 
Keywords: Carl Jung, Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood, Archetypes 
 
Copyright 2012 by Christopher Alan Snellgrove 
 
Approved by 
Jonathan Bolton, Chair, Associate Professor of English 
Dan Latimer, Professor Emeritus of English 
Susana Morris, Assistant Professor of English 
 
 
 
 
Abstract 
 
 The following work uses the theories and methods provided by Carl Jung as a way of 
analyzing works by three women authors: Virginia Woolf?s Orlando, Toni Morrison?s Beloved, 
and Margaret Atwood?s The Handmaid?s Tale. The primary Jungian notion featured is that of 
self-actualization?the process by which a person has achieved a sense of wholeness uniting 
their body and mind to the greater world. Specifically, I examine how the protagonists and 
antagonists of these texts either complete their Jungian journey towards actualized wholeness. In 
order to do this, I focus greatly on Jung?s notion of archetypes, and how they either help or 
hinder the journey that these women are on. 
 A large part of the analysis centers on how actualization might be defined in feminine 
terms, by women living in a world of patriarchal control. As such, this work continues the 
endeavors of other Post-Jungians to ?rescue? Jung from his own patriarchal leanings, using his 
otherwise egalitarian theories as a way of critiquing patriarchy and envisioning sexual equality. 
Jung, then, becomes an interesting bridge between first, second, and third-wave feminism, as 
well as a bridge between modernism and post-modernism. By analyzing these disparate female 
authors (divided by time, nationality, and race), it is my hope to provide a framework by which 
future feminist fiction and scholarship can be better understood within the context of eternal 
feminine archetypes.  
 
 
 
Acknowledgments 
 
 I would like to thank all of those who helped make this work possible. This includes my 
beautiful wife Laura, my amazing son James, my supporting parents Jim and Susan, my caring 
sister Heather,  and my fuzzy companions during late night work, Tulip and Lola. I would also 
like to thank my amazing dissertation committee: Jonathan Bolton, Dan Latimer, and Susana 
Morris. They have provided keen insight and amazing guidance, for which I will be eternally 
grateful. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Table of Contents 
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... ii 
Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................ iii  
Introduction   ................................................................................................................................. 1 
Chapter 1   ................................................................................................................................... 12 
Chapter 2   ................................................................................................................................... 77 
Chapter 3   ................................................................................................................................. 136 
Conclusion   .............................................................................................................................. 190 
References   ............................................................................................................................... 200 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Introduction 
 The use of Carl Jung?s philosophy and texts to conduct feminist analysis may seem an 
odd choice to the charitable outside observer. To the less charitable observer, it may seem 
impossible: Jung is often considered outdated, and his compelling philosophy is often tinged 
with a patriarchal bias. Feministic critics such as Naomi Goldenberg have often said as much. In 
her brief ?A Feminist Critique of Jung?, Goldenberg focuses on how Jung?s use of archetypes, 
which are intended to be part of a liberating mythology, arguably confine women instead: ?It is 
true that Jung genuinely values woman for her remarkable and all too often overlooked Eros, but 
it is equally true that he confines her to this sphere. Once she moves into a Logos arena, she is 
not only at a great disadvantage but is behaving unnaturally as well.? (p. 445). She further claims 
that Jung?s focus on contrasexuality as part of a process of self-actualization (in which men are 
encouraged to embrace the feminine anima and women are encouraged to embrace the masculine 
animus)  favored men over women--?The anima-animus model is clearly more beneficial to men 
than to women??and that Jung?s creation (and subsequent lack of development) of the animus is 
an indication of being clouded by his own masculine perception, because ?Jung never developed 
the idea of the animus to the same extent as the anima; in my view he was forcing a mirror image 
where there was none.? (p. 447).  
 However, the use of Jungian thought as a feminist tool is something that has been 
building in recent years. In the excellent Jung: A Feminist Revision, Susan Rowland essentially 
reclaims Jung for feminist analysis by clarifying and modifying the contentious Jungian claim 
regarding archetypes being inherited?a claim that, if true, would certainly lend credence to the 
criticism from Goldenberg and other critics regarding his confinement of gender (if access to 
archetypes is inherited, after all, then it becomes part of the material world in which women are 
 
Snellgrove 2 
 
marginalized and, thus, inherit less than men)?by writing that ?An archetype is an inborn 
potential for a certain sort of image. What the actual mental image will look like will not only 
depend upon the collective unconscious. Archetypal images also reflect the conscious 
experiences of the person as a subject in history, culture and time? (29). This serves as a very 
important bridge connecting Jung?s works to feminist theory, as it allows for writers to rather 
explicitly tackle how the historical and cultural marginalization of women by patriarchal force 
has psychologically affected the women and, indeed, evens the men clumsily wielding such 
power. Jung?s archetypes, then, take on special importance as a way of not only articulating such 
issues, but beginning to formulate a kind of solution that is peaceful, rather than destructive. 
Jungian scholar Irene Claremont de Castillejo (who honed her psychoanalytical and Jungian 
skills under Emma Jung in Zurich) touches on this in her 1973 book Knowing Woman, her 
exploration of divisions between masculinity and femininity within society. In this text, she 
writes that  
the deeply buried feminine in us whose concern is the unbroken connection of all 
growing things is in passionate revolt against the stultifying, life-destroying, 
anonymous machine of the civilization we have built. She is consumed by an 
inner rage which is buried in a layer of the unconscious often too deep for us to 
recognize?With more consciousness, feminine anger could be harnessed to a 
creative end. (42) 
In Castillejo?s view, Jungian philosophy serves as a vital tool for studying both individuals and 
collective groups. Patriarchal repression, then, can be understood as a kind of collective shadow 
of patriarchal society, one it refuses to acknowledge or accept. Jung?s notions of self-
actualization?specifically, allowing someone to access their heretofore hidden unconscious?
 
Snellgrove 3 
 
can be utilized as a tool for expressing feminine (self)discovery on the individual level, and 
recovering feminism/feminist culture from the margins on the collective level.  
 One of the more interesting features of Jungian literary analysis (and arguably the feature 
which I find most compelling) is that it allows a critical connection of very disparate authors. 
Karen Elias alludes to this in her Jungian analysis of Grimm?s ?The Twelve Dancing 
Princesses,? claiming that  
In addition, the new feminist narratives encourage a woman-centered  
perspective. This point of view requires a redefinition of the feminine, one that, in  
Virginia Woolf?s words, asks women to ?think back through [their] mothers??  
in order to discover in their collective survival a legacy of female strength.                              
Construction of this new paradigm has the power to move women away from a  
?home? that has become increasingly inadequate and detrimental, to a ?strange 
new country?: a journey that can be compared to an evolutionary leap. (8) 
It is with this in mind that I have focused my own Jungian analysis on three very disparate 
authors: Virginia Woolf and her novel Orlando, Toni Morrison and her novel Beloved, and 
Margaret Atwood and her novel The Handmaid?s Tale. In Woolf?s text, the gender-bending 
protagonist is able to successfully navigate the seemingly-paradoxical course laid out by Woolf 
in her seminal A Room of One?s Own: the ability to become a man or woman at will helps 
Orlando (and, by extension, Woolf) to achieve the androgynous ideal that Woolf speaks of, while 
Orlando?s final decision to embrace femininity and womanhood allows Woolf to think back 
through the lens of feminine thought, transforming a celebratory ?biography? of Vita Sackville-
West into a celebration of feminine assertion and self-actualization. Woolf understandably 
becomes an icon of early feminism, yet Toni Morrison?s Beloved offers a blunt counterpoint, 
 
Snellgrove 4 
 
offering a rather literal presentation of how ?thinking back through?mothe rs? can be a haunting 
phenomenon: women are tied to both their children and their past through ?thick blood? and 
haunting ?rememories,? perhaps most explicitly illustrated through the titular Beloved, the 
specter of a murdered child that is resurrected into flesh and blood. 
 What, then, is the connection between Woolf and Morrison? While Orlando?s adventures 
serve as a fanciful metaphor for Jungian actualization, Morrison illustrates a world in which such 
actualization is nearly impossible for African-Americans due to the violent ravages of white 
patriarchy. Within this text, Morrison also works to reclaim femininity from more 
traditional/mainstream feminism?Paul D?s advice that she is her own ?best thing? also 
functions as a kind of concession regarding their earlier argument, in which his accusation that 
her love is ?too thick? is met with the acidic response that ?thin love ain?t no love at all.? Sethe?s 
love seems to echo what Castillejo claimed: her killing her baby in order to ?rescue? the child 
from a life of slavery and misery is certainly evocative of a ?passionate revolt against the 
stultifying, life-destroying, anonymous machine of the civilization? around her. However, 
Morrison illustrates simple fact that neither Sethe nor other African Americans were able to 
exhibit agency within what was effective a white, male civilization. Whereas Wolf implied that 
isolation and means alone would be enough to escape the shackles of patriarchal culture, 
Morrison illustrates how her characters faced the challenge of creating personal and social 
identity outside of the paradigm of white patriarchy; as such, Morrison showcases the struggles 
of Sethe and other characters to consciously create such an identity even as they attempt 
actualization, which involves union with the typically hidden world of the unconscious. 
 In many ways, Atwood brings the dialogue full-circle through The Handmaid?s Tale. 
While Atwood employed fantastic elements to emboss the realistic elements of her feminine 
 
Snellgrove 5 
 
journey and Morrison used blunt reality and historical horror to augment a fantastic, supernatural 
story, Atwood (among these three women writers, she is the only one who characterizes herself 
as a Jungian) presents a dystopia that resembles the modern world enough that it cannot be 
dismissed. The handmaid Offred becomes a fascinating character for Jungian analysis because 
her attempts at psychological liberation from the oppressive world of Gilead serves as a kind of 
pantomime of Jungian actualization: she comments that her self has become something she must 
compose, yet the more she undertakes this kind of conscious composition, the further she is from 
the liberation of the unconscious world. This may evoke a natural question from the reader: if 
only one of these three protagonists is able to achieve actualization on Jungian terms, then why is 
Jungian analysis an ideal way of analyzing these texts? 
 The simplest answer to that question is that Jungian analysis allows us to explore function 
as well as dysfunction. That is, while the ultimate goal of Jung the doctor was helping his 
patients to achieve that sense of self-actualization, his writing focused quite a bit on instances 
where such actualization could not/would not occur, and why. This allows for a very postmodern 
reading of these texts as well: when values and actualization become both subjective and highly 
relative, each character represents an opportunity for deconstruction and analysis. The 
Handmaid?s Tale illustrates this best, as the Jungian approach allows for not only an analysis of 
Offred, but of characters such as The Commander and minor characters such as Nick. Through 
them, we can explore a kind of spectrum of masculinity and femininity, and come to view Gilead 
as a kind of nightmare scenario in which the feminine as access to the unconsciousness and soul 
has been cut off entirely: rather, patriarchal forces insure that the values and appearance of 
women corresponds to male desires. Effectively, Gilead becomes a mirror by which man can 
better view himself; it is little wonder that cracks in this mirror appear through the aberrant 
 
Snellgrove 6 
 
behavior of characters such as The Commander, who long for to access something within 
themselves that has been hidden by the reflection of masculinity that pervades the world of 
Gilead. 
 Atwood?s aforementioned habit of grounding her text in reality (effectively tethering 
what might have been dismissed as a ?what if? story to the bleak reality of ?what has already 
happened?) is in line with one of Jung?s greatest strengths, one that helps highlight his utility to 
the cause of feminist analysis. Specifically, his insistence on universal symbols helps to place 
historical oppression within the context of modern oppression: he links the first witch hunts with 
a kind of sublimated sexuality that comes from the Church?s insistence on reverence for Mary (a 
pure, motherly figure), something that seems especially relevant to a Handmaid?s Tale. After all, 
Jung ascribed this historical brutality as an effect of man?s inability to complete the cycle of his 
own erotic development. Gilead, in turn, has willingly halted its own erotic development through 
the use (in truth, forced prostitution and rape) of handmaids: widespread infertility has made 
procreation nearly the sole purpose of sex, meaning that the men of Gilead (assuming that The 
Commander is representative of most high-ranked men) oscillate between coldly formal 
relationships with their wives and stilted, business-like sex with their own handmaids. By halting 
their erotic development in this way, men help to reinforce their own repressive culture, creating 
in the so-called ?Unwomen? a new kind of witch hunt, one which rather literally targets women 
who do not fit within the confines of male-defined femininity. Thus, the Jungian perspective 
allows us to view patriarchal repression as a kind of depressingly regenerating force: there seems 
to be no hope for Gilead because it becomes even more repressive over time (considering the 
lecture at the end reveals that the likely inspiration for The Commander is killed by more militant 
governmental forces later in Gilead?s history) with each injustice and indignity opening the door 
 
Snellgrove 7 
 
to further atrocities. As such, it also allows a fuller view of patriarchy as a form of 
psychological?Atwood portrays, as a logical extension of the patriarchal micro-aggressions 
against women, a society that has twisted into a dystopia of male control, and emphasizes the 
effects of such long-term trauma on the victims who have suffered from it. 
 Jungian philosophy also allows intriguing analysis on the intersection of race and 
feminism, an intersection that has formed one of the central divides between second- and third-
wave feminism. Toni Morrison is a writer who has often eschewed many of the aspects of 
second-wave feminism: in a 1998 interview with Zia Jaffrey, Morrison mentioned the need she 
felt to ?distance? herself from feminism. Specifically, she prefers ambiguity that is open to 
interpretation??leaving the endings open for reinterpretation, revisitation, a little ambiguity??
to a more didactic ?feminist tract,? boldly stating ?I don?t subscribe to patriarchy, and I don?t 
think it should be substituted with matriarchy? (140). Implicit in Morrison?s words is the need 
for the contrasexuality that Jung placed so much focus on: patriarchy and matriarchy are both 
fundamentally unbalanced, favoring one sex (and its attendant sexual politics) over another. The 
ambiguity of texts such as Beloved, then,  
 Overall, Jungian analysis helps serve as a bridge between the worlds of modernism and 
postmodernism, allowing critical readers to see the importance of universal symbols and 
archetypes within literary texts while acknowledging that the use and interpretation of those 
symbols and archetypes will vary by individual. For modernist characters and their authors, Jung 
becomes part of the emphasis on psychology that propelled Freud to such heights of fame, 
providing for the modern world an intangible goal (mental wholeness and stability) with which 
they could replace the uncertainties widespread social instability and violent conflict. Arguably, 
the character of Orlando represents the actualization of such a goal for the troubled Virginia 
 
Snellgrove 8 
 
Woolf, as Orlando finds within herself the creative nexus to transcend all boundaries, including 
time and gender. It is my contention that Jungian thought provided a better psychological 
alternative for Woolf (who famously clashed with Freud1), especially considering that his 
emphasis on contrasexuality was more in line with the androgynous ideal that she puts forth in A 
Room of One?s Own. For Atwood and Morrison, Jung fulfills arguably more of a postmodernist 
role: each author presents a bleak world (for Atwood, a dystopia of the present world?for 
Morrison, the full horrors of America?s history concerning slavery), worlds in which objective 
truth seems gone. A large part of this is due to the multiple layers of instability encountered by 
the protagonists of these texts, forcing them to define truth according to their own terms. 
Beloved?s Sethe is a great example of this: on one hand, the ?thick love? she reveres clearly 
keeps her from living a happy and fulfilling life, tethering her to a seemingly inescapable past. 
However, it is impossible for readers to judge her for this love, as she has bravely thrust that love 
out into a world of fear and hate. It has become central to not only her character, but her sense of 
identity as a mother, without which the ?thick love? would have very little relevance. In such a 
case, Jungian analysis helps the critical reader view Sethe through the lens of failed actualization, 
and to better understand the characters and world around her that kept her from achieving this 
actualization. 
In fact, it is interesting to note how the social constructs that exist within Morrison?s 
portrayal of slave-owning America are often a result of racist, patriarchal characters that have, 
                                                           
1 Woolf dismissed texts focusing overly on empty psychoanalysis as ?Freudian Fiction,? and she 
fretted over the great costs Hogarth Press took to publish works that illustrated the ?gull-like 
imbecility? of ?these Germans? (Orr 5). While not specifically indicting Freud, it should be 
noted that the ?madness and suicide of Septimus Smith in Mrs. Dalloway? help reveal her 
thoughts on doctors who make their patients feel ?dominated and controlled,? though she seems 
to develop a cautious respect for him in her journal after they are acquainted in 1939.   
 
Snellgrove 9 
 
themselves, failed to actualize. In the horrifying scene in which Schoolteacher?s nephews take 
Sethe?s milk, it seems clear that their own erotic development has been stilted?they eroticize 
the maternal, while Schoolteacher seems to deny is entirely, equating Sethe and other slaves to 
the role of beasts. While these events are numbingly horrid on their own, Jungian analysis allows 
a tentative answer as to what fuels the potent blend of misogyny and racism: Jung viewed the 
anima as a representation of man?s soul, which is one of the reasons it is such a varying 
archetype (it can be a young nymph to an old man, or a wise matriarch to a young man). 
Characters such as Schoolteacher and his nephews effectively deny themselves access to their 
souls and their unconscious mind through the practice of slavery. As such, there is little empathy 
for slaves?as with Atwood?s chilling world of Gilead, patriarchal forces have suppressed the 
unconscious world to such an extent that the world around them becomes a representation of 
their own conscious personas of masculine power. 
Put another way, it is not a coincidence that while Woolf?s Orlando is centered on the 
eventual elevation and transcendent actualization of its titular protagonist, Atwood and Morrison 
focus on the victimization and psychological trauma of their own protagonists. In many ways, 
this signals the shift from modernism to postmodernism, as these texts concentrate more on the 
nature of the power dynamics within their unjust societies, and how those dynamics affect the 
protagonists (effects which are understandably negative). Jung, however, allows us to view what 
fuels these shifts in power dynamics?specifically, how characters often re-appropriate 
archetypes for their own agendas. This is perhaps most obvious in Atwood?s Gilead, in which the 
authority of the Bible has been perverted in order to place God?s stamp on the atrocities that are 
being committed. On a fundamental level, the architects of Gilead are using the collective need 
for wholeness and actualization to prop up their fascist dictatorship: they have manufactured the 
 
Snellgrove 10 
 
instability of the country via a violent coup and continued warfare against other nations, so that 
the average people of Gilead look to sources of authority for a sense of stability. When the Bible 
is changed in order to mislead those who are not supposed to read, the powers that be in Gilead 
effectively present themselves as God. Jungian analysis, then, offers a fascinating view of 
archetypes as viewed by old lenses: high-ranking wives, for instance, dress like the Virgin 
Mary?an intended compliment to the wives that offers a fascinating glimpse into the 
psychology of Gilead, in which even those with all of the power are falsely composing 
themselves, as they force their victims to do. Jung, then, helps even the postmodernist better 
deconstruct such a text, helping to answer questions concerning identity and wholeness, even as 
it is made quite clear that the nature of such a world almost certainly precludes achieving that 
wholeness. 
With that in mind, the following work will examine Woolf, Morrison, and Atwood in that 
order. It is my hope to use Jungian analysis and texts to better illustrate why it was possible for 
Orlando to achieve actualization, but not Sethe or Offred. In the chapters of the latter characters, 
I posit that such actualization is not impossible (despite the postmodern nature of each text, 
healing and wholeness are still theoretically attainable for these characters),but highly unlikely 
due to the worlds they are in. As such, the Orlando chapter predominately features analysis of 
Orlando herself, while the Beloved and The Handmaid?s Tale chapters offer supporting 
discussions of other characters (such as Denver, Paul D, and Beloved for Morrison, and The 
Commander for Atwood) in order to more fully flesh out the failure of actualization in these 
texts, and what its implications are. Through the discussion of these three texts, I hope to not 
only highlight the utility and versatility of Jung for analyzing these authors, but to establish a 
more secure place for Jung among feminist scholarship as we move further into the 21st century. 
 
Snellgrove 11 
 
 
Snellgrove 12 
 
Chapter 1: 
Woolf and Jung: A New Perspective for A New Feminism 
Virginia Woolf and her writings are no strangers to psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic 
theory. Woolf paved the way herself through visits with none other than Sigmund Freud, visits 
which left her skeptical of both the man?s approach to psychology and the benefits of his 
counseling.  Nonetheless, the psychoanalytic approach to Woolf?s writing over the years has 
been predominately Freudian?an approach that, by its very patriarchal and sex -focused nature, 
limits any conclusions that can be drawn. My proposal, instead, is to use the psychoanalytic 
theories of Carl Jung to better understand both Virginia Woolf and her texts?chiefly, the text of 
Orlando. 2 Orlando?s trips through time, space, and sex represent a unique opportunity to explore 
the explication of Jung?s ideas concerning the anima?the oft-repressed feminine side to a man. 
Woolf presents a story in which this side is given so much expression that Orlando transforms 
into a woman, seemingly becoming the androgynous ideal in the eyes of Woolf (in the sense of 
possessing both feminine and masculine characteristics, but able to produce eternal art that 
transcends sex). However well Woolf?s text fits, however, the need (or case, as it were) for 
Jungian analysis of Woolf?s text should be plainly laid out. 
One of the obvious counterarguments to the enterprise of a Jungian analysis on the anima 
within Woolf?s Orlando is that, in traditional Jungian theory, a woman?which Orlando most 
certainly becomes, albeit while taking an extraordinarily scenic route?do not have an anima, 
nor do they follow traditional anima development. Rather, women develop along a separate (yet 
                                                           
2 One of the major conceits of this work is that while Jung himself was quite patriarchal, his 
thoughts and philosophies are easier to reconcile into a feminist framework than Freud?s are. As 
such, I see myself extending the research already conducted by Susan Rowland (Jung: A 
Feminist Revision), Demaris Wehr (Jung and Feminism: Liberating Archetypes) and Jung?s wife 
Emma Jung (Animus and Anima).  
 
Snellgrove 13 
 
related) track, that of the animus, or serve as vessels for the projection of men?blank slates onto 
which such men project their own notions of women, as defined by their own unconscious. To 
such counterarguments, I offer the following rebuttals: the first, albeit simplest argument against 
these objections is that Orlando is not a traditional woman?she changes from man to woman 
and back again, and can therefore be interpreted as, in many ways, the self-projection of her own 
notions of anima. Put another way, the vast majority of the text can theoretically be read as a 
masculine Orlando transitioning into femininity and womanhood, and it is the responsibility of 
the reader to determine how much of these feminine displays is an expression of her own 
femininity, and how much is filtered through the lens of her previous masculine expectations, 
acting in accord with how the masculine Orlando would prefer women to act. 
One argument in favor of Jungian analysis is that Woolf may very well have been 
playfully exploring her own analogous notion of the anima. In fact, Woolf claimed that  
it is becoming daily more evident that Lady Macbeth, Cordelia, Ophelia, Clarissa, 
Dora, Diana, Helen and the rest are by no means what they pretend to be. Some 
are very plainly men in disguise; others represent what men would like to be, or 
are conscious of not being? To cast out and incorporate in a person of the 
opposite sex all that we miss in ourselves and desire in the universe and detest in 
humanity is a deep and universal instinct on the part of both men and women. But 
though it affords relief, it does not lead to understanding. Rochester is as great a 
travesty of the truth about men as Cordelia is of the truth about women. (Woolf, 
Women and Writing 65) 
As Stephen Walker eloquently puts it, ?in distinguishing between the ?truth? about the sexes and 
the ?travesty of truth? one finds in gender stereotypes?Woolf was expressing in ordinary 
 
Snellgrove 14 
 
language what Jung as a psychologist was struggling to express in his descriptions of animus and 
anima? (Walker 49). Orlando, then, provides Woolf an opportunity to explore the idea of the 
anima and the animus through one character. Moreover, such an exploration allows her to 
explore (if only through fiction) the ?understanding? that she claims is typically absent from such 
portrayals in fiction. Bibliographically, that makes Orlando important as a work of transition, 
one allowing Woolf to explore the waters of the unconscious before fully plunging into those 
murky depths for her subsequent novel, The Waves. Therefore, even as Woolf explored gender 
concepts in parallel with Jungian philosophy, we can use Jungian philosophy to better understand 
the Byzantine pathways that Woolf?s characters take through both body and mind within 
Orlando. 
The third (and most sweeping) argument for a Jungian analysis of Orlando?s anima is that 
my work seeks to revitalize Jung for the 21st century as a tool for decoding and understanding 
feminist texts. As such, it is worth keeping in mind the writings of neo-Jungian scholars such as 
James Hillman, who in 1987 pointed out the relative absurdity of assuming that women cannot 
experience anima development themselves:  
The roles which Jung assigns to the anima?relation with the mysteries, with the 
archaic past, enactment of the good fairy, witch, whore, saint, and animal ?all 
appear frequently and validly in the psychology of women?as the images are not 
restricted to men only, so anima emotion cannot be confined only to the male sex. 
(Hillman 57) 
Jungian analysis has ample room to breathe when one expands the notion of anima to women: as 
Hillman continues, ?we are freed from the masculine-feminine fantasy of anima, from the 
endless oscillations of compensation, and also from the epistemological deceit of explanations 
 
Snellgrove 15 
 
through ?projection?? (Hillman 59),  and also helps to avoid the embedded sexism within the 
assumption that, in the Jungian schematic, women are asked to ?neglect soul for the sake of 
spirit? (Hillman 61), and better equip the Jungian scholar to analyze a postmodern world in 
which gender performance has become more separate from sex than ever before. Hillman?s work 
is illuminating, but dated; it is one of my hopes with this work to expand upon his ground-
breaking work concerning the anima, and to better adapt it as a tool for feminist analysis. This 
plays a major part in my own interpretation of Hillman: while the readers themselves may be 
freed from the ?epistemological deceit? of projections, that does not mean that characters within 
a literary work cannot or do not project. Rather, it offers a way of circumventing the potentially 
endless cycle of determining how much of a psychoanalytic approach can be separated from its 
speaker, and whether Jung?s notions of projection are actually his own projections of projections, 
and so forth. Specifically, this helps distinguish this critique from earlier critiques that read so 
much of Woolf in Orlando that it becomes difficult (if not impossible) to distinguish the two. 3 
 Jung, despite his own patriarchal leanings, has provided a theoretical framework that 
helps to unpack much of the complicated writing that Woolf engages in. Ellen Friedman 
highlights the need for such a framework by noting that ?women anticanonical writers such as 
Richardson, Woolf, and Gertrude Stein do not locate their texts within patriarchal myths and 
traditions. ... Expression of the feminine requires a disengagement not only from the modes of 
traditional fiction? but also a stance of irreverance toward or distance from the central myths of 
the dominant culture.?  She goes on to contrast the enterprise of male writers as one that focuses 
                                                           
3 Distinguishing between the author and her creation becomes doubly important when one 
considers that Woolf deliberately merged biography, autobiography, and fiction as a way of 
creating a literary escape from the emotional torpor of her relationship with Vita Sackville-West, 
as Woolf biographer Julia Biggs asserts. 
 
Snellgrove 16 
 
on tradition in order to ?arrive where we started? with that of female writers, who believe ?it is 
their project to present what this tradition has resisted, to make ?it? different because they wish to 
arrive elsewhere? (Friedman 359). While Jung as a writer is undeniably rooted in certain aspects 
of tradition, the theory behind his writing is rooted in the idea of uncovering resisted tradition. 
Jung does this with expediency by pointing out how much of ?tradition? is actually a product of 
the unconscious mind that individuals have had no way of understanding. In this sense, a large 
part of Jung?s own enterprise concerns deconstructing the ?central myths of the dominant 
culture,? if only to prove that there are deeper myths and archetypes underneath the surface. In 
this sense, Jung provides a vital and dynamic new way of approaching scholarship concerning 
Virginia Woolf by inviting analysis of how she uses a variety of literary techniques (such as 
elongated time and a focus on how reality is shaped by the mind of the observer) in order to 
arrive somewhere truly new: the shores of the unconscious mind. 
A blunter question regarding psychoanalysis of Woolf or her texts would be ?why not 
Freud?? Considering Woolf?s own experience with the venerable legend of psychology, he 
would?at first glance?seem to provide the ideal lens through which to examine her works. 
However, upon further examination, this is not the case: Yael Feldman, analyzing Woolf?s 
earlier fiction, notes that ?there is no substantial evidence that Freud's writing had any effect on 
Woolf in the same years (the 1920s). Moreover, in her diary Woolf did not miss any opportunity 
to make fun of psychoanalysis and of what she named "Freudian fiction" (131). Feldman goes on 
to state that ?Freud's ideas must have upset her, as they totally contradicted the Bloomsbury 
understanding of the nature of civilization and personal freedom, and of the source of artistic 
inspiration (132)? and concludes that Woolf  ?performed a sleight of hand? concerning Freud?s 
 
Snellgrove 17 
 
beliefs concerning aggression and instinct, by making the ?culprit? masculine, and therefore 
something that needs to be transcended (134). 4 
 Regarding the text of Orlando specifically, and its unavoidable topic of bisexuality, 
Karen Lawrence illustrates that ?the polymorphous possibilities of bisexuality continue to 
circulate. They put into play a new kind of female narcissism/homoeroticism, which is freed 
from the shadow of Freudian judgment and is represented in a series of mirroring pairs of 
androgynous lovers.? Combined with what Lawrence sees as a ?comic deflation of the horrors of 
the Freudian paradigm? of castration and the textual focus on what Freud had dubbed the 
?enigma of female sexuality,? and it seems clear that the Freudian approach is not an ideal 
approach with which to analyze Orlando (Lawrence 254). Why is Jung the ideal alternative? 
Jung is much less focused on sexual difference than Freud or the neo-Freudians who followed; as 
such, even relatively comic scenes, such as the unveiling of the transformed Orlando, can be read 
in terms of unconscious archetypes rather than conscious anxiety revolving around a penis (or 
lack thereof). And considering Woolf?s own obvious fascination with, as Lawrence puts it, 
?mirroring pairs of androgynous lovers,? Jungian analysis provides a similar model, as Jung?s 
own ideas of self-actualization concern opposing pairs of disparate psychological aspects (such 
as the repressed hyper-masculinity of the shadow archetype paired with the enigmatic femininity 
of the anima archetype), and how true actualization involves the individual reconciling these 
disparate aspects until they can be psychologically whole: neither wholly masculine or feminine, 
                                                           
4 This is quite Jungian, since Woolf noted male writers? propensities for projecting negativity on 
female characters in her review of Leonie Villard?s La Femme Anglaise au XIX?eme Siecle et son 
Evolution d?apres le Roman Anglais Contemporain. Self-actualization must necessarily involve 
liberation from both male-given labels and the need to negatively label men, which she asserts in 
A Room of One?s Own. Through Orlando, she introduces a character that can mediate both 
worlds, and ultimately transcend the need for any such projection. 
 
Snellgrove 18 
 
for instance, but a kind of mental mixture. Viewed in this context, Jungian psychoanalysis is 
ideal for analyzing Woolf?s Orlando because, for all intents and purposes, it already speaks the 
same language. 
 In many ways, both the text of Orlando and the titular character serves as explications 
for the feminist philosophy of writing that Woolf puts forth in A Room of One?s Own. When 
thinking of Orlando in terms of the actualization of Woolf?s ideas in A Room of One?s Own, it is 
interesting to note the seeds of Jungian thought that permeate the latter. While it can be argued 
that she was being poetically tongue in cheek, Woolf reminds readers early on that ?'I' is only a 
convenient term for somebody who has no real being? (Woolf, A Room of One?s Own 4). When 
examined from the Jungian perspective, this is a very powerful statement, asserting that most 
individuals? sense of identity is not one born of any true substance. The natural question to such 
a statement is what, exactly, the ?I??the identity?most often consists of? The Jungian answer 
would be that individuals are very focused on their archetypal personas, placing masks over their 
real sense of self in order to facilitate interaction with the world. It is on this point that Woolf is 
frequent and harsh, noting that women often buy into the misogynistic mythology that men have 
framed them in. Perhaps most stinging are her notes regarding ?Professor X? and that she has 
?given prominence to his statement that women are intellectually, morally and physically inferior 
to men? (Woolf, A Room of One?s Own 110). Considering her blunt reminder that the vast 
majority of what would be considered quality English poetry came from those trained at a 
university, it presents a sobering reality in which the artistic world to which she encourages 
women to aspire is one that consistently rejects those women. 
 Of course, Woolf encourages women to take off those masks?to abandon the personas 
of subservience to dominant males which have historically kept them from being a part of the 
 
Snellgrove 19 
 
artistic world. She mentions how both the consumption and production of writing has the power 
to transport a woman away from the artificial world that men have tried to keep her in and into 
the real world: ?For the reading of these books seems to perform a curious couching operation on 
the senses; one sees more intensely afterwards; the world seems bared of its covering and given 
an intenser life? (Woolf, A Room of One?s Own 109).  In fact, the world seeming bare of its 
coverings seems to echo the Jungian notion of self-actualization: an actualized person will no 
longer be covered by masks of persona, in which they consciously attempt to appear as 
something other than what they really are. Nor will such a person be unconsciously possessed by 
different archetypes that force them to present only one aspect of themselves at a time. Rather, 
the person will be able to embody all of the disparate parts of themselves into a single unified 
identity. 
 Woolf?s inspiring words towards the end of the text concerning Shakespeare?s sister 
also seem to echo Jungian thought, particularly concerning the notion of archetypes. Woolf 
writes that  
She lies buried where the omnibuses now stop, opposite the Elephant and Castle. 
Now my belief is that this poet who never wrote a word and was buried at the 
cross-roads still lives. She lives in you and in me, and in many other women who 
are not here to-night, for they are washing up the dishes and putting the children 
to bed. But she lives; for great poets do not die; they are continuing presences; 
they need only the opportunity to walk among us in the flesh? (Woolf, A Room of 
One?s Own 48). 
The idea of a kind of universal sense of womanhood is something that Woolf has made clear 
from the very beginning of this text, noting that she could be referred to as ?Mary Beton, Mary 
 
Snellgrove 20 
 
Seton, Mary Carmichael or by any name you please? (Woolf, A Room of One?s Own 5). She 
makes this claim shortly after her reminder that ?I,? as a philosophical notion, often has very 
little substance behind it. In this context, the implication seems quite clear: just as she is Virginia 
Woolf, well-known scholar and writer, she is also connected to the world of women, present and 
past?something she returns to with the discussion of embodying Shakespeare?s sister, and 
bringing to life the creative potential that her early death had cut short. This is a fundamental 
idea to Jungian psychoanalysis: self-actualization involves accessing one?s unconscious mind, 
which most emphatically contains more than one?s own conscious, but the collective 
unconscious of those who have lived before. In this sense, self-actualization involves reaching a 
kind of accord with the past, reconciling one?s self to what has happened in the past in order to 
change the face of the future. 
 While mentioned only briefly, Woolf?s idea of feminine writers embracing reality is 
very similar to Jung?s notions of self-actualization. Woolf begins by rhetorically questioning the 
nature of reality, and then providing an answer: ?What is reality?...whatever it touches, it fixes 
and makes permanent. That is what remains over when the skin of the day has been cast into the 
hedge; that is what is left of past time and of our loves and hates? (Woolf, A Room of One?s Own 
108). It forms an interesting contrast: while ?the skin of the day? is ?cast into the hedge,? true 
reality is still comprised of events and emotions that have previously occurred: ?past time and of 
our loves and hates.? Jung?s idea of the mandala most directly symbolized his notion of self-
actualization, as he imagined paired opposites on either side of a centered self. Only when one 
could effectively unite those opposites?to embrace the disparate aspects and be all things at 
once?could one truly be actualized. In this case, Woolf writes of the revelation of reality (her 
equivalent of self-actualization) as a way of distilling the substance of a day from non-substance. 
 
Snellgrove 21 
 
How else can one dismiss ?the skin of the day? while embracing ?what is left of past time?? 
Following Woolf?s metaphor directly, the individual must be willing to tear the skin off in order 
to see the substance within?substance that is comprised of contradictions, such as ?loves and 
hates.? Once an individual can reconcile these contradictions, they can enter into a world of self-
actualization. 
 This notion of paired opposites also lines up with Woolf?s philosophy of writing, as she 
expands upon in a variety of texts. Some of the paired opposites that Woolf tackles are as 
follows: masculinity and femininity (which she seeks to reconcile, at least in part, through the 
androgynous ideal she writes of in A Room of One?s Own, and explores through the shifting 
character of Orlando), Self versus persona (the dilemma of reconciling one?s true identity with 
one?s public mask, something that Virginia Woolf was no stranger to), and production versus 
consumption (in the case of producing art rather than consuming it, the reconciliation of which 
finally allows Orlando to rise above both critics Nicholas Green and famous writers such as 
Alexander Pope).   In fact, Woolf?s own sense of developing a creative identity has provided 
much for psychoanalytic theory to process. Her views on this subject expressed more literally in 
A Room of One?s Own and more metaphorically in Orlando seem to mesh well with Jungian 
theory:  
?some marriage of opposites has to be consummated. The whole of the mind 
must lie wide open if we are to get the sense that the writer is communicating his 
experience with perfect fullness. There must be freedom and there must be peace. 
Not a wheel must grate, not a light glimmer. The curtains must be close drawn. 
(Woolf, A Room of One?s Own 102) 
 
Snellgrove 22 
 
Such a vision is as tantalizing as it is puzzling?after all, the consummation in A Room is 
arguably symbolized by a union of male and female in a taxi, and yet feminist writing is 
characterized by an androgynous ideal that, nonetheless, retains a maternal lens. However, 
Jungian theory provides a way of untangling this particular difficulty using Jung?s own 
schematic of self-actualization, which he personally symbolized as a mandala. He envisioned the 
symbol as a circle squared, in which  
the centre is represented by an innermost point, it is surrounded by a periphery 
containing everything that belongs to the self?the paired opposites that make up 
the total personality?the self, though on the one hand simple, is on the other 
hand an extremely composite thing, a ?conglomerate soul,? to use the Indian 
expression. (Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious 357).  
On the most basic level, this seems to provide an answer to what Woolf has been calling for in 
the development of feminist identity. Jung, too, believes in the ?consummation? of the paired 
opposites, such as the man and woman joining together in the taxi that Woolf speaks of. 
However, the product of such a union is, on the psychic level, something else entirely: not 
entirely man and not entirely woman, it represents, as Jung puts it, a ?composite? or 
?conglomerate soul? which theoretically allows for Woolf?s androgynous ideal while, at the 
same time, allowing such writers to think through their mothers: after all, having multiple lenses 
through which one is able to view the world does not lessen that view, or make it any less the 
writer?s own unique perspective. 5 
                                                           
5 Another reason why Orlando provides such fascinating material for Jungian inquiry is the 
imagery at the end, in which reunion with Marmaduke seemingly creates this 
composite/conglomerate soul, physically and emotionally liberating Orlando from a static world 
that remains fixed in time and place while she roams, completely free. 
 
Snellgrove 23 
 
 The Jungian bent to Woolf?s thinking extended to the world of poetry as well, though 
she didn?t personally consider such a world as part of her own writing (an irony, perhaps, given 
the often poetic nature of her texts). In her Letter to a Young Poet, she described what she saw as 
the standard of modern poetry, in which writers are simply performing for readers:  
They dress themselves up. They act their parts. One leads; the other follows. One 
is romantic, the other realist. One is advanced, the other out of date. There is no 
harm in it, so long as you take it as a joke, but once you believe in it, once you 
begin to take yourself seriously as a leader or as a follower, as a modern or as a 
conservative, then you become a self-conscious, biting, and scratching little 
animal whose work is not of the slightest value or importance to anybody. 
(Woolf, A Letter to a Young Poet) 
She sees the poetic world as divided into paired opposites that seemingly echo the Jungian notion 
of a mandala. Moreover, her description of self-conscious poets perfectly echoes the Jungian 
notion of the persona, in which one consciously shifts their identity as a way of accommodating 
the expectations of others. Specifically, it echoes the notion of masculine persona, which is very 
much a part of the world of modern writers that she sought to coexist with. It is interesting to 
note that when she continues by asking the young poets to take a different path?to be ?a poet in 
whom live all the poets of the past, from whom all poets in time to come will spring? (Woolf, A 
Letter to a Young Poet)?she is subtly trying to steer them towards an approach more in line 
with her own understated gynocentric view. Specifically, she is asking them to consider their role 
as progenitors of the next generation of poetry, and in order to bring that about (to be the poets 
?from whom all poets in time to come will spring?), they must be able to link the disparate 
masculine and feminine aspects of their own minds. For these patriarchal poets, this was 
 
Snellgrove 24 
 
tantamount to asking them to view feminine thought not as something simply Other from 
themselves, but as a path that they, too, can walk. 
  In many ways, Woolf?s evocation of this mandala-type imagery seems to echo the 
Jungian notion of the collective unconscious, in the sense that the creative world (past, present, 
and future) is linked together by psychological archetypes that are universally stirring. Regarding 
self-actualization, Woolf points out that many modern poets put themselves into seclusion: that 
when it comes to their sense of self, ?It is a self that sits alone in the room at night with the 
blinds drawn? (Woolf, A Letter to a Young Poet). The alternative, she says, is for the poets to 
engage with the world in a way that unites disparate elements (that is, the world of prose and the 
world of poetry): ?Then let your rhythmical sense wind itself in and out among men and women, 
omnibuses, sparrows ? whatever come along the street ? until it has strung them together in 
one harmonious whole? (Woolf, A Letter to a Young Poet). In many ways, this echoes the 
Jungian notion of self-actualization, as it involves both putting aside the public persona and 
finding a way of (poetically speaking) incorporating all aspects into a ?harmonious whole.? 
 This idea of self-actualization is persistent in Orlando as well. Of course, obtaining this 
ideal of self-actualization is not always easy: Even towards the end of Orlando, the titular 
character is struggling to unlock her true self. Woolf writes that  
the conscious self, which is the uppermost, and has the power to desire, wishes to 
be nothing but one self. This is what some people call the true self, and it is, they 
say, compact of all the selves we have it in us to be; commanded and locked up by 
the Captain self, the Key self, which amalgamates and controls them all. (Woolf, 
Orlando 310). 
 
Snellgrove 25 
 
At first glance, it might seem that Woolf?s idea of ?the Captain self? is the one more in line with 
Jungian theory: after all, it is ?the key self? that ?amalgamates?them all,? which seems to be in 
line with the Jungian sense of self-actualization, in which the paired opposites of one?s 
personality are finally united, and one can be the entirety of themselves at once. However, Lokke 
points out the importance of the wording in this passage: ?The phrase ?they say? and the negative 
connotations of the words ?commanded? and ?locked up? suggest that this Captain self does not 
in fact represent Woolf's ideal of free and creative selfhood.? Lokke sees this as quite distinct 
from the ?real self in the novel?s conclusion,? which ?can hardly be described as a commanding 
or controlling Captain? (Lokke 245). It seems likely that Woolf was being more literal during 
this section, describing an aspect of herself/her identity that is the key to unlocking ?the true 
self.? In doing so, she uses sublime paradox to describe the very problems that Jungian analysis 
is designed to uncover: the very thing which is able to unlock the doors into the deeper layers of 
one?s unconscious mind is the unconscious itself, which also serves as a gate barring entry into 
those depths. In Woolf?s schematic of feminine theory, this Captain self seems to be masculine, 
both in the sense that the reader makes an immediate connection with Marmaduke and in the 
sense that it is a controlling and even oppressive force, one that seeks ?control? over the 
?compact of all selves we have it in us to be.? In the case of Orlando, this ?compact? is 
represented by her feminine identity, which she is only able to explore and create by utilizing her 
own knowledge of the masculine world: using the key to unlock her interior self. This also 
elegantly expounds upon her idea of androgyny as well: while the ?compact of all selves? for her 
is feminine, it is only via the mental and physical freedoms granted by her performance of 
masculinity that allows her to open this compact, and explore her true identity. 
 
Snellgrove 26 
 
 This, too, seems an actualization of the theories that Woolf puts forth in A Room of 
One?s Own. She describes the writer after such a consummation has taken place: ?The writer, I 
thought, once his experience is over, must lie back and let his mind celebrate its nuptials in 
darkness.? Jung?s schematic of self-actualization has its own sublime paradox as well: self-
actualization is a method for achieving a harmonic unity from the chaotic multiplicity of one?s 
psychic selves. Woolf describes as much in the brief passage above: it is a consummation that 
echoes romantic pairings, but at the same time involves utter solitude, a lone mind celebrating in 
darkness. This would seem to fit with both Jungian psychoanalytic theory as well as Woolf?s 
feminist theory: the latter sees feminine life as one that is subject to male intrusion at almost any 
moment, and at nearly every level. As the text of Orlando illustrates so well, male intrusion is 
often thought necessary as a way of defining femininity: Orlando?s debating whether or not it is 
more pleasurable to yield to men or not may seem empowering at first glance, but such a view 
overlooks the blunt reality of this binary choice?that one either takes the pittance that men 
offer, or must choose to provide for themselves in a patriarchal world. Through A Room and 
Orlando?s conclusion, Woolf seems to be putting forth a third option: acquiring independence, 
both economically and emotionally, and using this relative isolation as a way of exploring what 
being a woman means to the woman herself, as opposed to what it means to men. Only through 
such an action can one effectively be freed from the persona?the mask one wears in response to 
the needs and expectations of the surrounding world. 6 
                                                           
6 The persona, of course, corresponds to the notion of performance, as in the performance of 
masculinity and the performance of femininity. Orlando finds initial freedom in the performance 
of femininity, but her final self-actualization comes later, with the realization that she need not 
perform/conform to an outsider?s view of ideal femininity. 
 
Snellgrove 27 
 
 It would be helpful to follow the transformation(s) of Orlando (ultimately culminating 
in her becoming a woman, in the sense that she is literally and metaphorically comfortable with 
the gender identity of her body) along the lines of Jung?s so-called four stages of erotic 
development. This development traces different aspects of the anima development until it is fully 
realized in an individual?a rare case, because various cultural and unconscious forces often 
keep individuals from reaching the fourth and final stage. Jung?s four stages are as follows: Eve, 
Helen, Mary, and Sophia. Eve represents fertility and motherhood?a kind of primal mother 
figure presiding over the consciousness of mankind. The second stage, Helen?named after 
Helen of Troy?who represents sexual power, potential, and energy. The third stage is that of the 
Virgin Mary, in which the sexual energies and urges of the Helen stage are sublimated into 
pursuit of a kind of ideal purity. Finally, the Sophia stage represents an idealized and eternal 
feminine nature whose knowledge surpasses everyone and everything. How, then, do these 
stages apply to Orlando? 
 One of the more important things to understand regarding the Eve stage of development 
is that it is not limited to literal fertility, nor literal motherhood. Rather, as Hiromi Yashida notes, 
the Eve stage of erotic development represents ?the primal life force and the universal womb of 
consciousness, the Great Goddess who idolizes the maternal anima corresponds, also, to the great 
cosmic beginning,? and is something that must ultimately ?be affirmed in order to galvanize the 
individuation process? (35). The importance of the maternal aspect has played an important role 
in previous criticism of the text in many of Woolf?s narratives: as Beth Schwartz notes, ?In 
invoking maternal figures as her muses, Woolf rewrites the erotic, heterosexual plot of the poet-
muse relationship, replacing it with a homoerotic script. Furthermore, by thinking back through 
her mothers, Woolf aims to establish the mother as a repository of memory and as the source of 
 
Snellgrove 28 
 
poetic inspiration for women writers by locating her at the core of the creative impulse? 
(Schwartz 721). Schwartz postulates that a maternal Shakespeare comes to serve as a kind of 
muse for Orlando in her quest to produce her own narratives. From the standpoint of a Jungian 
analysis, then, this places the anima development of Orlando into an even more important 
context: as Orlando seeks to become less tethered to the world of masculinity and its trapping, 
one of the chief goals is to escape the male influence of earlier writers. Just as she is eventually 
freed from the importance of Green?s criticism (whether for good or ill), she must free herself 
from Shakespeare and other male writers that serve as focal points in the literary world. In this 
sense, the first stage of anima development allows Orlando to take the first, tentative steps into 
becoming her own maternal influence, and becoming her own maternal lens through which she 
can view the world. 
  Woolf writes that ?very soon after Orlando escapes with the gypsies,? they note that 
she has ?fallen into the clutches of the vilest and cruelest among all the Gods, which is Nature.? 
Not content to simply view the natural vistas before her, the ever-creative Orlando ?likened the 
hills to ramparts, to the breasts of doves, and the flanks of kine. She compared the flowers to 
enamel and the turf to Turkey rugs worn thin. Trees were withered hags, and sheep were grey 
boulders.? As seems natural enough for a writer, she wished to commit such observations to 
writing, and by creating ink from berries and scrawling in her precious copy of ?The Oak Tree? 
she was able to ?to describe the scenery in a long, blank version poem, and to carry on a dialogue 
with herself about this Beauty and Truth concisely enough? (Woolf, Orlando 145). 
 Orlando, newly transformed, is seeking to become the kind of creative and generative 
force that does not passively receive the beauty of the natural world as an onlooker, but seeks to 
create it as well. While it may be argued that this is not necessarily a new development for 
 
Snellgrove 29 
 
Orlando?after all, her writing material is the very nature-oriented poem she has hauled around 
for so far and for so long?it is important to note how this deviates from her previous behavior. 
Her precious poem had been previously described as ?his boyish dream and very short? (Woolf, 
Orlando 96-97) when Orlando was a man; while the use of the word ?boyish? certainly helps 
underscore the relative immaturity of the poem, it is impossible to overlook the gendered 
implications. It was, for all intends and purposes, a boy?s dream?something that could only be 
properly understood by readers in the context of the generative power of Orlando?s feminine 
transformation. In short: one did not realize how much of the old dream was ?boyish? until it was 
joined by the feminine counterpoint of the transformed Orlando. The poem as a metaphor for 
Orlando herself is quite illuminating, then: due to necessity, she is unable to write on any other 
paper, and is forced to write upon her copy of ?The Oak Tree.? As such, the feminine artistic 
ability?the fully realized power of feminine creation?is something that expands upon the 
incomplete template created by man. As Hiromi Yashida puts it, ?the birth of woman from man 
illustrates the idea of spiritual, conceptual, or artistic creation that corresponds to the emergence 
of the anima from the male psyche? (35). The newly transformed Orlando is able to access this 
creative energy in ways that she previously could not as a male. 
 In the context of this anima development, it is interesting to note that Orlando returns to 
England. As Karen Lawrence puts it, she had only recently been freed from ?the patriarchal 
shackles? of her position; why return? Lawrence?s answer is relatively straightforward: 
?Unlimited freedom of movement has a negative side; Orlando discovers that the lack of 
attachment is inimical both to poetry and to intimacy of the kind explored in the novel's 
androgynous pairings? (272) In terms of self-actualization, then, nomadic life among the gypsies 
actually takes Orlando further and further away from her centered self because, in many ways, 
 
Snellgrove 30 
 
that self belongs in England. Therefore, being away from England not only stifles the creative 
impulse of her Eve stage of development, but also removes the objects of her affection. She was 
a creator running away from what she perceived as the literary nexus of creation, and a nurturer 
with nothing to nurture: even the very words by which she expresses love for nature around her 
are limited among the gypsies, and her need to use such words to describe beauty results in the 
schism between her and her saviors.  
 The second stage of erotic development, Helen, is an interesting figure in Jung?s 
paradigm. While Eve is the beginning of anima development and Sophia is the desired endpoint, 
Helen represents a very transitional phase?an important stage of sexual development, certainly, 
but one that risks (appropriately enough for the namesake) an obsession with physical 
gratification and pleasure. In short: in the Jungian paradigm, an individual should not be 
obsessed solely with matters of the flesh any more than they should be obsessed with matters of 
the spirit, but must find a way to balance these disparate aspects. Of the Helen stage, Jung has 
claimed that ?she personifies a romantic and aesthetic level that is?still characterized by sexual 
elements? (Franz, ?The Process of Individuation? 195). In the brief romances with Captain 
Nicholas and the Archduke (as well as the frank fascination with prostitutes), Orlando illustrates 
this aspect quite well, as her own aesthetic sense turns away from matters of nature and more to 
sexual matters. This transition is duly noted by the text itself, which informs readers that ?It is a 
strange fact, but a true one, that up to this moment she had scarcely given her sex a thought? but 
becomes obsessed with whether it feels better to ?refuse? or to ?yield,? seemingly identifying the 
inherent power in this choice as one that is decidedly feminine in nature. In fact, Orlando?s 
musings on the subject mirror the varying interpretations of Helen?s character?specifically, 
whether she was unwillingly abducted or coerced into leaving her home, or whether she 
 
Snellgrove 31 
 
willingly fled after being seduced by Paris. Interpretations are similarly divided on Helen?s role 
in the Greek invasion of Troy?whether she helped lead the men inside, or tortured them from 
within their wooden horse.  
 One of the reasons for such varying interpretations of both Helen and Orlando has to do 
with the fact that the collective unconscious does not produce unified interpretations?differing 
degrees of consciousness can result in both positive and negative interpretations of certain 
aspects. For instance, the figure of a grandmother can be both wonderful and frightening to a 
child; as someone who exercises power and authority over the child?s parents (who are otherwise 
the most powerful figures in his world), the grandmother figure is often either glorified through 
fairytales and stories as figures such as fairy godmothers or Glinda the Good Witch, or 
demonized as child-eating crones or the Wicked Witch of the West. In these inner dialogues, 
Orlando seems to embody both possibilities, as she wonders whether it is better to see the captain 
frown by declining his offer of putting fat onto her plate, or whether it is better to see him 
smiling by yielding. This binary thinking continues when Orlando ponders returning to England 
itself:  
landing there meant comfort, meant opulence, meant consequence and state 
(for she would doubtless pick up some noble Prince and reign, his consort, 
over half Yorkshire), still?it meant conventiona lity, meant slavery, meant 
deceit, meant denying her love, fettering her limbs, pursing her lips, and 
restraining her tongue. (Woolf, Orlando 163) 
What is very intriguing about this passage is that it reveals Orlando as both subject and object of 
her transformation and subsequent erotic development?that is, even as the transformation 
begins to affect changes both great and small to her own psyche, she is able to perceive the 
 
Snellgrove 32 
 
different interpretations of being a woman. I contend that part of her ability to embody both 
subject and object is the fact that she is still transitioning from man to woman. This is illustrated 
by her later changes in gender, which come before the legal pronouncement (that she apparently 
agrees with) that her sex was ?pronounced indisputably, and beyond the shadow of a 
doubt?female?  (Woolf, Orlando 255). How does this interact with the Jungian interpretation? 
While it may seem obvious, at times Orlando?s development as a woman runs along male ideas 
of femininity, while at other times it is more organic (compare her choices to dress modestly and 
interact with high society with her later ?marriage? to nature that leads to the appearance of 
Marmaduke). 
 The third stage of erotic development is that of the Virgin Mary. Perhaps more so than 
any other stages, this stage invites skepticism on the part of the critical reader. After all, neither 
Woolf nor Orlando seem like ready figures to associate with traditional notions of the Virgin 
Mary (such as chastity and religious devotion). However, Jung himself notes that the modern 
interpretation of Mary as being completely devoid of bodily aspects is, in fact, a reaction to 
modern man?s dependence on science and technology. Specifically, Jung questions how the 
Assumption of the Virgin Mary, confirmed as Catholic dogma in 1950, can be reconciled with 
the animal nature of man: ?what has become of the characteristic relation of the mother-image to 
the earth, darkness, the abysmal side of the bodily man with his animal passions and instinctual 
nature, and to ?matter? in general? (Jung, The Archetypes and Collective Unconscious 107)? In 
attempting to answer this provocative question, Jung comments that the collective focus of the 
world on science and technology has given rise to weapons (such as the hydrogen bomb) capable 
of mass annihilation, and the result is that ?the Mother of God was divested of all the essential 
qualities of materiality.? Humanity, then, requires Mary to become the antithesis of the material 
 
Snellgrove 33 
 
world in order to embody deliverance from the material world entirely. Jung, however, sees it 
differently, and posits that Mary?s body being taken ?into heaven, the realm of the 
spirit?indicates a union of earth and heaven, or of matter and spirit.? Rather than reconciling 
these aspects, Jung claims ?the Assumption is the absolute opposite of materialism? and ?it is a 
counterstroke that does nothing to diminish the tension between the opposites, but drives it to 
extremes? (Jung, The Archetypes and Collective Unconscious 108-109). Part of the significance 
of this is that for Jung, the Virgin Mary stage of erotic development is not intended to be the final 
stage?it represents someone who is overly fixated on matters of a spiritual nature, rather than 
matters of the material world, and only at the final stage, Sophia, can these aspects be united. 7 
 Where, then, does Orlando fit into such analysis? She seems to deify the abstract notion 
of intellect, going so far as to link (albeit playfully) the presence of God with the presence of 
intellect, as when Lady R.?s reception room is described as a 
place where men and women met to swing censers and chant hymns to the 
bust of genius in a niche in the wall. Sometimes the God himself vouchsafed 
his presence for a moment. Intellect alone admitted the suppliant, and nothing 
(so the report ran) was said inside that was not witty. (Woolf, Orlando 198) 
Following Jung?s notion of the Virgin Mary archetype being used to ?redeem? that of the Helen 
archetype, Orlando has replaced the frivolous men who formerly comprised the lovers vying for 
her attention with the intellectual ?great men? that would be more worthy of her attention and 
devotion. The archetype of the Virgin Mary is significant for its ability to refine the notion of 
                                                           
7 The final aspect is what makes notions of this so-called ?erotic development? friendly to 
feminist analysis. The first three stages are very concerned with patriarchal perceptions of 
women, as flawed creators and tempters (Eve) to fallen seductresses (Helen) to redeeming 
mothers (Mary). However, Sophia involves the woman embodying wisdom by unifying these 
opposing aspects of being?being everything at once, much like Orlando at the end of the text. 
 
Snellgrove 34 
 
love: as Jung puts it, it is ?a figure who raises love (eros) to the heights of spiritual devotion? 
(Jung, Man and His Symbols 195). Though Woolf was obviously writing before the Assumption 
of Mary became dogma, Orlando?s actions seem to align quite well with the hope that a 
spiritualized force can embody deliverance from failed flesh; this seems to be symbolized by her 
relationship with Alexander Pope, who she sees as a representation of true wit, unlike those who 
simply think themselves to be witty. The dichotomy seems clear from the very beginning, as he 
represents a towering intellect housed within physically unappealing body. While she soon 
becomes disillusioned with Pope as well, it is Woolf?s intriguing description of a kind of 
archetypal poet figure that perhaps best exemplifies the Jungian archetype of the Virgin Mary:  
A poet is Atlantic and lion in one. While one drowns us the other gnaws us. If we 
survive the teeth, we succumb to the waves. A man who can destroy illusions is 
both beast and flood. Illusions are to the soul what atmosphere is to the earth. 
?By the truth we are undone. Life is a dream. 'Tis waking that kills us.  (Woolf, 
Orlando 203) 
Interestingly, this corresponds quite well to Jung?s own notion of the Virgin Mary?s place within 
the schematic of erotic development: as Thomas Lawson puts it, ?Jung finds the Christian 
Trinity, itself, of two incompatible figures: the Virgin Mary and the devil?as the intercessor 
between the sinner and Christ? (166). The Catholic Church, rather understandably, ?excluded 
evil from the make-up of the Trinity, holding that God could contain no element of evil, for its 
presence in him would stand in contradiction to his holiness. Yet the immitigable presence of 
moral evil in the world found expression nevertheless through the imposing figure of Satan? 
(Lawson 166).  Orlando slowly realizes that poets (Pope chief among them) represent this kind 
of innate paradox: they represent intellectual deliverance from the material world, and yet their 
 
Snellgrove 35 
 
bodies and their works inhabit the material world. The ride home with Pope hints rather strongly 
at the need for a final stage of erotic development beyond this one?one in which Orlando would 
not need to rely upon external forces for intellectual salvation, just as she would no longer view 
the material world as something that she must escape.  
 However, while still embodying the Virgin Mary phase, Orlando?s ride home with 
Pope provides interesting insight that revolves around the intriguing interplay of lightness and 
darkness on their carriage ride. She alternates thinking of herself as honored and blessed to be 
riding with such a venerable poet, and that they are insignificant cosmic specks in the mosaic of 
history. This binary eventually shifts to the character of Pope himself: he is alternately a ?noble? 
man with ?a weight of genius? in his brow, and a ?wretched man? who is ?plain? and ?ignoble? 
and ?despicable,? a ?deformed and weakly? man to ?pity? and ?despise.? She seems unable to 
reconcile the salvation of his intellect with the weakness of his flesh, and interestingly returns to 
religious imagery in an attempt to discover both answers and, indeed, new questions:  
But it is I that am a wretch,?for base as you may be, am I not still baser?...If 
I want to worship, have you not provided me with an image of yourself and 
set it in the sky? Are not evidences of your care everywhere? How humble, 
how grateful, how docile, should I not be, therefore? Let it be all my joy to 
serve, honour, and obey you. (Woolf, Orlando 206) 
Herein, Orlando seems to return to the notion of an archetypal poet. While it is not literally 
Alexander Pope whose images are ever-present, he serves as an imperfect shade of her Platonic 
ideal of a poet?s divinity. All the while, however, Pope seems to be serving his function as both 
redeeming force and antagonistic one: his intellect and its products represent the vessels through 
which Orlando intends to purify and humble herself, yet the material reality of Pope (and, by 
 
Snellgrove 36 
 
extension, all poets, including herself) is that which newly-purified Orlando feels that she must 
confront. To put it another way: she would be unable to appreciate what she described as beams 
of genius that ?may flash six or seven beams in quick succession (as Mr. Pope did that night) and 
then lapse into darkness for a year or for ever? (Woolf, Orlando 208-209) if she did not also 
confront the ignoble and despicable Pope in the darkness, absent the illumination from his 
brilliant beams of light.  
 It is worth mentioning one obvious element that would seem to derail this Jungian 
interpretation: why, in the midst of the Virgin Mary archetype, does Orlando display interest in a 
prostitute in Leicester Square? There are multiple answers to this query: the first is that Orlando, 
still adjusting physically and mentally to womanhood and femininity, sometimes still ?lapsed,? 
so to speak, into masculinity. Woolf notes this by pointing out Orlando?s initial feelings towards 
the girl:  ?to feel her hanging lightly yet like a suppliant on her arm, roused in Orlando all the 
feelings which become a man? (Woolf, Orlando 216-217). Her feminine development seems to 
resume almost immediately, however, as Orlando notes the various things that the woman does 
that are ?all put on to gratify her [Orlando?s] masculinity.? Considering that part of the transition 
from the Helen archetype to the Virgin Mary archetype is the purification of physical desires, it 
is interesting to note that Orlando?s love for Nell (and soon Prue, Kitty, and Rose) seemed less 
focused on physical aspects of beauty: despite the fact that Woolf describes Orlando?s initial 
interest in Prue as being caused by ?the charm of ease and the seduction of beauty,? it is soon 
made clear that what fascinates her most about these women is not their bodies, but their words: 
it was, after all, the ?poor girl's talk, larded though it was with the commonest expressions of the 
street corners, tasted like wine after the fine phrases she had been used to? (Woolf, Orlando 
219). In fact, in viewing these sequences as part of the aforementioned transition into the 
 
Snellgrove 37 
 
archetype of the Virgin Mary, it is quite natural that Orlando transitions away from the witty-yet-
emotionally-empty world of male writers to the more emotionally earnest ?society of her own 
sex,? setting the latter up as (despite the physical reality of their profession) a desexualized 
gathering?especially in comparison to the back-to-back visits by the male wits, in which they 
bore more than a passing resemblance to a panoply of suitors, pursuing her as if she was a 
modern incarnation of Penelope. This also provides yet another hint that a final stage of erotic 
development will be coming for her character: spiritualized intelligence seems to provide less 
insight than the bawdy, bodily talk of these women, further hinting that she will need to find a 
way to fuse the material and the spiritual world if she is to achieve any kind of self-actualization. 
 Of equal note to this analysis is the fact that in this chapter, Orlando begins using her 
ability to switch genders as a way of gaining agency. While the primary emphasis is placed on 
her ability to do things typically associated with men (from gardening, sitting in on court and 
even prowling the streets and looking for adventure), the desexualized nature of the female 
Orlando?s interaction with men is of special note: she can absorb the wisdom of visiting 
?suppliants? with the same ease that she spies on coffeehouse wits, free to slip away into a new 
identity at any time. This same freedom allows her to casually entertain (and casually decline) ?a 
proposal of marriage from some great nobleman? (Woolf, Orlando 221). The process of being 
able to absorb the wit and wisdom of others seems to reach its zenith when she spies upon 
Samuel Johnson and his cohorts?as with her spying upon those within the coffee shop, Orlando 
is content with her own interpretation of the communication that she is witnessing, as opposed to 
hearing the actual words first hand. This kind of synthesis provides insight into her development 
along the lines of the Virgin Mary archetype: her own interpretations of what it means to be 
witty as well as beautiful help segue her to later revisions on her poem. 
 
Snellgrove 38 
 
 The Sophia archetype is, perhaps, the most confusing stage of Jung?s anima 
development. Of Sophia, Jung has claimed that it represents ?the stage where the earthly quality 
completely disappears; therefore the personal or human character vanishes? (Jung, Visions, 480). 
Sophia also represents ?heavenly divinity, the dove or the Holy Ghost? and the ?leader of souls? 
(Jung, Visions, 491) as well as ?the eternal feminine? (Jung, Visions, 481). Despite the Greek 
etymology and the various Gnostic connections that Jung draws upon, he also has very specific 
Christian connections in mind when he speaks of Sophia?for instance, that the Virgin Mary 
serves as a kind of physical ?allegory? for the Holy Ghost?the true mother of God and the force 
that Sophia is the personification of (Jung, Nietzsche?s Zarathustra, 1075). In the schematic of 
erotic development, he considers her ?the highest form of anima,? a pure force who possesses 
?the highest qualities of virtue and knowledge (Jung, Nietzsche?s Zarathustra, 1167).? The 
importance of this stage of erotic development in Orlando?s life cannot be overstated: Leeming 
and Page put it quite well when they point out that ?the Jungian Anima becomes the Goddess 
who must be searched for in the dark and danger-filled world of the unconscious, the womb-
tomb of death and rebirth,? that only through a ?union? with ?Sophia-Anima? can one 
experience ?wholeness?individuation, or self -realization? (171). 
 It is important to remember that prior to this, Orlando?s gender was not fixed?she still 
transformed into a young man to enter into a variety of misadventures, and not until the later 
legal proclamation (read before Marmaduke) does she consider the issue settled. As has been 
previously mentioned, following the development of the anima?specifically, the oft-hidden 
female aspect of the male psyche?is, within the bounds of the text, a way of following Orlando 
rather literally coming to grips with femininity, ultimately embracing it entirely in lieu of 
remaining male. What is intriguing about the Sophia figure, then, is that its advent with regards 
 
Snellgrove 39 
 
to the figure of Orlando can be read meta-textually as Woolf?s own search for herself, as she is 
the feminized goddess that has been hidden by the collective psyche of male ?wit,? and that by 
seeking out the society of other women during the lapses (so to speak) of her Virgin Mary phase 
of erotic development, Orlando was creating fallow ground for her fully-realized feminine 
psyche to grow and bloom. 
 At first glance, the notion of resolving Orlando?s final phase?that of the Sophia 
archetype?with the reality of her adventures would seem somewhat problematic. After all, it 
seems difficult to reconcile the pure and spiritual Jungian ideal of Sophia with the earthy and 
romantic Orlando that falls in love with Marmaduke. However, what should be pointed out is 
that the union with Marmaduke does not represent her attaining the Sophia archetype: rather, I 
contend that Orlando?s final time shift into Virginia Woolf?s present time (and metaphorical 
possession of the wild goose that she had so constantly longed for) represents this moment of 
self-attainment, elaborated on further in this work. In fact, it is my contention that, to some 
degree, Marmaduke was preventing Orlando from individuation. As its name suggests, 
individuation is a very individual and private process?an actualization of the self, and not of 
others. Thus, the relationship with Marmaduke, while vital to Orlando?s development (as with 
the Virgin Mary archetype, the transition to this development takes time, trials, and occasional 
errors) ultimately obscures Orlando?s realization that she can be a vital person outside the 
schematic of societal demands. Marmaduke serves as a stand-in for nature, who Orlando wishes 
to wed, and her desire stems from notions of Victorian convention. The ironic necessity of 
Marmaduke?s absence seems signified by his employment as a professional mariner who must 
often travel; even Orlando?s son?someone who would theoretically be a rather large 
impediment in terms of a private journey of self-individuation?seems to disappear entirely after 
 
Snellgrove 40 
 
her final shift in time, leaving her free to complete this journey alone. Further complicating 
matters if Woolf?s stream-of-consciousness writing style towards the end, which makes the 
mysterious reappearance of Marmaduke seem unreal?he may as well be sprouting from the 
ground, as a fully-bloomed representation of nature and substitute for the poem that Orlando was 
finally willing to lay down. 
 However, the simple absence of others does not mean that they did not play a 
substantial role in the individuation of Orlando. What role, for instance, did pregnancy play for 
Orlando as she transitioned from the archetype of the Virgin Mary to that of Sophia? In this case, 
the metaphorical nature of the archetype allegories is more explicit than usual: the archetypal 
Virgin Mary is, in the Jungian schematic, a purified mother figure, in contrast to the earthy figure 
casts by the Eve archetype. It is more than understandable that Orlando, in her attempts to 
achieve the Sophia archetype, would lapse into the figure of the Virgin Mary. In fact, part of 
what made her transference from the worship of Alexander Pope and his ilk possible was that her 
time among the society of woman (comprised of Nell and her associates) allowed an emphasis 
on beauty and emotion over the much drier aesthetics of wit. When Orlando finds herself in the 
Victorian era, emphasis on beauty and emotion has been culturally discouraged by a society that 
more openly than ever wishes to define women in relation to men?hence, Orlando?s ?need? to 
get married, as well as the assumption that having a child is a necessary function of womanhood.  
 While I will soon elaborate more on the importance of her pregnancy and the birth of 
her child to Orlando?s achieving the Sophia archetype (as well as self-actualization itself), it is 
important to focus on the importance of Marmaduke to these proceedings. After her time shift 
into the Victorian era, Orlando becomes despondent because she feels that everyone else has 
found a mate, and yet she has not. She is soon (and perhaps ironically) reconciled to the notion of 
 
Snellgrove 41 
 
being mated to nature, almost immediately before she meets Marmaduke. There are a number of 
interesting aspects of this decision: while her decision that she must be married is clearly a result 
of the Victorian culture she then inhabited, the decision to be the bride of nature seems to 
illustrate continued possession by the Virgin Mary archetype. Therefore, her romance with 
Marmaduke (who, as mentioned earlier, serves as a kind of physical stand-in for nature) is 
purified into a kind of relationship between a mortal and a higher being. On one hand, this is 
nothing new to Orlando, who had previously romanticized poetic wits as higher powers; on the 
other hand, however, this gives us a valuable glimpse of her later embracing the Sophia 
archetype, as it is characterized (and often symbolized) as a spiritual aspect that one can only 
access when they are separated from the world. As the following will soon illustrate, her decision 
to become nature?s bride signifies the beginning of this separation. 
 What is of great interest to a Jungian interpretation of this text is the exact moment in 
which she reconciles herself to nature: 
she saw, gleaming on the hill-side, a silver pool, mysterious as the lake into which 
Sir Bedivere flung the sword of Arthur. A single feather quivered in the air and 
fell into the middle of it. Then, some strange ecstasy came over her. Some wild 
notion she had of following the birds to the rim of the world and flinging herself 
on the spongy turf and there drinking forgetfulness, while the rooks' hoarse 
laughter sounded over her. She quickened her pace; she ran; she tripped; the tough 
heather roots flung her to the ground. Her ankle was broken. She could not rise. 
But there she lay content. The scent of the bog myrtle and the meadow-sweet was 
in her nostrils. The rooks' hoarse laughter was in her ears. 'I have found my mate,' 
she murmured. 'It is the moor. I am nature's bride,' she whispered, giving herself 
 
Snellgrove 42 
 
in rapture to the cold embraces of the grass as she lay folded in her cloak in the 
hollow by the pool. (Woolf, Orlando 248) 
Some critics have read this scene (and the subsequent introduction of Marmaduke) as mostly 
satirical, such as Jane de Gay, who points out that it serves as a kind of pastiche of Romantic and 
Victorian literature, intended to help Woolf further deconstruct the institution of marriage (Gay 
154). However, my contention is that despite the obvious playfulness of the scene, this scene 
represents an important milestone in the psychological development of Orlando, hinting at the 
possibility of her self-actualization by employing the symbols and tropes of Romanticism that 
called for a union of man and the natural world. One of the symbols she uses quite well in this 
regard is water: according to Jung, ?Water is the commonest symbol for the unconscious. The 
lake in the valley is unconscious, which lies, as it were, underneath conscience? (Jung, The 
Archetypes and Collective Unconscious 18). This is important because this scene represents 
Orlando willingly accessing her unconscious self?something that, perhaps, explains the sudden 
experience of Marmaduke, a character who is seemingly willed into being by Orlando herself. 
Though she has previously experienced increased agency and exhibited the ability to change her 
gender at will, she has still been at the mercy of her unconscious and its desires, whether it wills 
her to cavort with Russian beauties, make fast friends with prostitutes, or even to straddle the 
worlds of masculinity and femininity in her exploration of these very diverse worlds. However, 
by willingly accessing her unconscious, she begins the process which will ultimately help free 
her from material concerns altogether, allowing her to focus on the wisdom symbolized by the 
Sophia archetype. 
 While she has obviously shifted gender previously, these acts previously came as 
surprises to her, before she was able to control it and indulge in the best of both gendered worlds. 
 
Snellgrove 43 
 
In these previous cases, the male Orlando becoming female is Jung?s notion of anima possession 
in a quite literal state, as the unconscious urges had taken Orlando over and transformed her. 
Accessing the unconscious willingly through her experience by the pool, then, represents 
Orlando?s understanding (and perhaps one of Woolf?s more didactic lessons) regarding the 
foolishness of high/low spiritual/body distinctions. As Jung writes, many people associate 
spiritual acts with heights and flights, actions that soar above the crude and mundane world of 
the flesh: he points out that for many, there exists ?the conscious mind, which knows ?spirit? only 
as something that can be found in the heights? and the separate idea of ??Spirit?? that ?always 
seems to come from above, while from below comes everything that is sordid and worthless.? 
For some, this dichotomy presents no issue: ? For people who think in this way, spirit means 
highest freedom, a soaring over the depths, deliverance from the prison of the chthonic world, 
and hence a refuge for all those timorous souls who do not want to become anything different.? 
However, many come to realize exactly what Orlando realizes in this passage: ?But water is 
earthy and tangible, it is also the fluid of the instinct-driven body, blood and the flowing of 
blood, the odor of the beast, carnality heavy with passion? (Jung, The Archetypes and collective 
unconscious 19). 
 It is no accident, then, that this moment is set off by the feather falling into the lake, 
effectively symbolizing the world of the spirit (the soaring birds that can fly anywhere upon ?the 
rim of the world?) joining with the world of the flesh?a world that Orlando seemingly joins by 
instinct, then subsequently revels in the sensory details around her, such as the bog?s scent and 
that of the meadowsweet. The notion of these watery depths representing ?carnality heavy with 
passion? is soon realized, as Orlando tries to determine what the incoming sound is, thinking it 
first to be ?some hammer on an anvil, or was it a heart beating? from ?deep within.? Soon, she 
 
Snellgrove 44 
 
realizes it a horse that Marmaduke is riding, and Woolf (who had referenced mythology earlier in 
this section, likening the truths within the water to Excalibur, thrown by the reluctant Bedivere) 
creates her own kind of unconscious mythology in this section, where thought, feeling, and 
creation become one within Orlando: the beating of her heart is like a hammer on an anvil, 
forging an answer to her unconscious desire for fulfillment that, on the conscious level, she 
processed as the need for a mate. 
 At first blush, such an act may seem contrary not only to a Jungian reading, but to the 
character of Orlando herself, who had so recently declared nature to be her husband before the 
arrival of Marmaduke. However, it is important to keep a kind of cause and effect in mind: 
having attempted to fully access her unconscious and effectively transform it into her conscious 
life, Orlando subsequently creates a new unconscious. As Jung puts it,  
If anyone should set out to replace his conscious outlook by the dictates of the 
unconscious?he would only succeed in repressing the former, and it would 
reappear as an unconscious compensation. The unconscious would have changed 
its face and completely reversed its position. It would have become timidly 
reasonable, in striking contrast to its former tone? (Jung, Modern Man in Search 
of a Soul 18). 
Marmaduke, then, can be viewed as the manifestation of repressed desires on the part of 
Orlando. As many critics have noted, their relationship is very evocative on a kind of meta-
textual level as well, representing the passionate-yet-subsequently-repressed relationship that 
existed between Virignia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West. Victoria Smith, exploring some of the 
potential hidden meaning in Marmaduke?s quote that ?if you see a ship in full sail coming with 
 
Snellgrove 45 
 
the sun on it proudly sweeping across the Mediterranean from the South Seas, one says at once, 
'Orlando,'? noted that  
In this interchange, there is a movement from the actual?Virginia looking at 
Vita?to the imaginary?Virginia images her to be like a magnificent ship?to 
the fictional?Orlando as a fictional representation of Vita?to a moment that 
foregrounds a dynamic space between the real and representation, a gap if you 
will. For in Shelmerdine's admiration of Orlando and metaphorization of her as a 
ship, we are brought back to Vita, and, ineluctably, Woolf. (Smith, 57-58) 
On this meta-textual level, Marmaduke becomes a symbol of freedom and adventure for the 
frequently bedridden Woolf. In this scenario, the timing of this sequence makes much more 
sense, as the fictional Orlando, after freeing herself from notions of adhering to social convention 
(symbolized by her declaration that she will now be the bride of nature, and channeling the fierce 
feminism of Virginia Woolf), is free to follow the dictates of her heart rather than the dictates of 
others?unlike the real Woolf and Sack ville-West, who were driven apart by the unfortunate 
need to conform to mainstream society. 
 It would be overly pithy to claim that Marmaduke, within the context of the novel, 
functions primarily as Orlando?s animus, if one?s knowledge and understanding of the 
anima/animus was limited to it simply being a representation of repressed feminine/masculine 
qualities. However, Singer offers a unique way of viewing the animus: ?The animus of the 
woman is not so much the repressed Masculine as it is the repressed Other, the unconscious 
Other that she has been prevented from living out?There is a mystery about the unknown, and 
the unknown is often the unconscious Other within (Singer, as quoted by Miller). Again, this 
interpretation of the text provides key understanding on both the textual and meta-textual level, 
 
Snellgrove 46 
 
furthering the direct metaphor regarding the loss of Sackville-West (quite literally, an Othered 
relationship that Virginia Woolf was prevented from living out) as well as illuminating more of 
Marmaduke?s character and, indeed, very existence: the manifestation of repression. In this 
sense, the changing names of his character (at least, in the eyes of Orlando) represent repressed 
aspects of Orlando herself, and his character is changing in order to accommodate them. When 
she is in a ?dreamy, amorous, acquiescent mood,? she refers to him as ?Mar,? the Spanish word 
for ?sea.? In these moments, she is presumably closest to her unconscious, and identifies 
Marmaduke as the living manifestation of her unconscious desires. 
 ?Mar,? of course, is just one of the nicknames that she bestows upon him, and the 
names consistently serve as a reference to the emotional state of Orlando. This includes the use 
of the formal middle name ?Bonthrop? in order to signify Orlando?s need for quiet solitude, and 
the affectionate ?Shel? that evokes the snail shells that so fascinate Marmaduke. What is of 
interest to a Jungian interpretation of the text is that, during the hypnotic ending in which the 
character of Orlando feels herself finally settling into the then-present time period of 1928 as part 
of her own attempts at self-actualization, she attempts to summon Marmaduke to her by calling 
out his full name: ?Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine.? In this way, she is verbally uniting her 
perception of Marmaduke in the same way that she hopes to unite the disparate aspects of her 
own identity?the dreamy aspects meet the social aspects, which in turn coexist with her need 
for solitude. In this way, Marmaduke finally stops being a reflection of Orlando?s own mask 
(that is, a representation of her repressed aspects) and is ?now grown a fine sea captain, hale, 
fresh-coloured, and alert.? This moment initially is one that seems shocking, as Orlando?s time-
jumping escapades have placed her beyond the reach of Marmaduke. However, the goose flying 
over this ?fine sea captain??the one that Orlando declares to be the ?wild goose? (Woolf, 
 
Snellgrove 47 
 
Orlando 13) the same one that she has chased across the continents?provides a powerful clue 
regarding the ending of the text.  
 Orlando herself seemed to unite her own identity with Marmaduke?s, to the point that 
she feels her own attempt at self-actualization requires his presence?the text describes her 
attempt to unite with the natural world, as she is ?baring her breast to the moon (which now 
showed bright) so that her pearls glowed--like the eggs of some vast moon-spider,? only to be 
rudely interrupted when ?the aeroplane rushed out of the clouds and stood over her head. It 
hovered above her. Her pearls burnt like a phosphorescent flare in the darkness? (Woolf, 
Orlando 329). The technology and nature dichotomy cannot be ignored in this passage, with 
technology intruding upon soulful introspection, even as Orlando?s natural glow is enough to 
drive back the darkness of the modern world. Even to the very end, Orlando seems obsessed with 
capturing the wild goose that has led her on so many adventures, yet she seems unaware of the 
fact that she has always been able to wield the goose?s nature through the simple, symbolic 
goose-quill pen. Earlier, it seemed to fail her and was a symbol of rote and bland writing when 
Orlando (then a he), ?with the half-conscious air of one doing what they do every day of their 
lives at this hour,? began writing with ?an old stained goose quill? (Woolf, Orlando 16). Later, 
this image is contrasted by the character of ?our Lady of Purity; whose brows are bound with 
fillets of the whitest lamb's wool; whose hair is as an avalanche of the driven snow; and in whose 
hand reposes the white quill of a virgin goose? (Woolf, Orlando 134). She dramatically explains 
that ?I am the guardian of the sleeping fawn; the snow is dear to me; and the moon rising; and 
the silver sea,? but is driven off (along with her two sisters) so that the newly-transformed 
Orlando can better appreciate ?The Truth and nothing but the Truth? (Woolf, Orlando 136). 
 
Snellgrove 48 
 
 The paradoxical challenge seems quite clear: Orlando feels that her true calling is to 
purify and perfect her writing, something that she has tried to do across centuries and across 
genders. She dreams of wielding the ?wild goose??that which is truly alive, a generative force 
in stark contrast to the ?old stained goose quill? capable of only rote, passionless text. Compared 
to her own inner development and innate talent, Marmaduke is, as her affectionate nickname 
suggested, simply a shell?something she used as both fort and anchor in her own constantly-
changing world. However, the paradox comes into play when one realizes that Orlando, too, 
seeks to wield the same ?white quill of a virgin goose? as the Lady of Purity does, but in service 
of the Truth, rather than the decorative speckles that Purity spreads over the grimy reality of the 
earth. This can only come once Orlando herself has actualized?achieved in reality that which 
she attempted to do with Marmaduke by speaking his full name, and joining her own different 
qualities together. What, exactly, would such truth entail?what would a composition of ?the 
Truth and nothing but the Truth? actually look like? Woolf does not explicitly say, but it may, 
perhaps, be inferred: upon visiting her ancient home towards the end of the text, the narrator 
informs us that ?we cannot conceal the fact that she was now a very indifferent witness to the 
truth of what was before her and might easily have mistaken a sheep for a cow, or an old man 
called Smith for one who was called Jones and was no relation of his whatever? (Woolf, 
Orlando). This ties into her decision to bury her poem: ultimately, truth is relative?like the 
actualized Orlando at the end of the text, truth is spontaneous, ever-present, and can exist only in 
the moment of its creation. The poem can never be a record of any kind of eternal truth and stays 
behind, simply an artifact of her struggle to understand the power to fashion her own truths that 
she has had the capacity for all along. 
 
Snellgrove 49 
 
  That capacity is, of course, tied to self-actualization. Of the self, Jung writes that ?the 
?self?? represents ?a psychic totality? that is ?at the same time a centre?it is, in a sense, non -
spatial and non-temporal? (Jung, Four Archetypes, 90). Considering Orlando?s many time-
jumping adventures, it is of special note that she seems to be in at least partial control of this 
final jump, which is indicated by the aforementioned passage in which she bares her breast to the 
moon and shines her pearls into the night like burning stars, effectively reclaiming the power and 
connection of the moon from the Lady of Purity, just as she had reclaimed the transformative 
power of water to serve her own unconscious demands. In fact, shortly before the final bell tolls 
for Orlando, she seems to exert power over her perception (if not reality itself), as the jarring 
image of the plane emerging from the clouds is replaced by the wild goose, which she possesses 
at last. 
 A major part of understanding the Jungian sense of self-actualization and individuation 
is understanding that it is largely a matter of reconciling opposing forces?instead of being 
overtaken by different archetypes at different times (such as being possessed by the dark urges of 
a shadow archetype, or the mysterious power of the anima), one can instead be all things at all 
times?the mask of one?s archetypal persona falls away, revealing a kind of harmonic symphony 
of psychic traits. Towards the end of the text, Orlando seems to realize that this is exactly what 
she needs:  
And it was at this moment, when she had ceased to call 'Orlando' and was 
deep in thoughts of something else, that the Orlando whom she had called 
came of its own accord; as was proved by the change that now came over 
her?The whole of her darkened and settled, as when some foil whose 
addition makes the round and solidity of a surface is added to it, and the 
 
Snellgrove 50 
 
shallow becomes deep and the near distant; and all is contained as water is 
contained by the sides of a well. So she was now darkened, stilled, and 
become, with the addition of this Orlando, what is called, rightly or wrongly, 
a single self, a real self. And she fell silent. For it is probable that when 
people talk aloud, the selves (of which there may be more than two thousand) 
are conscious of disseverment, and are trying to communicate, but when 
communication is established they fall silent. (Woolf, Orlando 314) 
 While this section carries the cheekiness of Woolf?s usual playfulness, it is difficult to 
ignore the specifics of her language?the multiple ?selves? that comprise an individual are 
conscious that they have been separated, and long to communicate with one another. This 
describes the Jungian notion of becoming aware of one?s unconscious life, as well as the relative 
impotence an individual feels when they are unable to access that unconscious world. Of equal 
import is the notion that Orlando has become ?darkened? and ?stilled??curious language, for 
what is meant to be a triumphant union of the many aspects of self. However, they indicate her 
transformation into (psychologically speaking) a three-dimensional being. She is ?darkened? by 
her shadow aspect, just as her turbulent life and mind are ?stilled? enough for actualization. This 
is what makes Jung?s connection between water and the unconscious world so apt, as the manic 
highs and lows of Orlando?s life had previously kept her from the stillness necessary to explore 
her true self. 
 From a Jungian standpoint, then, it is quite rewarding to see how this section differs 
from earlier ones within the text. By Woolf?s own admission, many of Orlando?s subsequent 
actions are quite mundane?yet, as she puts it, ?when the shrivelled skin of the ordinary is 
stuffed out with meaning it satisfies the senses amazingly. This was true indeed of every 
 
Snellgrove 51 
 
movement and action now, usual though they were? (Woolf, Orlando 315). This, too, is in line 
with a Jungian reading of the text, as it fits well within the non-temporal schematic of 
individuation?thou gh the trappings of Orlando?s actions are modern (driving an automobile, for 
instance),the substance of them is rooted in the past, as when she wanders the house and recalls 
the fond memories it has helped provide her. She is no longer leading a purely linear existence, 
but her thoughts and feelings seem to exist across time. 
 This notion of an integrated self even extends to the emotional qualities that she 
perceives in her own home: ?She fancied, too, that, hundreds and thousands of times as she had 
seen them, they never looked the same twice, as if so long a life as theirs had stored in them a 
myriad moods which changed with winter and summer, bright weather and dark, and her own 
fortunes and the people's characters who visited them.? Like Orlando herself, the rooms had 
accumulated enough experience that they could afford to appear different upon each visit, and 
were no longer limited by the seasons. The identification with her rooms continues as she 
ponders the secrets that only she knows about: ?she knew what age each part of them was and its 
little secrets--a hidden drawer, a concealed cupboard, or some deficiency perhaps, such as a part 
made up, or added later? (Woolf, Orlando 316-317). In many ways, the description of these 
rooms matches Jung?s ideal of an individuated self, as no part of them is concealed to Orlando?s 
gaze?they can, for all intents and purposes, represent the totality of their being at any moment.  
Similar to this idea of totality is the image of Orlando wandering through the house with a glass 
of Spanish wine in her hand, consuming glasses as she surveys her ancestral home. 
 Within a Jungian framework, this wine takes on its own very special significance? 
speaking on the topic of the cult of the Virgin Mary?s development in the thirteenth century, 
Jung noted the development of the so-called Lorettanian Litany, the ?invocation to the mother? 
 
Snellgrove 52 
 
in which ?she is called the vas in signe devotionis, the excellent vessel of devotion.? Jung claims 
that the vas, or vessel, ?is analogous to the life-giving chalice in the legend of the Holy Grail,? 
and is also tied to other ancient cults as representations of fertility and other aspects of the Great 
Mother (Jung, Visions, 328). Therefore, the notion of Orlando wielding such a force after her 
individuation may seem, at first, contradictory?if she has truly attained the Sophia archetype, 
and become an individuated self, then why does she seem to be embodying the fertile symbols of 
the Eve and Mary archetypes? Jung himself provides clarification on this matter; as mentioned 
earlier, ?Sophia as wisdom is the personification of the Holy Ghost?in the first and second 
century there were numbers of Christians who believed that Mary the mother of God was really a 
sort of allegory and Sophia was the real mother, the Holy Ghost? (Jung, Nietzsche?s Zarathustra, 
1075). After her individuation, Orlando?s character is able to harness the generative force of this 
maternal archetype without being consumed by the Eve-esque bodily aspects of it, nor the 
spiritual aspects signified by the Virgin Mary archetype. In fact, through the sheer force of her 
own intellect, Orlando has become her own maternal force: even as she laments that no new 
ambassadors will grace her home and ponders the absence of Queen Elizabeth in a bittersweet 
way, she sits in the Queen?s chair, placing herself in the position of regal authority that Elizabeth 
had once occupied. This is a necessary transition, for when the clock strikes four, all of these 
remnants of her former life seemingly disappear.  
 Orlando is not phased by the disappearance; rather, riding the stream-of-consciousness 
wave that comes over her, she seems energized:  
Her mind began to toss like the sea. Yes, she thought, heaving a deep sigh of 
relief, as she turned from the carpenter's shop to climb the hill, I can begin to 
live again. I am by the Serpentine, she thought, the little boat is climbing 
 
Snellgrove 53 
 
through the white arch of a thousand deaths. I am about to understand. 
(Woolf, Orlando 322). 
Here, at the cusp of understanding that comes with self-actualization, Orlando seems to embody 
what James Hillman describes as the contrary emotional aspects that comprise the anima: 
???the contrary emotions that anima phenomena constellate: the fascination plus danger, the 
awe plus desire, the submission to her as fate plus suspicion, the intense awareness that this way 
lie both my life and my death..Its [the anima?s] primary attachment is to the state of nature, to all 
things that simply are?life, fate, death?and which can only be reflected but never separated 
from their impenetrable opacity? (Hillman 23-25). Orlando?s blunt assessment of the world 
around her certainly seems to represent such a constellation, as she begins to innately understand 
that death, understanding, and life itself are interconnected ideas. Understanding, then, becomes 
not a matter of piercing this opaque veil?of discovering what lies beyond ?the white arch of a 
thousand deaths??but realizing that everything is connected?to take her metaphor to heart, at 
that very moment it makes no difference whether she is physically climbing a hill or traveling by 
boat across the Serpentine lake?one does not pierce the opaque veil upon individuation, but 
rather realizes they have been part of that veil all along. 
  It is important to note her location during this moment of transition, turning from the 
carpenter?s shop and embracing her opportunity ?to live again.? It is no coincidence that shortly 
after she turns her back on the carpenter?s shop?a symbol of creative force?she lays down her 
creative opus ?The Oak Tree? by its physical inspiration. This is a far cry from the newly-
transformed Orlando who, as mentioned previously, embraced creativity among the gypsies as a 
way of asserting the earthy creative energy that surrounds the Eve archetype. However, 
Orlando?s Sophia stage?the fourth and final stage of erotic development?is quite distinct from 
 
Snellgrove 54 
 
the Eve stage. Ultimately, Sophia represents integration?she represents the point at which an 
individual is fully actualized, and can therefore represent her multitude of selves, rather than 
displaying only one ?self? at a time (similar to a person changing from mask to mask). As such, 
she no longer needs to outwardly exercise the generative energy of her poetry. Rather, the 
generative energy is within her now. The change in generative energy is signified by her use of it 
as well?while her previous writing was often composed with earthly ends in mind (ranging 
from proving her work could stand beside the greats of yesteryear to impressing literary critics 
and, through them, the world), the generative force within her now seems focused on intellectual 
understanding. From a Jungian perspective, this is hardly surprising: Sophia represents the 
intellect, tethered neither by spirit nor body. Woolf uses deliberate parallelism in order to 
represent this shift, by bringing back the feather imagery in association with the character of 
Marmaduke. Previously, the feather represented her instinctually accessing her unconscious, 
joining earth and spirit together?a union that seemingly manifested Marmaduke from 
nothingness. Now, however, Orlando is very much in control:  
Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine!' she cried, standing by the oak tree?The 
beautiful, glittering name fell out of the sky like a steel-blue feather. She watched 
it fall, turning and twisting like a slow-falling arrow that cleaves the deep air 
beautifully. (Woolf, Orlando 327-328) 
As when she first meets Marmaduke, there is the implication that he appears of her accord rather 
than his own. The fact that she is standing by the oak tree when this occurs is quite significant: as 
written above, she is now able to access the generative powers within herself in order to summon 
Marmaduke. The name?her words, and her evocative associations with the fullness of his 
name?become the feather. No longer is the feather?s course an accident: rather, since it is her 
 
Snellgrove 55 
 
own words, it is implied that she is in control as the feather ?cleaves the deep air beautifully.? 
The metaphor seems quite clear: Orlando is no longer someone who is transitioning from one 
state or another, either physically or mentally. Rather, her agency allows her the creative force to 
shape the world around her: the feather ?cleaves? the air until Marmaduke appears, making it 
seem as if she shaped him from nothingness. 
 The obvious question for a Jungian interpretation would be what role Marmaduke plays 
in this conclusion?put bluntly, why is his presence necessary at all? After all, if Orlando has 
fully individuated?a journey of self that was, ultimately, completed alone?then why would she 
need Marmaduke? The answers to these questions lie, at least partially, in the simple fact that the 
ultimate goal of individuation is not solitude. In many ways, it is exactly the opposite: a non-
individuated mind is one that must put on different masks in order to deal with different 
situations and people. This, in and of itself, can be quite isolating: the cost of socializing with 
others is, paradoxically, to be unable to truly be one?s self. Upon individuation, the need for 
masks of persona falls away, as the individuated self can now be all things to all people. 
 In that context, the presence of Marmaduke makes much more sense. Depending on her 
mood, the relationship with Marmaduke was one that threatened Orlando?s sense of her own 
independence and growth as a person. This is something symbolized during their marriage 
ceremony, in which ?one word? could just as easily be something as frightening as ?the jaws of 
death? as it is something simple and pedestrian, such as ?obey.? The Orlando that married 
Marmaduke was someone who feared the paralyzing effects of a marriage (the jaws connoted 
immobility as much as they did the possibility of death), and in the often stream-of-
consciousness text, the frequent absences of Marmaduke can be interpreted in the same way as 
the persistent absence of their son is?as an indication that Orlando feared such anchors to the 
 
Snellgrove 56 
 
world would ultimately be the death of her interiority, as she?d be forced to trade the world of 
intellect and spirit for the world of flesh. However, the Orlando at the end of the text has changed 
significantly: as someone who is willing to risk death a thousand times over in the name of 
understanding, she seems to intuitively realize that such emotional anchors do not necessarily 
stop her journey of understanding. Furthermore, she identifies (as mentioned earlier) Marmaduke 
with the so-called ?wild goose? that she has been chasing for her entire life; rather than 
representing an end to her various adventures, it comes to symbolize a kind of stable life, one she 
can more fully appreciate now that her own identity is individuated. As mentioned earlier, 
invoking Marmaduke through his full name signifies that she is willing to accept him fully, 
rather than as incomplete reflections of her own fractured identity. In short: he represents a kind 
of social wholeness to which she feels she can finally embrace, having achieved an emotional 
and mental wholeness through the process of individuation. This is part of a larger synthesis of 
opposing forces that occur at the end of the text, as Louise Poresky points out that 
as the clock sounds the twelfth stroke of midnight, the point where night and day, 
dark and light, and, therefore, feminine and masculine meet, the wild goose 
springs up into the sky. Opposites unite, and out of this union soars all that the 
goose symbolizes??life,? ?truth,? the Self. (Poresky 182). 
While Poresky?s notion of the Self is not explicitly Jungian, it is interesting to note the similarity 
with Jungian thought: actualization comes from the union of opposing forces. Therefore, reunion 
with Marmaduke does not negate this actualization as a feminine triumph?rather, union with 
Marmaduke allows Orlando to symbolically embody both anima and animus, becoming fully 
whole at last. 
 
Snellgrove 57 
 
 Jungian analysis of Orlando as both character and text does pose an interesting question: 
what, exactly, is the archetypal shadow of Orlando? Jung characterized such a force in one?s 
unconscious as a kind of repression of negative qualities: ?Everyone carries a shadow, and the 
less it is embodied in the individual?s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is?We carry our 
past with us, to wit, the primitive and inferior man with his desires and emotions, and it is only 
by a considerable effort that we can detach ourselves from this burden? (Jung, Psychology and  
Religion 93). However, it is worth noting that the shadow archetype is not solely negative?
ultimately, individuation would involve reconciliation with this archetype, just as it would with 
others. This is because  
this darkness is not just the simple converse of the conscious ego. Just as the ego 
contains unfavorable and destructive attitudes, so the shadow has good qualities?
normal instincts and creative impulses. Ego and shadow, indeed, although 
separate, are inextricably linked in much the same way that thought and feeling 
are related to teach other? (Franz, ?The Process of Individuation? 110). 
However, just as individuals? thoughts and feelings are often in conflict with each other (the 
classical struggle of the mental sphere in conflict with the emotional sphere), the ego and the 
shadow wrestle each other?a struggle that can be metaphorically understood as the individual 
mind trying to assert their consciousness over their unconscious, which was signified in early 
stories as man struggling with fantastic monsters, such as dragons (Franz, ?The Process of 
Individuation? 111). This is one of the reasons the masculine hero?s journey is relatively uniform 
in such heroic fantasies. However, Orlando is a story that often frustrates such masculine 
interpretations, starting with the simple fact that Orlando transitions away from a kind of ultra-
 
Snellgrove 58 
 
masculine character who slashes at the heads of state enemies to something less masculine, and 
ultimately to something completely feminine. 
 So who or what functions as the shadow of Orlando? The only possible answer is the 
character of Sasha?while she is a flesh and blood person before becoming a kind of haunting 
mental presence, the relationship with Sasha illustrates Orlando using her as a kind of shadow 
foil for himself (and, later, herself). As Jung puts it, ?whoever looks into the mirror of the water 
will see first of all his own face. Whoever goers to himself risks a confrontation with himself. 
The mirror does not flatter, it faithfully shows whatever looks into it?the mirror lies behind the 
mask and shows the true face?  (Jung, Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious 20). In this 
sense, the changing ways in which Orlando views Sasha can be interpreted as another way in 
which Orlando discovers the truth about himself (and later, herself); in the beginning, a large part 
of the fascination with Sasha as a character is her differences from Orlando, differences that are 
at first tempting, but later serve as the foundation for much of the negative projection that 
Orlando has for Sasha as a character.  
 In fact, it is not much of a stretch to claim that one of the qualities that Orlando initially 
finds so fascinating about Sasha is that she is the opposite of him in so many ways: just as he is 
focusing so much of his energy on becoming a kind of courtier supreme, he falls in love with 
someone who often ?would stamp her foot and cry, 'Take me away. I detest your English mob,' 
by which she meant the English Court itself. She could stand it no longer? (Woolf, Orlando 43). 
This helps to illustrate what makes Orlando such a fascinating character for this type of analysis: 
Sasha as the shadow (and therefore, the representation of repressed negative qualities) actually 
changes as Orlando does: it is one of the reasons why Sasha represents repressed desires for the 
male Orlando?the desire to abandon the ?English mob? and meditate in solitude?that she later 
 
Snellgrove 59 
 
makes into reality as a woman. To the Jungian scholar, this is perhaps less surprising, as Sasha?
at this moment in time?serves as both archetypal shadow and an anima form that prefigures the 
mysterious and alluring femininity that Orlando will eventually embrace. As Jung writes, ?To the 
men of antiquity the anima appeared as a goddess or a witch, while for medieval man the 
goddess was replaced by the Queen of Heaven and Mother Church? (Jung, Archetypes of the 
Collective Unconscious 29). Anima figures can be as inspirational as they can be terrifying: 
?Since the beginning of time man?has been engaged in combat with his soul and its 
daemonism. If the soul were uniformly dark it would be a simple matter. Unfortunately this is 
not so, for the anima can appear also as an angel of light, a psychopomp who points the way to 
the highest meaning? (Jung, Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious 29). While the 
relationship with Sasha serves as a kind of trial for Orlando on a variety of levels, there is?at 
the risk of sounding trite?meaning in the trial itself. As such, this shadow/anima figure is very 
important?as Jung quite eloquently puts it, ?[Anima] is the serpent in the paradise of the 
harmless man with good resolutions and still better intentions?because the anima wants life, she 
wants both good and bad? (Jung, Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious 28). To carry that 
metaphor through to its obvious conclusion, while Sasha may tempt Orlando to a greater 
knowledge of both good and evil, Orlando comes to revere knowledge in and of itself, making 
Sasha a very valuable individual in the self-actualization of Orlando. As with most aspects of the 
text, this love of knowledge is something that changes as Orlando does: at first, he deals with his 
grief over Sasha by turning to such riveting texts as ?the works of Sir Thomas Browne and 
proceeded to investigate the delicate articulation of one of the doctor's longest and most 
marvellously contorted cogitations? (Woolf, Orlando ). It is not the text itself that is significant, 
 
Snellgrove 60 
 
but Orlando?s return to knowledge as a form of escape from the material world, something that 
the narrator tells us was a habit leftover from childhood:  
It was the fatal nature of this disease to substitute a phantom for reality, so that 
Orlando, to whom fortune had given every gift--plate, linen, houses, men-
servants, carpets, beds in profusion--had only to open a book for the whole vast 
accumulation to turn to mist...So it was, and Orlando would sit by himself, 
reading, a naked man. (Woolf, Orlando). 
In some ways, the vacillations of this pre-transformation Orlando help to anticipate the later 
stages of erotic development, as he essentially rebounds from the passionate archetype of Helen 
to that of Mary?knowledge as salvation from the cruelties of the material world. Just as the 
actualized mind cannot remain with the Virgin Mary phase, though, Orlando must later find a 
way to embody Sophia, and fully join the material world and the world of knowledge. Of course, 
this anticipation of later erotic development on Orlando?s part via Sasha is no surprise, since 
Sasha functions as both early anima and shadow for Orlando.  
 How, then?despite the passionate origin of their relationship?does Sasha function as 
an archetypal shadow for Orlando? At the time of their first meetings, Orlando is very much a 
male, and as such, the thoughts and fantasies of Sasha represent typical male fears. This is 
primarily manifested in the fear that Sasha is withholding information, the fear of which is 
enough to drive Orlando to terrible rages: ?The agony would seize him suddenly. Then he would 
blaze out in such wrath that she did not know how to quiet him. Perhaps she did not want to quiet 
him; perhaps his rages pleased her and she provoked them purposely? (Woolf, Orlando 49). 
While it is ambiguous whether the latter speculation was editorializing on the part of the author 
or speculation on Orlando?s part, it reveals a kind of projection of Orlando?s fear of loss, 
 
Snellgrove 61 
 
projected onto Sasha. Even this fear of loss is something that is ultimately made out to be more 
about Orlando than it is about Sasha?the text informs us that ?time went by, and Orlando, 
wrapped in his own dreams, thought only of the pleasures of life; of his jewel; of her rarity; of 
means for making her irrevocably and indissolubly his own? (Woolf, Orlando 50). As such, his 
fears regarding losing Sasha could easily be interpreted as fears regarding losing his own 
standing that he had fought so hard for?while Orlando was captivated by the anima aspect of 
Sasha to the point of romanticizing her lower station (or, more accurately, romanticizing himself 
and the gallant action of lowering himself to such a station), Sasha as shadow archetype reveals 
their relationship as a projection of Orlando?s own fear of loss: she was valuable to him as an 
object that he considered rare, and the merest thought of her cavorting with another man diluted 
her rarity in his eyes. If nothing else, her ?rarity? would be lessened, and therefore the value of 
possessing her as ?his own? would be lessened as well. 
 However, the encounter with Sasha is actually necessary to the eventual individuation of 
Orlando. As Jung puts it,  
But if we are able to see our own shadow and can bear knowing about it, then a 
small part of the problem has already been solved: we have at least brought up the 
personal unconscious. The shadow is a living part of the personality and therefore 
wants to live with it in some form. It cannot be argued out of existence or 
rationalized into harmlessness? (Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective 
Unconscious 20). 
Therefore, as mentioned above, the encounter with Sasha represents a kind of identity struggle 
that is necessary for the development of the unconscious to begin. In fact, as minor as this scene 
may seem, it plays an interesting role within the Jungian schematic: the aforementioned 
 
Snellgrove 62 
 
ego/unconscious struggle historically manifested itself as man?s fight with fantastic monsters, 
such as knights battling dragons. However, this is merely the first step?a rather blunt way for 
the masses to imagine themselves as asserting a kind of power or dominance over their 
unconscious. However, literature is ripe with examples of characters who realize that 
understanding their unconscious is not a matter of overpowering an external force, but finding a 
way to a kind of inner exploration, which recurs repeatedly throughout mythology as a descent 
into the underworld. This minor scene arguably represents such a journey for Orlando, and 
Woolf?ever ready to explore unexpected psychic consequences within her text?illustrates how 
Orlando?s ultimate reaction to what he sees differs from his initial reaction. 
 Initially, the scene aboard the ship serves to highlight the external explication of 
Orlando?s internal fears: as Woolf writes, ?seized instantly with those dark forebodings which 
shadowed even his most confident thoughts of her, he plunged the way he had seen them go into 
the hold of the ship.? Initially, Orlando seems to desire a confrontation with the sailor?the old 
paradigm, in which conquering an external force would equate mastery over the unconscious. 
However, ?Sasha threw herself between them,? after which ?a deadly sickness came over 
Orlando? and Orlando, when recovered, ?came to doubt what he had seen. Had not the candle 
guttered; had not the shadows moved?? (Woolf, Orlando 51). In this, Orlando?s descent into the 
underworld (such as it is) mirrors that of Odysseus: on one hand, he obtains part of the 
knowledge he descended for (a possible validation of his fears concerning Sasha). On the other 
hand, he is filled with doubts about himself?just as Odysseus has his notion of glory challenged 
by the shade of Achilles, Orlando begins to doubt his own assumptions, starting with the 
aforementioned suspicions of Sasha and ending with his estimation of Sasha herself, who he only 
now fears may be ?rank?coarse flavoured?peasant born ,? fears which then extend to the Sasha 
 
Snellgrove 63 
 
of the future: ?he fancied her at forty grown unwieldy though she was now slim as a reed, and 
lethargic though she was now blithe as a lark? (Woolf, Orlando 52-53). My contention is that 
this descent into Orlando?s unconscious underworld represents Orlando catching a passing 
glimpse of Sasha as a shadow of Orlando himself?a crystallization of fears concerning losing 
beauty, grace, and station. This is an important moment in the Jungian analysis of the text, as it 
anticipates the obese Sasha of the future, meaning that Orlando has had an important glimpse of 
the substance behind the shadow projection of Sasha.  This glimpse becomes something more 
soon after, as signified by the flood-related events that occur after Sasha?s departure?as 
mentioned above, water is one of the primary links to the subconscious in Jungian theory. 
 In fact, the prominence of water in the first chapter provides much material for a 
Jungian interpretation of the text. With the premise of the water representing one?s unconscious 
mind in place (a premise that seems greatly validated by the later scene that occurs immediately 
before the introduction of Marmaduke), it is very significant that the river is, for most of the 
chapter, completely frozen over. In many ways, this can be interpreted as Orlando being cut off 
from his true unconscious, something that he realizes (on an equally unconscious level) as being 
hidden from him. Even the first sexual union with Sasha signifies this: they make love upon the 
ice, but Orlando is unable to penetrate the mind of Sasha with the same ease that he penetrates 
her body. This forms the root of the trust issues within their relationship, perhaps most greatly 
signified by the ambiguity surrounding Sasha?s actions onboard the Russian ship (itself an 
explication of Orlando?s attempt to descend beneath the frozen consciousness and understand the 
darkness within).  
 Once again, there is the idea that Sasha is able to access the unconscious mind in a way 
that Orlando cannot?Sasha descends into the depths of the ship alone, and only Sasha knows 
 
Snellgrove 64 
 
what (if anything) happened between herself and the brutish man within the ship, while Orlando 
is left with only speculation and doubt. Indeed, that same brutish man could be considered part of 
the shadow projection that surrounds the character of Sasha?he is, in many ways, a brutish 
mirror of Orlando?s masculine aspects. The man is quick to anger, potentially very intimate even 
when passionate (it is worth noting that the act that Orlando seemingly catches the two in 
involves the relatively benign action of his hand resting upon her knees), and is ultimately 
dismissed as a ?hairy sea brute? (Woolf, Orlando 52). Such a man could be a representation of 
Orlando himself, were he stripped of titles and privileges. While brief, this scene could be 
considered a key event in the ego?s struggle with the shadow, as Orlando tries to impose his will 
on the ever inscrutable Sasha. Within the ship, this effort is obviously a failure: once the ice 
melts, the failure becomes that much more spectacular.  
 If the frozen waters represent a frozen unconscious, then the obvious question 
remains?what is the significance, in Jungian terms, of the ice melting, and the subsequent 
misadventures that it causes? The incident seems to be immediately precipitated by Orlando and 
Sasha taking in a performance of Othello, during which Orlando is shocked to find that he 
empathizes with the act of killing a lover to such a degree that Othello?s rage seems to be his 
own. Possibly to avoid acting on such hasty passions, Orlando attempts to run away from his old 
life with Sasha in tow?something that she ultimately refuses. With the aforementioned motif in 
mind of ego versus shadow?or the mind versus emotion?such a rage as Orlando felt towards 
Sasha may very well indicate that the ego was beginning to lose the struggle. Rather than 
triumphing over the emotional aspect of the unconscious realms, Orlando?s very sanity was 
nearly dragged into that same abyss. Therefore, if the ice represented a completely static 
unconscious that could not be easily penetrated or accessed, the flooding waters may very well 
 
Snellgrove 65 
 
represent the unconsciousness unchanged?a dynamic flood of thoughts, emotions, and fears that 
Orlando is unable (or unwilling) to process. 
 While it is hardly subtle, it is worth noting the character of Othello as a projection of 
Orlando?s shadow. This in itself is not overly surprising?the literal dark character of Othello 
serving as a shadowy projection of white fears has arguably been built into the play since its 
inception?but the specific comparison of Orlando and Othello reveals much within the context 
of a Jungian analysis. For example, whereas Iago is presented as a clear manipulative force who 
helps bring about the senseless murder of Desdemona, Orlando identifies Sasha herself as the 
manipulator. This, perhaps, is what alarms him so much about his own reaction: rather than 
responding with horror to a scene of senseless murder, he instead sees it as a vicarious 
fulfillment of his own desire for violence?a desire, perversely enough, that is considered as a 
kind of justice, since it would be the ultimate demonstration of Orlando?s ego-power over Sasha. 
The cultured and well-bred Orlando is at something of a standstill, as he is unable to determine a 
better way of asserting his ego, yet the alternative is to become the murderous Othello?or, 
perhaps, to become the hairy sea brute who knows nothing of culture and art, yet is nonetheless 
able to understand Sasha in a way that Orlando never will. 
 Subsequently, signifying to Sasha that it was time for them to run away together serves 
as a final attempt for the ego to assert its will: while the attempt to make their lives resemble a 
kind of fairytale spectacle (waiting for the right time and the right appearance of the sky in order 
to run away from their old lives in order to begin anew) may seem more emotional to outside 
observers, it is Orlando?s attempt to use such a fantasy to reorder their relationship that is 
significant in illustrating this as an act of ego-driven will. In place of his own emotional outburst, 
he seeks to reassert the comfort of the old fantasy? ultimately, an act of ego intended to set up 
 
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an ego-approved proxy fantasy (one that Orlando, of course, was fully in control of) in place of 
the emotional chaos that was raging through him (that, of course, Orlando had no real control 
of). In short: finding himself on the emotional precipice of murderous violence, Orlando forcibly 
pulls himself back to the world of intellect?o ne where, even in an act of fantasy fulfillment, he 
is in complete control.  However, Sasha?s refusal to appear seems to trigger a breakdown of the 
walls between Orlando and the unconscious. 
 It is important to note that when the river thaws (signifying that Orlando?s unconscious 
can now be accessed), it does not mean that Orlando is psychologically ready to deliberately 
access this unconscious realm. This is what makes Orlando?s later desire for marriage and the 
subsequent appearance of Marmaduke so profound, as it represented a deliberate attempt to 
access her unconscious desires and to bridge the two worlds of conscious and unconscious. This 
early encounter with Sasha?s departure, however, represents an involuntary method of accessing 
the unconscious world, due to the apparent triumph of the shadow archetype through the 
departure of Sasha. As long as the two of them remained together, the battle of wills could 
continue?the ego world of Orlando grappling with the emotional world of Sasha, seeking 
purchase and, eventually, victory. However, the departure of Sasha represents her triumph: the 
shadow has won, leaving Orlando (for the moment) in darkness and despair. This seems to be 
signified by the end of the second chapter, in which an impotent Orlando realizes he has no 
power over Sasha:  
Flinging himself from his horse, he made, in his rage, as if he would breast the 
flood. Standing knee-deep in water he hurled at the faithless woman all the insults 
that have ever been the lot of her sex. Faithless, mutable, fickle, he called her; 
 
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devil, adulteress, deceiver; and the swirling waters took his words, and tossed at 
his feet a broken pot and a little straw. (Woolf, Orlando 64) 
Sasha?s identity as Orlando?s shadow is never as clear as it is in this moment, in which Orlando 
hurls a variety of insults that, in time, will almost all apply to Orlando himself after his feminine 
transformation?as ever, his vision of Sasha is a projection of his own repressed desires, 
something that he is unable to give full voice to until he is half-submerged 8 into the waters of 
the unconscious. It is intriguing that, as the text notes, those ?swirling waters? offered Orlando ?a 
broken pot and a little straw? in exchange for his cruel words. These seem to be totems of his 
fractured unconscious at the time?the broken pot, something that could possibly contain the 
roiling waters of his unconscious, is now broken and useless. Similarly, the straw seems to be a 
subtle indicator that his image of Sasha is ultimately artificial; however, there is still the potential 
to take the raw materials of that straw and build something anew. 
 Obviously, the image of Sasha recurs throughout the text, and the notion of her as 
Orlando?s archetypal shadow helps to illustrate the significance of her changing role throughout 
these appearances. When her name is next mentioned in the text, it is used to reinforce that 
Orlando had developed similarly powerful borderline hypnotic abilities regarding those who 
adored him: ?The power is a mysterious one compounded of beauty, birth, and some rarer gift, 
which we may call glamour and have done with it. 'A million candles', as Sasha had said, burnt 
in him without his being at the trouble of lighting a single one? (Woolf, Orlando 124). There is a 
kind of dark irony at place through the use of this imagery: whereas before it served as a visual 
reminder of the psychological distinctions between himself and Sasha (his incandescent 
                                                           
8 Symbolically, the fact that he was half-submerged is quite critical, as it indicates only partial 
immersion into the fluid genders of the unconscious world. Here, Orlando?s masculine conscious 
struggles again such immersion, fearful of losing its sense of identity. 
 
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brilliance represented the ego, in deliberate contrast to her mysterious and shadowy nature), the 
invocation of Sasha?s description at this point in the text seems to indicate that Orlando has 
actually become such a shadow character himself. This is visually signified by the text as well, 
which notes ?thus he would stand, gazing at the city beneath him, apparently entranced. At this 
hour the mist would lie so thick that the domes of Santa Sofia and the rest would seem to be 
afloat? (Woolf, Orlando 120). Orlando as inscrutable shadow also explicitly hides from those 
around him: ?And sometimes, it is said, he would pass out of his own gates late at night so 
disguised that the sentries did not know him? (Woolf, Orlando 123). Indeed, Orlando as shadow 
is meta-textually accurate as well, as the playful conceit of this section of the text is that very 
little is known of this period of Orlando?s life: what is known has been gathered from others, and 
their own knowledge of Orlando seems to be limited to their own projections, whether he is 
thought of as a capricious drunk, a secret lover, or a master diplomat. 
 While it can only be addressed briefly within this section dedicated to Sasha, one 
obvious question is where Orlando?s transformation falls within this ego/shadow model. At this 
point in the text, Orlando seems to have become little more than a shadow, cast by the substance 
of something larger than himself. Hence, it is difficult for individuals to have a clear idea of who 
Orlando really is: he is the personification of their own repressed urges, which may indicate why 
even the great and glorious moments (such as obtaining the Dukedom) are sullied by scandals. 
So what prompts the infamous transformation? If the testimony of one old woman is to be 
believed, the event was precipitated by Orlando?s romantic tryst with a woman ?apparently of 
the peasant class? (Woolf, Orlando 131). While the character of Orlando is difficult to 
understand through the lens of other characters, such a union can be viewed as a very different 
culmination of the ego/shadow struggle? whereas the relationship with Sasha represented this 
 
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conflict as a constant struggle due to Sasha?s unwillingness to truly allow Orlando into her life, 
Orlando in this scenario has now married Rosina-Pepita in an attempt to unite both his ego and 
emotion. This represents an act of mediating his ego through his emotional connection to 
someone who would be viewed as a commoner. Specifically, marriage to a peasant allows him to 
retain the incandescent brilliance of his life and his mind while simultaneously tempering his 
station in life via a ?low? union. Why is this so important? It indicates the urge for actualization 
that brings about his transformation into a woman?the urge to experience a world which is so 
very different from the world he is accustomed to, a world in which his high class and his 
masculinity have previously been inextricably combined. His later time as a woman involves 
navigating a struggle between embodying substance at times and shadow at others, something 
that is perfectly prefigured by marriage to a common woman, something that allows him to be 
substantial in Rosina?s eyes and but a shadow to the viewpoint of others. 
 In this span of time, Orlando has made a kind of archetypal transformation that mirrors 
the gender transformation he will soon undergo. Previously, he been possessed by his shadowy 
archetype, but even more than that?in Jungian terms, h e had become little more than a 
projection of others, a kind of cipher into which other people could read only their own 
unconscious thoughts. However, obtaining the Dukedom represented a way of reasserting his 
will over the more emotional aspects of himself. While the later Orlando would come to 
disregard this title as well as others, all of the aspects of the ceremony help to illustrate Orlando 
once again becoming substance rather than shadow, and taking up the mantle of the intellectual 
ego who must struggle against the more monstrous aspects of the emotional world. In fact, the 
attempt to unite the different parts of his own identity seemed symbolized by the very act of the 
coronation, in which Orlando had the orderly and controlled soldiers of England on one side and 
 
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the restless natives of Turkey on the other side?it seemed to echo Freud?s idea of the ego, id, 
and superego, with Orlando as the final element that could mediate the desires of both sides. 
However, just as Jung separated himself from Freud?s notions because the idea of nearly 
everything being driven by a sex-hungry id was very limiting to analysis of the psyche, the text 
of Orlando soon illustrates the folly of trying to mediate these forces, with the natives offering 
the first frightening glimpse of chaos and anarchy taking over. 9 
 In the absence of Sasha, the faceless natives actually take on the important role of 
shadowy, antagonistic force. The fact that they take up this shadowy mantle just as Orlando 
abandons it for a new one (literally, in the form of the coronet) is signified during the coronation: 
Orlando, as outlined previously, has existed as a projection of the unconscious desires of those 
around him. While it is by nature speculative, the text theorizes that Orlando not living up to the 
nigh-mythical expectations placed upon him may have been a contributing factor to the civil 
unrest in the area: ?Either the people had expected a miracle--some say a shower of gold was 
prophesied to fall from the skies--which did not happen, or this was the signal chosen for the 
attack to begin; nobody seems to know; but as the coronet settled on Orlando's brows a great 
uproar rose? (Woolf, Orlando 130). In short: the moment that Orlando comes to represent the 
forces of ego again, he is opposed by the faceless mass of native unrest. Thus, the classical 
Jungian paradigm is reasserted as the Freudian paradigm fails. 
 Orlando?s brief relationship with Rosina may seem, at first, different from this typical 
Jungian paradigm. His relationship with Sasha was a constant struggle to bring her into his 
world, and on his terms: she attended his court in his land, and when he tired of that, she was 
                                                           
9 This may be intentional on Woolf?s part, in the sense that Orlando must formulate his own 
solutions when faced with the failure of Freudian theory. With this mind, his eventual 
transformation may be viewed as the ultimate liberation from the sexual constraints of Freud. 
 
Snellgrove 71 
 
expected to run away with him, at his appointed time and to his appointed place. With the unseen 
Rosina-Pepita, there is cursory evidence that he attempted a very different approach: through 
marriage, he sought to bring them to an equal footing?a gesture made more generous by the 
bleak reality of her station. How, then, does this unite with the Jungian framework established 
thus far? Karen Lawrence views the union with Rosina as a way of symbolizing Orlando?s initial 
break with the expectations of masculine patriarchal culture:  
Orlando finds himself attracted to the ethos of the other rather than disposed to 
regulate it?The signs of the relaxation of military male purpose are Orlando's 
slumming in disguise among the "natives" and are confirmed in his marriage to 
Rosina Pepita ?This match, witnessed by a washerwoma n, suggests illegitimacy, 
a departure from the aristocratic, patriarchal Englishness of Orlando's upbringing. 
(265) 
In this sense, it should be clear that the typical Jungian framework is very much present: despite 
the egalitarian appearance of a nobleman marrying a common woman, Rosina serves as the kind 
of vessel for male ego. Specifically, she represents a means by which Orlando can reestablish 
psychological dominance by reimagining himself and his role. Rather than serving as the 
projection of others, he seeks to redefine himself as departing from that patriarchal tradition. The 
irony, of course, is that even as Orlando seeks to depart from a world of patriarchal tradition, he 
is inextricably linked to it: using an apparently throwaway marriage to a commoner as a way of 
reimagining himself is a gross act of wealthy masculine privilege. Woolf portrays Orlando as 
someone who must reach the very edge of masculinity before they can penetrate the barrier into 
the mysterious world of the feminine. Ultimately, this is what makes Orlando?s self-actualization 
at the end of the text so powerful: she has extended beyond not only the boundaries of the 
 
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masculine world, but the boundaries of the feminine one as well. Put more accurately, she has 
discovered that such boundaries do not exist, save for the boundaries that she places on sex. As 
such, she is fully?and finally?in control of herself. 10 
 Obviously, this analysis represents a small sampling of the potential Jungian analysis of 
Woolf?s texts. Which returns us to the original question, in many ways: why focus such an 
analysis on this particular text of Woolf?s? One of the more compelling reasons is that, through 
the character of Orlando, Woolf is able to portray a self-actualization that may have eluded her in 
her own life. According to Julia Briggs? biography, ?freeing Orlando from the tick of time?s 
clock? was a way of releasing ?herself, the self that felt old beside Vita, traveled so much more 
slowly.? Woolf, she asserts, ?longed to follow Orlando into the realm of imagination, to retreat 
into the weightlessness of words and thoughts.? Perhaps most interestingly, Biggs claims that the 
ending of the text represents  
a mystic marriage of opposites that would be consummated in darkness in the 
final chapter of her next book, a marriage Shakespearean in its optimism, its 
unions of irreconcilables?not just the marriage of Orlando and Shel, of male and 
female, but of homo- and hetero-sexual love, biography and autobiography, of 
literary history and quantum physics, of the body and the universe, of eternity and 
time?  (Biggs 210). 
The next novel was, of course, The Waves, a novel which arguably begins within the world of the 
unconscious, in which the narrative is formed from six distinct monologues that allow Woolf to 
                                                           
10 This correlates closely to Susana Rowland and her research into Jung; she posited that Jung?s 
unconscious was ?fluidly gendered? (Rowland 148) despite the patriarchal limits his conscious 
mind placed on his writing. In fully accessing her femininity, Orlando, too, extends beyond the 
gendered limits of the conscious mind, and has become her own union of male and female.  
 
Snellgrove 73 
 
further explore notions of consciousness and actualization. Orlando, then, becomes that much 
more important in the spectrum of Jungian analysis because it represents the author herself in a 
kind of transition, as she both articulates the limits of the conscious mind and then uses 
imagination as a means to transcend those limits entirely, doing so through a synthesis of 
opposing forces?that ?mystic marriage of opposites??that perfectly evokes Jungian self-
actualization. 
 The Jungian approach, at its heart, concerns reaching beyond sex in order to penetrate 
the mysteries of the interior mind and, like Woolf, seems to represent a paradox at first glance. 
After all, it involves embracing the worst part of ourselves in order to transform into the best 
part; it involves a belief that the cultural archetypes of the past are a way of discovering the 
future. Woolf?s paradoxes have always been rather prevalent: one must be independent of others 
yet dependent on money? female writers must concentrate on writing that extends b eyond 
femininity, yet still ?think? through the mother of the writer. However, the intricacy of such 
paradoxes represents, on a very real level, the enormity of the mysteries these authors attempt to 
solve. The paradox persists because, as Woolf so ardently insists concerning the need for 
androgynous writing, one must be transcendent while, in a way, being still: one must transcend 
who they are without losing sight of who they have become?to be the movement of the river, 
and the stillness of the riverbed. Jung offers a way of reconciling such a paradox, and through his 
use of archetypes, effectively offers a way of creating and analyzing a continuum of femininity. 
That is, Jung?s psychoanalytic methods offer a way of uniting the ever-evolving world of modern 
feminist discourse with the icons and touchstones of feminism that have come before, illustrating 
what binds such discourses together even as we celebrate the disparate views within. It is through 
 
Snellgrove 74 
 
such archetypal links that the white and privileged world of Virginia Woolf?s texts can be linked 
with the blunt and often horrifying world of Toni Morrison?s body of work. 
 
 
Snellgrove 75 
 
  
Chapter 2: 
Morrison and Jung: The Impossibility of Actualization 
As with Virginia Woolf, one of the more direct questions regarding a Jungian analysis of 
Morrison?s Beloved is ?why?? One answer is that Morrison?s psychological tale invites such 
analysis, one that is capable of analyzing how Sethe, Denver, and Paul function as discrete 
psychological entities as well as the collective familial unit that they attempt to form. Beloved, as 
the one who frustrates this attempt at unity, requires the bulk of this Jungian analysis, as she 
serves as an explication of negative psychological projection. If Orlando serves as a positive 
example of literally embodying one?s anima, Beloved serves as an example of negative 
projections of anima and shadow?rather than enabling Sethe to actualize, she serves as an 
impediment to actualization?a perpetual reminder of Sethe?s decision to kill her child in order 
to protect her from the forces of white patriarchy. As such, my intention with this chapter is to 
appropriate Jung (who is notably a white patriarch himself) as a tool for exploring not only the 
psychological colonization of African-Americans by white patriarchal forces within the text, but 
the attempts at decolonization undertaken by Sethe.  
To this end, my analysis is more in line with Post-Jungian thought: specifically, the 
conceit that Jung?s reliance on subjective experience and relative truth not only lends itself to a 
variety of characters and circumstances, but also allows a critical approach that is not impeded 
by Jung?s own behavior. That same subjectivity makes Jung very versatile for postmodern as 
well as modern approaches, allowing us to view the actualized state as less of a monolithic entity 
to which all seek entrance, but rather as a personally-defined sense of psychological well-being. 
With this being said, this text focuses much on the fact that Sethe is unable to actualize during 
 
Snellgrove 76 
 
the events of the novel. Accordingly, I explore the various psychological archetypes that she and 
other characters use as part of their daily ritual, and attempt to make a case that Sethe?s re-
memories?her intense connection to the past?keeps her from actualization. She is unable to 
live in the eternal present because for her, the past is a constant presence.  
While there is little critical argument over the fact that Morrison crafted an explicitly 
psychological tale (one that both invites psychoanalysis, and benefits from its speculative lens), 
critics are actually quite divided over which lens is, in fact, best-suited for such analysis. Ashraf 
Rushdy, for instance, recalls Freud?s idea of primal scenes in childhood memory, claiming that 
this provides an ideal lens through which to view ?the pain and necessity of remembering primal 
scenes? within the text (139-140). Doreen Fowler, in turn, feels that Morrison was intentionally 
rewriting a Freudian/Lacanian paradigm in order to be more in line with the writings of Kristeva, 
claiming that ?the paternal function in Beloved models a liminal boundary space between self 
and other that enables social exchange while still marking a difference?.someone must ?get in? 
the lives of mother and child so that a child can locate a self apart from and related to others? 
(16). Unfortunately, these critical lenses prove to be too limiting for thorough analysis. Both 
Rushdy and Fowler are focusing on what amount to patriarchal readings of a profoundly feminist 
text; put bluntly, focusing overly much on the paternal function of Beloved risks overlooking the 
importance of the maternal function, and how Morrison explores and subverts traditional notions 
of motherhood. Similarly, Fowler?s Freudian focus, while serving as an intriguing exploration of 
the notion of ?rememory,? risks being limited by both Freud?s focus on sexual energy (a 
patriarchal focus that is complicated by a novel in which sex is both commoditized and 
weaponized by male characters) and Lacan?s focus on male authority, which also deemphasizes 
 
Snellgrove 77 
 
the importance of Sethe and her struggle to put forth a unique, feminine authority into the 
patriarchal world around her. 
Of the different critical perspectives on Beloved, there is limited support within existing 
criticism of the text for the lens of Jungian theory, with Gail Sobat pointing out that Morrison?s 
text seems much more Jungian than it does Freudian:  
[Beloved does] not support Freud's conception of such apparitions as symptoms of 
madness, paranoia, or hysteria, seeming closer to Carl Gustav Jung's 
psychological explanation of supernatural occurrences. Jung asserts that a person 
experiencing paranormal phenomena is, in effect, manifesting some link between 
conscious and unconscious, especially if memories of pain or trauma have been 
repressed and particularly if the subject is an adolescent and a female in "an 
acutely disturbed state"? Jung further suggests that creating the apparition or 
poltergeist is an attempt by the psyche to ease its burden through a process of 
memory, of bringing to the light of consciousness the unpleasant past. (169). 
Sobat?s work, while intriguing, focuses on Jung?s notion of synchronicity, claiming that Beloved 
is primarily a manifestation of Denver?s need for selfhood. Ultimately, Sobat views the novel as 
a story of Denver confronting the dark aspect of her psyche (Beloved) and becoming a 
completed person.  
As such, her analysis is limited, with Denver?s willingness to enter into the world in order 
to save her mother, and her joining with the community intent on saving Sethe being put forth as 
the sole evidence of her ?rebirth? into ?a healthy psyche? (Sobat 173). From a psychoanalytic 
perspective, it seems much more rewarding to view the novel in terms of Sethe?s psychological 
journey, and her failed attempts at self-actualization. It also seems more in line with Morrison?s 
 
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own thoughts: she explicitly compares the mental and emotional states of Sethe and Beloved, 
rhetorically asking 
whose hunger for disrupted love, whose lack of love, abandoned love, matches 
the ferocity of mother love?This all -consuming love, which is an exaggeration of 
course of parental love, involved loving in a fierce, unhealthy, distorted way 
under circumstances that made such a love logical. (Morrison, ??Things We Find 
in Language?? 172) 
Therefore, in terms of viewing Beloved as a kind of dark mirror for the psychological needs of a 
character, she seems to be much more organically an expansion of Sethe?s needs, rather than 
Denver?s. Of course, the three women are inextricably linked, which is why this analysis will 
focus much attention on the notion of Jungian archetypes, and the projections of those archetypes 
on others, allowing these three women (as well as other characters) to see aspects of themselves 
in other people. This is one of the primary reasons that she also functions as a kind of trickster 
within the text, a topic which will be explored further in this analysis of the text, and what it 
means for Sethe to self-actualize. 
Morrison offers readers a glimpse of what that self-actualization may entail (one that 
seems quite in line with Jungian thought) when Paul D recalls the wisdom of Sixo, who explains 
his attraction to the Thirty Mile Woman by claiming ?she is a friend of my mind. She gather me, 
man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order? 
(Morrison, Beloved 321). As this chapter will delve into in more detail, Jung?s idea of self-
actualization corresponds to the idea of wholeness as representing the entirety of one?s 
psychological being. Therefore, an individual does not become whole by simply burying their 
darker impulses, but by integrating those unconscious elements into their conscious life, so they 
 
Snellgrove 79 
 
can finally become complete and whole, having gathered all of their disparate pieces together. 
Sixo?s wording, then, proves to be quite important to this reading of the text, as the clear 
implication of receiving the ?pieces? of one?s mind in the wrong order is that one will not be 
?gathered??one will not be whole. This quote hints at the notion of actualization as a process: 
one projects archetypes, for instance, as a way of interacting with their own oft-hidden 
unconscious life; only by completing this interaction and integrating this aspect into their 
conscious existence can they be one step closer to an actualized self that has neither the need nor 
the desire to hide or repress its different elements. 
  Despite this glimpse of what individuated wholeness looks like, Morrison?s somber text 
seems to reiterate the impossibility of wholeness and the ubiquity of chaotic emotional states, 
leaving readers questioning exactly how Sethe manages to hold herself together. This serves as a 
rather literal metaphor, considering that at the end of the text, she wonders if, when Paul D 
bathes her in sections, her parts ?will hold? (Morrison, Beloved 321). But more than the physical 
body, what is the center that Sethe would ideally reach, should she actualize? In Jungian terms, it 
would be the aforementioned actualized self. Morrison seems concerned with the idea of self-
actualization in many of her texts: during one interview, she likened the thematic elements of 
Jazz to those of Beloved, claiming that the novel was concerned with ?how to own your own 
body and love somebody else. Under historical duress, where one fights for agency, the problem 
is how to be an individual, how to exert individual agency under this huge umbrella of 
determined historical life.  (Morrison, ?An Interview With Toni Morrison? 56). In many ways, 
the story of Beloved can be read as Sethe?s struggle for (and, ultimately, her failure to obtain) 
that same agency. Incidentally, the importance of the ?individual? aspect of this cannot be 
overstated: while Sobat and others view the community banding together to drive out Beloved as 
 
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one of the positive aspects of the novel?an unsubtle metaphor for Sethe?s reintegration into the 
community that she shunned, and was shunned by?these critics often seem to overlook that by 
driving out Beloved, the community did not restore Sethe to any kind of wholeness. Rather, she 
is left tattered and broken, with the spirit of Beloved becoming a roaming loneliness that she can 
no longer use to reconcile herself to the past. This, perhaps, is one of the chief distinctions 
between my reading of the text and that of other critics, for I see the haunting figure of Beloved 
as a manifestation of Sethe?s need for wholeness. Unfortunately, she is unable to reconcile 
herself to her past, and is ultimately left just as adrift as the ghost of her dead daughter. 
Meanwhile, the community?s move to ?save? Sethe can be viewed more in terms of the pursuit 
of their own self-actualization, as they attempt to reincorporate someone whom they had 
previously cast out for her ?otherness? in relation to their collective view of their own femininity. 
While it can never be fully known if Sethe would have managed to self-actualize if Beloved had 
continued to inhabit the house, her banishment at that precise moment underscored Sethe?s failed 
self-actualization: she and Beloved were locked into a vicious cycle of projecting expectations 
onto the other, rather than looking inward for the fulfillment they desired. Cut off from Beloved, 
Sethe no longer has the mirror of psychological projection by which to measure her sense of self, 
and is left feeling completely isolated, despite the ostensible support of the rest of her 
community. 
 In another interview, Morrison gives a tantalizing glimpse of what such individuation 
would likely look like for women such as Sethe, and perhaps for most women: ?Women transfer 
the best part of themselves into the beloved?the children, the husband?The point is 
reclamation. The point is not enough that it is there; the point is to reclaim it? (Morrison, 
?Interview with Toni Morrison? 30). Sethe, then, is someone who is unable to reclaim what she 
 
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has lost in Beloved, and unable to embrace Paul D?s hard truth that she may be her own best 
thing. This is in line with Jungian thought, as well as that of other psychoanalysts: Sethe is 
mentally and spiritually unbalanced, having put so much of herself into someone who is now 
dead at her hands. In Morrison?s terms, she is tasked with reclaiming the aspects of herself that 
she gave to Beloved?the best part of herself?but she is ultimately consumed by the need to be 
forgiven by her dead daughter. Instead of reclaiming what she has lost, she ends up pouring even 
more of herself into her child. Obviously, such reclamation is not an easy task: she cannot simply 
push the negative memories of Beloved away in order to pursue herself, because they are integral 
to her identity as a mother. She must find a way to balance her love for Beloved and Denver with 
a love for herself, but this is ultimately something that Sethe is unable to do. Of course, a major 
part of doing that concerns surrendering her notion of motherly identity being her sole identity. 
According to Morrison, Sethe is at odds with the more mainstream, feminist notions of self-
actualization:  
So I thought it was interesting to write?about how one woman felt, that she was 
only free and complete when she asserted herself as a mother as opposed to those 
feminist notions of not having to be forced into motherhood as a way of 
completing, fulfilling the self and expressing one?s freedom. (Morrison, ??Things 
We Find in Language?? 172-173). 
All of this fits rather neatly within the paradigm of Jungian analysis: Sethe, as Morrison writes, 
cannot actualize as an individual by completely turning away from her role and responsibilities 
as a mother?by pursuing her own interests above all else, as part of reclaiming her feminine 
identity. If she were unable to access these emotions at all, then she would never be able to think 
of herself as ?free and complete.?  
 
Snellgrove 82 
 
At the same time, however, the love that she bears for Beloved is the kind of love that 
Morrison describes as ?unhealthy? and ?all-consuming,? a love that leaves no room for any 
distinct identity on Sethe?s part. She must find a way to love herself as well as her children; she 
must find a way to forgive herself for what she did to her infant child, yet to not forget it. She 
must find a way to integrate into her community, while remaining an independent woman and 
not being caught in the communal notion of female passivity, one given to them by their 
patriarchal world. In short, there are a number of extreme poles that Sethe must navigate 
between, and by finding the center of them all?a point in which she can fully embrace all 
aspects of her personality?Sethe would at last be able to achieve self-actualization on Jungian 
terms. 
 The notion of that center, and ?circling? within the narrative, is a subject of interest to 
Valerie Smith, who noted that the text, like Sethe evading Paul D?s pointed questions, ?circles? 
rather than addressing things directly:  
These points in the novel display a striking self-reflexivity, calling attention as 
they do to the inexpressibility of what the narrative can only ?circle??Unable to 
resolve the paradox of narrating the body, uttering the unutterable, it?s as if the 
novel replicates that paradox. For it sets up and explodes an array of dichotomies: 
those between life and afterlife, living and dead, oral and written, self and other, 
and so on? (Smith 350). 
This, too, provides another avenue for Jungian exploration of Morrison?s text: Smith notes the 
presence of these ?dichotomies??life and death, life and afterlife, spoken and scribed, self and 
other?and sees them as part of a deliberately unsolvable puzzle?a postmodern signifier than 
the audience will never be able to decipher Sethe?s code and understand what she understands. 
 
Snellgrove 83 
 
While I agree with Smith that the notion of psychic wholeness remains evasive for Sethe, Jung?s 
notion of the mandala as part of an individual?s process of individuation provides a symbolic 
way to both uncover and explore Sethe?s ?code? that she has built around herself. Specifically, 
Jung imagined the mandala as a way of expression the idea of self-actualization?a circle 
squared, a symbol of psychic wholeness. As visual metaphors go, it is quite elegant, embodying 
the circle as the classic symbol of wholeness that connects the square of disparate elements. This, 
then, is Jungian wholeness, in which an individual does not have to choose from those disparate 
elements like an actor choosing to put on a different mask. Rather, they can embrace and embody 
all aspects of their psyche at once. However, in order to measure whether a character has 
achieved individuation in this sense, it is important to have a metric by which to judge their 
journey to wholeness. 
Morrison provides no definitive characters that embody actualization. Part of this lack of 
actualized characters comes from the fact that, unlike Virginia Woolf?s Orlando (which arguably 
builds towards an ideal of feminine independence by the end of the text) Morrison has crafted a 
stark story that reinforces the fragmented lives of slaves and former slaves. The actualized self in 
Jungian terms is a matter of wholeness?a kind of integration of disparate elements into a unified 
whole. By comparison, the tale of Beloved begins with loneliness and isolation, and ends in the 
same way: ?THERE IS a loneliness that can be rocked. Arms crossed, knees drawn up; holding, 
holding on, this motion, unlike a ship's, smooths and contains the rocker. It's an inside kind--
wrapped tight like skin.  Then there is a loneliness that roams. No rocking can hold it down? 
(Morrison, Beloved 323). This, then, represents the hint that Morrison offers: an idealized self 
would integrate with its own loneliness, rocking it (uniting the disparate selves of child and 
adult, indicated by the self-contained rocking?it is both the nurturer and the nurtured) until it is 
 
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smoothed over and capable of engulfing the rocker itself. Such a description is in line with the 
Jungian idea of self-actualization, in which one is capable of putting aside the masks of persona 
and embracing the different aspects of their mind at once: in short, they are able to paradoxically 
contain the entirety of themselves. For Sethe, this may well have represented Jungian self-
actualization, had she been fully able to integrate the loneliness and guilt of the past with her 
present life. However, even the advent of Beloved in physical form (complete with a predatory 
sense of what love means) ends up being another opportunity on Sethe?s part to turn her back on 
the past, and try to substitute present-day forgiveness from Beloved for her stark ?rememories? 
of the past. This is actually her largest hurdle in the quest for wholeness, because she can never 
escape the memory of what she has done. The forgiveness that she seeks cannot come from her 
reincarnated child, or her family, or her community. Rather, such forgiveness needs to come 
from within herself, which ultimately means it will never come at all. As befitting her ever-
circling narrative, Sethe is caught in another kind of paradox regarding her interactions with 
these individuals. Integrating with her community is necessary for actualization not because of 
any external validation they may offer, but because it would end the self-imposed stubborn exile 
that comprises a large part of her persona. This, too, is a mask, and she must move past it before 
she can discover what she has hidden from herself, even as she hid herself from the world. 
 Sethe?s desire for a kind of unified self, and her frustration that she has been unable to 
achieve such actualization, is present quite early in the text: she tells Paul D that ?I got a tree on 
my back and a haint in my house, and nothing in between but the daughter I am holding in my 
arms? (Morrison, Beloved 18). She is longing for what she perceives as an escape from the 
continuum of pain that comprises her past, present, and future. Rather than being able to embrace 
the notion that Paul D later explicates (that she is self-contained and self-reliant?her own best 
 
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thing), she worries that the tree, a symbol of white patriarchal violence, has colonized her body 
and serves as a reminder of the identity she feels has been taken from her.  Sethe is at a 
crossroads in a number of ways: in a literal way, her past is the primary feature of her life, 
effectively outweighing the present, as Denver is not more substantial, physically or psychically, 
than the physical reminders of past tortures, or the spectral reminder of Sethe?s own cruelty to 
her child. Put another way, the curse of her powerful rememories lends them a haunting, vivid 
quality with which present reality cannot compete, to the point that Denver later becomes the 
neglected shade while Beloved (a rememory made flesh) becomes the entirety of Sethe?s world. 
Paul D represents the tantalizing possibility of helping to counterbalance Sethe?s life: he and 
Denver can help Sethe form a proper family, the dream of which serves as a dream of the future 
that might potentially help her to transcend her past, freeing her from being perpetually tethered 
to it. Beloved?s arrival effectively not only destroys this vision of the future, but replaces it 
entirely: regarding her and Paul D?s walk home with Denver, she first notes that ?They were not 
holding hands, but their shadows were. Sethe looked to her left and all three of them were 
gliding over the dust holding hands. Maybe he was right. A life? (Morrison, Beloved 56).  Later 
in the novel, however, she revises the memory, claiming that ?Obviously the hand-holding 
shadows she had seen on the road were not Paul D, Denver and herself, but ?us three?? 
(Morrison, Beloved 214). By returning to the shadow-image of wholeness and placing Beloved 
in place of Paul D, Morrison provides a glimpse for readers into how and why Beloved as a 
character proves to be problematic for any psychoanalytic reading of the text. This is largely due 
to Beloved functioning as a physical extension of Sethe?s guilt. Rather than free her from being 
tethered to the past, Beloved functions much like the ?tree? on Sethe?s back: she is born of 
 
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violence and bonded with Sethe, and her expansion means that Sethe?s chances for self-
actualization are further buried in the unconscious world of Sethe?s past. 
 Despite the harm that she facilitates regarding Sethe, many critics view Beloved as vessel 
through which other characters are able to actualize. Valerie Smith, for instance, claims that ?As 
a ghost made flesh, she is literally the story of the past embodied? (Smith 350), and Beloved has 
a somewhat positive effect on other characters. After all, ?the act of intercourse with Beloved 
restores Paul D to himself, restores his heart to him? (Smith 346), and the revelation of 
Beloved?s identity prompts Sethe to ?[give] herself over fully to the past? (Smith 350) when she 
was previously unable to face that aspect of herself. While Beloved is certainly an embodiment 
of the past, the invitation for these individuals to give themselves fully over to the past can be 
damaging in the pursuit of individuation. After all, Sethe effectively becomes lost in the past in 
her relationship with Beloved, becoming so focused on providing everything that she could never 
provide to Beloved as an infant that she nearly gives up living in the present. From the Jungian 
perspective, it would be more accurate to say that Sethe would ideally be able to mediate both 
the past and the present: to be aware of both worlds, but to not be confined to either one. 
Kevin Quashie, meanwhile, regards Beloved as more of a force of nature, which by 
definition cannot truly possess agency or blame: ?She is, as a text, ultimately unmarkable, for, 
though she sometimes imitates singularity and self-containedness, her constitution and character 
are inflected by the other bodies she interacts with and/or inhabits? (Quashie 102). Moreover, 
Quashie views Beloved as the embodiment of the collective black female body, and its attendant 
collective memory:  
it impairs and is susceptible to impairment. Is past and present and even future. 
Dead and alive and ailing. Material, partial, and immaterial. Elusive and allusive. 
 
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Is stable and collapses; hard to trust and impossible to ignore. Fully alive but not 
always engaged and hence can be, or appear, deadened. Improvisational. 
Essential. (105) 
A large part of why Sethe fails to achieve individuation within the text is due to the fact that she 
focuses so much on reconciling Beloved?s own paradoxical nature. She sees someone who is, as 
Quashie puts it, ?susceptible to impairment,? yet does not realize that Beloved impairs Sethe 
herself. As Morrison put it, she has returned to putting the best of herself into her child, and 
Beloved?s status as the collective black female body helps to explicate the difficulty Sethe faces 
when trying to reclaim the part of herself that she put into her child. This is due to that same 
paradoxical nature of Beloved herself, as Sethe must navigate the ?material, partial, and 
immaterial? nature of this collective body in order to arrive at her own sense of wholeness. Smith 
and Quashie?s views on Beloved illustrate part of the critical issues surrounding the text: 
Beloved cannot be both an agent for healing and a destructive agent for Sethe, nor can she be 
viewed as a collective embodiment of black memory when viewed through the lens of Sethe?s 
own perceptions and attempts at individuation, as the focus on uniting herself with collective 
identity threatens to further fragment her psyche. However, Jungian analysis does present a way 
of reconciling some (though not all) of these key differences between differing critical 
perspectives. 
 Jung allows us to unpack the paradox of Quashie, for instance: how can Beloved be both 
?alive? and ?deadened?? Both ?stable? and something that ?collapses?? The most elegant 
explanation is that Beloved functions within this text as a projection of both Sethe?s shadow and 
inner anima?in an ideal Jungian framework, such projections serve as a way for an individual to 
confront disparate aspects of their unconscious mind as part of the journey to self-actualization. 
 
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Upon actualization, such projections become stable parts of the actualized self, a self that is now 
able to embody its many diverse elements simultaneously. However, negative projection can end 
up serving the opposite purpose, as Sethe illustrates when the arrival of Beloved moves Seth 
away from actualization and further into the unconscious depths of her past life. This is, of 
course, in line with Valerie Smith?s notion of Beloved as the embodiment of the past, as Sethe?s 
unhealthy relationship with Beloved characterizes her unhealthy relationship with the past?
present reality sublimating itself to the rememories of yesterday. The relationship becomes part 
of the ?circles? of ?self-reflexivity? that Smith notes as well, as rather than approaching the 
relationship as a Jungian mandala of actualization (the ?circle squared? in which an individual 
finds their own center amidst opposing aspects of self), Sethe is unable to resolve the paradox of 
life and death that Beloved represents, just as readers are unable to resolve the paradoxes that 
Smith mentions.  
With this in mind, the framework of Rushdy?s Freudian analysis is still in place, as it 
links the ?necessity of remembering primal scenes? with Smith?s argument concerning the 
novel?s sometimes frustrating unwillingness to move its characters beyond the pain of such 
scenes. And while my own analysis primarily focuses on Sethe and her sense of Self, the Jungian 
analysis of Beloved incorporates elements of Kristeva?s approach: while I do not personally 
subscribe to the notion that a ?paternal function? per se is necessary for actualization in the text, 
the fact that the completely incomplete character of Beloved so stridently pushes Paul D. away 
highlights the sadness of a ?child? that is unable to ?locate a self apart from and related to 
others.? Beloved is practically lost in the murk of the Jungian unconscious, and her fanatic need 
to be with Sethe plays a large part in keeping the latter from actualization. Finally, this Jungian 
approach dovetails Sobat?s own Jungian reading, with one important distinction: while Sobat 
 
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views Beloved as a kind of ?poltergeist? meant to ?ease? Sethe?s memories of the past, I contend 
that she serves as a constant reminder of the past, rendering Sethe unable to move past it.   
 Before the physical death of Beloved, the character of Baby Suggs represents a kind of 
Jungian idealization of self-actualization, one in which other characters can be measured against. 
This is illustrated quite vividly by the description of her sermons in the clearing, to which she 
arrived ?uncalled, unrobed? (Morrison, Beloved 102). This is important because, among other 
things, it illustrates that Baby Suggs had no need to hide herself behind titles or masks or 
ceremonial clothing, all of which can symbolically represent the Jungian idea of a persona that 
individuals wear in order to hide their true self from others. This is, of course, in stark contrast to 
her final days, in which she literally hides within the house and metaphorically hides behind the 
veil of colors. The latter day Baby Suggs is a character broken by despair, hoping for some sort 
of external influence to ease both her heart and mind, while the earlier Suggs is a generative 
force?as mentioned above, an early ideal of actualization, and the only character presented as 
such in the text.  
The actualization that she offers to other people is that which she has already 
experienced: put simply, she did not experience the call to service from either God or men, but 
called herself, and this self-reliance and independence is something that she offers to others; 
despite her role as a facilitator of individuation, the individuation she offers can only be fully 
achieved from within. Those seeking it cannot rely on those who are called, robed, and anointed, 
because such totems of authority serve as reminders of the perversion of authority and justice 
within their world. While it may seem obvious, most of the responsibilities given in the text are 
tainted by white patriarchy: even the eminent status that Sethe and Paul D. are given by their 
kindly former master is tainted by the specter of complicity with the evils of slavery, and the 
 
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mixed feelings that this causes are signaled by the divisive memories both Sethe and Paul D. 
experience when remembering Sweet Home. Furthermore, the text makes special note of masks 
that individuals such as School Teacher (his very name serves as a mask of persona, a noble title 
meant to obscure the horror of the individual) use in order to claim they know what is best for 
other people. 
Those totems of authority can be considered part of the mental colonization that the 
institution of slavery helped engender; the notion of ?rememory? is an explication of this process 
of colonization, as it highlights how the mental horrors of the past pervasively inhabit the present 
life of Sethe and others affected by slavery. Quashie points out how the notion of remory can 
have a debilitating effect on those involved: ?That memory sometimes works against itself is one 
of the ways that it can colonize a subject, can interfere with a subject?s process of selfhood? 
(Quashie 108). According to this perspective, when a mind is continuously colonized by 
haunting memories from the past, then the attainment of selfhood can be imagined as a matter of 
decolonization:  
The work of self-decolonization, which is also the work to articulate and define a 
relationship with memory, necessarily involves retelling and inventing stories to 
counter the oppressor but also presupposes a more intimate relationship to 
memory, one that acknowledges a communal agenda but remains entangled in 
memory as a selffull enterprise of one?s subjectivity. (Quashie 109-110) 
Baby Suggs ritual provides a way of doing so for the members of her community. The choice of 
venue for her sermons is very important to this process?the text describes it as ?a wide-open 
place cut deep in the woods nobody knew for what at the end of a path known only to deer and 
whoever cleared the land in the first place? (Morrison, Beloved 102). It is a place that is not 
 
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tainted by the harsh memories/rememories of anyone present, and it also visually reinforces a 
kind of return to nature, away from the corrupt ?civilization? of the colonizing force. Suggs? 
ritual also reinforces a kind of return to primal nature, as she calls children to ?let your mothers 
hear you laugh,? for men to ?let your wives and children see you dance,? and for women to 
?cry?for the living and the dead. Just cry? (Morrison, Beloved 103). This is a kind of 
decolonization that works on many different levels, as it involves a kind of reconciliation with 
rememory (in the sense that the heavy substance of their past is joined with the lightness of the 
clearing) as well as the blurring of identity that helps lead to a Jungian wholeness. For this 
particular community (one that would later exile Sethe because their belief in her excessive 
pride) Baby Suggs? ritual was especially important. This ritual allowed them to return to a kind 
of primal nature untouched by the colonizing hands of the patriarchal world, allowing for a 
blurring of patriarchy-influenced sex-based expectations that helps them to find freedom from 
the constraints of those expectations. 
 As mentioned earlier, individuation in the Jungian sense does not mean that the past is 
forgotten, or simply replaced with something else. That is why the process of psychic 
decolonization involves retelling as well as invention: this allows an individual to unite the past 
with their own changing perceptions, to essentially re-colonize the colonized mind, as opposed to 
tearing down all of the structures of colonization to begin with. The rest of Suggs? ritual seems to 
emphasize this as well:  
It started that way: laughing children, dancing men, crying women and then it got 
mixed up. Women stopped crying and danced; men sat down and cried; children 
danced, women laughed, children cried until, exhausted and riven, all and each 
lay about the Clearing damp and gasping for breath. In the silence that followed, 
 
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Baby Suggs, holy, offered up to them her great big heart?She did not tell them to 
clean up their lives or to go and sin no more. She did not tell them they were the 
blessed of the earth, its inheriting meek or its glorybound pure.  She told them that 
the only grace they could have was the grace they could imagine. That if they 
could not see it, they would not have it. (Morrison, Beloved 103) 
The importance of the individual to the process of their own individuation is stressed here, with 
Baby Suggs actively telling her flock that they must ?imagine? their own grace; logically, the 
absence of grace can be interpreted as a lack of the necessary imagination and agency to create it. 
This ties into the notion of decolonization, in which imagination is necessary for the invention 
that it takes to combat traumatic memories. The explicitly Jungian notion of individuation seems 
to be highlighted by the fact that the boundaries separating different groups inevitably break 
down, until they all feel free to embrace different roles. In the narrative of Baby Suggs? sermons, 
one could interpret her initial calling as a pantomime of societal expectation, in which 
individuals are grouped by the function they are expected to perform: children are to laugh, men 
are to dance, and women are to cry.  
However, within the white patriarchy of America, those social roles echo the ones given 
by white authoritarians such as Schoolteacher; as such, even otherwise free individuals who 
subscribe to these socially-imposed limitations are still, for all intents and purposes, bound by 
white society. Normally, when these masks of persona are not fully in place, it brings the 
judgment of the community. Paul D wears such a mask, for he feels that in order to ?dance??
that is, to serve as a happy and productive counterweight to the gloomy suffocation of Sethe?s 
household?he must keep the pain and suffering of his soul within the tin covering of his heart, 
allowing him to be the embodiment of masculinity that he has always taken pride in...the 
 
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understandably ambiguous pride of being a ?Sweet Home? man. When sex with Beloved makes 
him feel like the painful contents of his heart have been exposed, he exiles himself from Sethe?s 
home, rather than allow her to see him as emotional and vulnerable.  
Denver, too, undergoes a kind of self-exile: children are expected to laugh, and yet 
Denver?s acute awareness that she could not bear to hear the truth regarding her mother killing a 
child brought on deafness that exiled her from the happy world of Lady Jones and the other 
children. Interestingly, her self-exile from the world represents her own attempt to stay a part of 
that world, as that deafness keeps her from hearing the horrific information that would introduce 
her to the adult world?a double -exile, then, as it keeps her from being part of either world. And, 
of course, if women are expected to cry, a large part of the communal resentment towards Sethe 
centers on the idea that she is unapologetic for what she did to Beloved. If women are expected 
to cry for the living and the dead, Sethe feels unable to do so, because the ghost of Beloved lives 
somewhere in-between those extremes. Sethe?s exile, then, represents an exile from her own 
community. It is interesting to note that she is symbolically welcomed in by the revelation that 
she not only does not consider herself elevated above her neighbors, but in fact suffers more 
heinously than they do: Ella, previously furious over the death of Beloved, is surprisingly 
empathetic towards the ghosts of the past taking over Sethe?s life, and seems to consider helping 
Sethe exorcise this demon as a way of breaking down the barrier of her own hostile persona, as 
well as that of Sethe?s. 
 In Jungian terms, Sethe?s persona is often the means by which she sabotages herself, both 
in terms of personal relationships and self-actualization. Regarding such masks of persona, Jung 
once commented that  
 
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the persona is a very treacherous thing. The persona can make one believe that it 
is the true and only thing, and such a prejudice makes people imagine they are 
nothing but the role they play?very conscious people are particularly incline d to 
identify themselves with their consciousness, losing sight of what they are 
unconsciously? (Jung, Visions 414).  
This provides an interesting frame for analyzing Sethe?s failure to actualize: she seems to 
consider her voluntary isolation from the social world as a rebellion against the community that 
turned against her; just as they shunned her, she has chosen to shun them. However, in Jungian 
terms, Sethe has merely swapped one mask for another; her refusal to play the grieving woman 
that the community wishes to see enables her need for revenge against the community, but also 
masks her own need to bury the past: she is unwilling to confront the past until, through Beloved, 
the past confronts her. Jung notes the important distinction between the two ideas:  
Individualism means deliberately stressing and giving prominence to some 
supposed peculiarity rather than to collective considerations and obligations. But 
individuation means precisely the better and more complete fulfillment of the 
collective qualities of the human being?a process by which a man becomes the 
definite, unique being he in fact is. (Jung, Two Essays 173-174) 
Much of Sethe?s failure to fully attain selfhood within the text can be traced back to this desire to 
separate herself from the community, freeing herself from ?collective considerations and 
obligations.? However, when it comes to individuation, she essentially has no basis for 
understanding or comparison: she has shunned the support of her present community, and her 
rememories of the past, particularly of Sweet Home, are still colonized by the oppression that she 
went through.  
 
Snellgrove 95 
 
Like Paul D, she seems struck by the mingled horror and beauty of Sweet Home, which 
hampers her ability to decolonize, or rather recolonize, her own mind. Such recolonization would 
involve both confronting the past and remaking it in her own image, but she is unable or 
unwilling to do so. In many ways, Sethe is left with the worst of both worlds, unable to be part of 
the community?s network of support, yet unable to achieve individuation through stubborn 
individualism. In its own minor way, her interaction (and subsequent lack thereof) with her 
community provides an ideal mirror for recolonization as the reconciliation between beauty and 
horror: her community has been effectively colonized by patriarchal thought, yet it still serves as 
a physical explication of the wholeness that she is seeking. Therefore, the need for 
recolonization: just as she struggles to mediate the happy memories of Sweet Home with the 
horrific ones?effectively recolonizing her own consciousness?the ideal reconciliation with her 
community would involve reconciliation of anima and animus. In short, it would involve 
communal actualization that would allow individuals to no longer be defined by the gender roles 
and expectations put upon them by male society. However, Sethe is unable to achieve her own 
self-actualization, a microcosm that mirrors her community?s inability to achieve any 
actualization at all. By the time they retrieve and reclaim Sethe, she is a shadow of her former 
self. 
 Sethe?s failure to achieve individuation, then, can be understood in the context of Baby 
Suggs and her sermons in the clearing. According to Baby Suggs, ?the prize? for loving their 
hearts was symbolized by a dance that represented unity: ?Saying no more, she stood up then and 
danced with her twisted hip the rest of what her heart had to say while the others opened their 
mouths and gave her the music.  Long notes held until the four-part harmony was perfect enough 
for their deeply loved flesh? (Morrison, Beloved 104). Within this ritual is an echo of Jung?s 
 
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mandala, or the ?circle squared,? as the harmony is comprised of four different parts represented 
by the very disparate group of individuals that joined Baby Suggs in the clearing. They become 
united only when Baby Suggs offers them her heart, which allows the community to realize that 
the divisions between them and among them were largely given by white patriarchy (something 
that comes from this community?s animus, a topic which will be explored in further detail within 
this text). Once they learn to love their hearts more than anything else, they are able to begin 
reclaiming love, as Morrison has described it. In turn, after Sethe kills Beloved, Baby Suggs 
?dismissed her great heart? (Morrison, Beloved 104) which gave the community no opportunity 
to further reconcile themselves to each other. The square no longer had its circle, and there was 
no more harmony. As such, everyone?Baby Suggs, Sethe, Denver, and the rest of the 
community?are unable to recolonize their minds, and the colonies of division and hatred that 
were first instilled by white patriarchy are left to thrive, unopposed.    
 The failure to recolonize the mind is represented by the figure of Beloved in a number of 
ways. For one, she serves as a representation of the collective black feminine body, 
simultaneously able to embody the living while her status as a resurrected victim allows her to 
embody the dead victims of slavery that Morrison mentions in her foreword. Beloved necessarily 
bears scars, both physical and psychological, that remind the world of the atrocities of slavery. 
However, for Sethe, the rememories of the past are so powerful and pervasive that they 
undermine any attempts to recolonize her mind, and the scars of Beloved serve as a persistent 
reminder that Sethe herself is responsible for the death of her daughter. This is why the most 
intriguing?and troubling?aspect of Jungian analysis for this text is Beloved herself, and the 
functions that she performs within the novel. Is she a violent, haunting specter, or an opportunity 
for psychological healing? Is she manifested by the needs of Denver, Sethe, or possibly both at 
 
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the same time? One potential answer is to view Beloved in part as an archetypal shadow of 
Sethe?s mind. Jungian psychoanalysis views the shadow archetype as (appropriately enough) the 
embodiment of repressed emotions. Considering Sethe?s repression of what she did to Beloved 
as an infant, and the idea that Beloved is the embodiment of memory itself, then her physical 
reappearance (along with her vengeful behavior as a ghost) can be viewed in the context of 
confrontation necessary for Sethe?s individuation. Jung claims that the product of such a 
confrontation?integration, rather than separation, with what many would consider ?evil??is 
actually quite necessary: the  
[integration of the shadow] makes the highest demands on an individual?s 
morality, for the ?acceptance of evil? means nothing less than that his whole moral 
existence is put in question?[actualization] will be satisfactory only if it 
expresses the whole of the psyche. This is not possible unless the conscious mind 
takes account of the unconscious, unless desire is confronted with its possible 
consequences, and unless action is subjected to moral criticism? (Jung, The 
Symbolic Life 619). 
 Sethe?s obsession with seeking forgiveness for what she did to Beloved keeps her from any such 
confrontation with what she has done. In fact, the appearance of Beloved as a young adult gives 
Sethe an opportunity to act as if the past never happened by attempting to create the idyllic 
family life that was previously denied to her. 
In many ways, Beloved functions as a trickster figure within the text. This, too, fits 
within the Jungian paradigm. According to Jung, ?this collective figure gradually breaks up 
under the impact of civilization?But the main part of [the trickster] gets personalized and is 
 
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made an object of personal responsibility? (Jung, Four Archetypes 168). Such seems to be 
implied by the very end of Beloved, which discusses the fate of the spirit:  
everybody knew what she was called, but nobody anywhere knew her 
name. Disremembered and unaccounted for, she cannot be lost because no 
one is looking for her, and even if they were, how can they call her if they 
don?t know her name? Although she has claim, she is not claimed. 
(Morrison, Beloved 323). 
In many ways, it is civilization which disrupts the spirit of Beloved: the community banding 
together drives her from Sethe?s home, and through communal effort, she is forgotten, ?like an 
unpleasant dream during a troubling sleep.? However, some part of her endures, as ?down by the 
stream in back of 124 her footprints come and go, come and go. They are so familiar.? 
Furthermore, ?Should a child, an adult place his feet in them, they will fit. Take them out and 
they disappear again as though nobody ever walked there? (Morrison, Beloved 324). One 
interpretation of this is that such a spirit can only be animated when a living person willingly 
walks the same path as the spirit, effectively joining the two together.  
 The resurrected Beloved also seems to hint at a connection to one of the African trickster 
archetypes Henry Louise Gates writes about in Signifying Monkey. He writes of Esu, a ?guardian 
of the crossroads? and ?god of generation and fecundity.? This trickster is described as a 
mediating figure, literally keeping a single foot ?anchored in the realm of the gods while the 
other rests in this, our human  world.? Furthermore, this trickster god is possessed of a multitude 
of qualities, including ?parody?magic?ambiguity, sexuality, chance, uncertainty, disruption 
and reconciliation? (6). It is the latter quality that is of particular interest to this Jungian analysis, 
as I contend that Beloved certainly has the potential to be a mediating figure, allowing Sethe to 
 
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transcend the past she is anchored to and to embrace a world of self-actualization. However, 
Beloved is disruptive, and Sethe never entirely moves beyond that disruption. She pushes Paul D 
and his offer of effectively restarting a family in order to embrace the trickster Beloved (Esu, as 
phallic god, also echoes Lacanian notions of authority, causing Sethe to doubt the motivations 
and methods of Paul as the self-styled head of the house). Morrison blurs some of these lines as 
well, considering that the particular crossroads that Beloved guards might be characterized as 
more of a frightened netherworld, or perhaps purgatory. Nonetheless, she has certainly 
maintained a foothold in the world through her haunting, a haunting that seems to embody a 
parody of the spirituality that Baby Suggs embodied in her years of ministering to the 
community. In her groundbreaking Toni Morrison and the Idea of Africa, La Vinia Delois 
Jennings uses Gates? text as a springboard for highlighting Morrison?s frequent use of trickster 
characters within her texts; while Jennings does not focus on Beloved as such a figure, it is my 
hope to further illustrate how this character fits within Morrison?s existing pantheon of trickster 
characters. 
Regarding Beloved as ghost-made-flesh, the novel is cyclical, in its way: while both the 
spectral ghost and the fleshly apparition of Beloved have been driven from the house, the spirit 
still lingers, waiting to be acknowledged by someone and, therefore, given life. This cycle is 
intriguing from the Jungian perspective because it seems to further Beloved?s connection to the 
trickster archetype. Jung claims that modern individuals often find themselves ?at the mercy of 
annoying ?accidents? which thwart his will and his actions with apparently malicious intent? get 
dismissed as ??hoodoos? and ?jinxes.?? The reality, in fact, is that ?the trickster is represented by 
counter-tendencies in the unconscious, and in certain cases by a sort of second personality, of a 
puerile and inferior character,? something he considers as causing ?all those ineffably childish 
 
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phenomena so typical of poltergeists? (Jung, The Archetypes and Collective Unconscious 262). 
Therefore, while the body and ghost of Beloved have been driven from Sethe?s home, it lives on 
through Sethe and her broken will to live. Paul D notes that Sethe seems to be emulating the 
behavior of Baby Suggs on her deathbed, just as she had previously been emulating the role of a 
willful child, one who would die without the intervention of Denver. However, these 
emulations?these second personalities ?of a puerile and inferior character??are a manifestation 
of Beloved. Since she has buried her child within the recesses of her own mind, enacting a 
personality where she has no real agency and relies on the care of others is a way of keeping the 
spirit of Beloved alive. She is no longer in a position to self-actualize; rather, her conscious life 
itself seems to have taken on the trickster elements of Beloved in an attempt to ensure that her 
child is not lost once again.  
In many ways, the appearance of Beloved forces Sethe to experience all of those aspects 
that Jung addresses, though her refusal to embrace the shadow of her mind means that she 
actively avoids necessary confrontation, and subsequently attempts to avoid moral criticism for 
her actions. Perhaps most obviously, she must face the consequences of her violence towards her 
own child, facing someone anew each day someone who refuses to forgive what she has done, 
someone unwilling or unable to reconcile Sethe?s desire to preserve her child?s innocence with 
the bloodshed that she used to ensure it. And, of course, part of facing moral criticism involves 
facing one?s moral accusers: Sethe?s exile from her community was partially of her own design, 
both in the sense that her action causes the exile, and her stubborn refusal to reach out to those 
she feels have turned their backs on her. In order to become a fully actualized self, Sethe would 
need to be able to integrate her actions, motivations, and criticism into a united self?however, 
by the end of the novel, she is left feeling torn, as if the best and most vital part of her is now 
 
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gone even as she experiences the tentative possibility of reintegration into both her community 
and, through Paul D, reintegration into a romantic relationship.  
Confronting the shadow is an important part of the process of Jungian actualization, 
although as earlier critics have pointed out, women often experience multiple forms of the 
archetypal shadow. Jungian feminist scholar Susan Rowland points out, in her Jung: A Feminist 
Revision, how the Jungian notion of the shadow can also be utilized as a tool for understanding 
gothic texts: ?individuation and the role of the shadow in supplying horrifying challenges to the 
ego that are finally incorporated into a greater attachment into the other? (153). In this sense, the 
multiple critical and textual perceptions of the character of Beloved can be of great use in 
exploring what it means for her to be Sethe?s shadow: Rowland claims that  
women are subjected to three forms of the shadow: one of nation, of personal 
psyche and of ?being a woman? in a male-oriented society. Individuation seems to 
grant a woman her personal authority by bringing to consciousness the shadow 
that society has foisted upon her gender. (59) 
In a very real way, the presence and actions of Beloved embodies all three aspects of this 
shadow. Regarding Beloved as a ?national? shadow, she embodies this in two interconnected 
ways: her original physical life and death serve as a reminder for Sethe of the patriarchal power 
that America is capable of exerting over her at any time.  
This serves as a reminder that others would do harm to her children in the name of God 
or the law or some other construct of authority, whereas Sethe would only do such harm in the 
name of love. Also, Sethe?s act of killing, to the white patriarchy that is unable and unwilling to 
consider the act within any kind of context, reinforces their negative stereotypes of African-
Americans as brutally cruel. Therefore, Beloved is a kind of double national shadow, in that she 
 
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represents the shadow of the nation to Sethe (the shadow of violence that the nation perpetuates 
and engenders among black communities), and could be interpreted by the white patriarchy as 
the embodiment of their own mixed feelings towards young black women. If, as Quashie claims, 
Beloved represents the collective body of black women, it is notable that her various personas, 
from lusty young woman to overbearing matriarch, all correspond to narratives that white, 
patriarchal America has attempted to impose upon black women. Therefore, if the shadow figure 
is truly a mirror, the negative aspects of Beloved serve as a cruel echo for Sethe of the white 
world that she tried to keep from absorbing her baby. 
 The idea of Beloved as a shadow figure for Sethe?s personal psyche seems relatively 
straightforward, at first: she embodies both guilt and malevolence, tormenting Sethe by denying 
her forgiveness?the need for which Sethe had buried so deep that it became a kind of 
foundation for her unconscious. Confronting this embodiment of repressed emotions, then, 
serves as an opportunity for Sethe to access her unconscious, and to further her journey towards 
self-actualization. However, the physical manifestation of Beloved goes well beyond being 
simply an inner demon for Sethe: given her interactions with Denver and Paul, as well as the 
conflicting visions among those in the community that have seen her, it seems that Beloved 
serves as a kind of trickster figure within the text. Jung briefly summarized the trickster figure as 
?the reflection of an earlier, rudimentary stage of consciousness.? Moreover, such a figure is 
actually a ?collective personification? that ?is the product of an aggregate of individuals and is 
welcomed by each individual as something known to him, which would not be the case if it were 
just an individual outgrowth? (Jung, Four Archetypes 167). At first glance, this would seem to 
make Jungian analysis problematic, as Sethe?s obviously personal relationship and history with 
 
Snellgrove 103 
 
Beloved would seem to denote ?an individual outgrowth? of her mind, as opposed to a solely 
communal one. However, the concepts are not mutually exclusive: as Jung points out,  
the trickster is a collective shadow figure, a summation of all the inferior traits of 
character in individuals. And since the individual shadow is never absent as a 
component of personality, the collective figure can construct itself out of it 
continually. (Jung, Four Archetypes 177)   
This helps provide a glimpse into Sethe?s troubled relationships with Denver, Paul, and the 
surrounding community: Beloved is Sethe?s own shadow, but she also becomes the collective 
shadow of the community, and their impression of her is constructed out of their impression of 
Sethe. Hence, Denver views Beloved in terms of Sethe?s past violence?she wishes to provide 
the adult manifestation of Beloved with the kind of protection that she wished she herself had 
possessed when growing up, a protection that would have soothed the fears that she had.  
Protecting Beloved from Sethe serves as a way of protecting herself from Sethe, and 
illustrates the adversarial relationship that Denver seems to have with the world. Similarly, Paul 
D views Beloved in terms of his position within Sethe?s home; he sees her as the wedge between 
himself and the family that he hoped to join, and also resents her for exposing the ?red heart? 
that he kept constrained within himself for fear of frightening Sethe: ?He would not pry it loose 
now in front of this sweet sturdy woman, for if she got a whiff of the contents it would shame 
him. And it would hurt her to know that there was no red heart bright as Mister's comb beating in 
him? (Morrison, Beloved 86). In this sense, Beloved embodies Paul?s own fears about himself. 
Specifically, she forces him to question whether he fits the near-mythologized notion of 
masculinity that he held dear, and whether or not he could still be a proud Sweet Home man 
when a rooster possessed more agency than he did.  
 
Snellgrove 104 
 
The larger community views Beloved as a manifestation of Sethe?s sins, something that 
needs to be exorcised from the house, as Ella thinks: ?Sethe's crime was staggering and her pride 
outstripped even that; but she could not countenance the possibility of sin moving on in the 
house, unleashed and sassy? (Morrison, Beloved 302). This latter perspective is tied to 
Rowland?s third woman-centric shadow archetype: the shadow of being a woman in a patriarchal 
world. The brief glimpse that Sethe?s community has of Beloved, they see a ?devil-child?And 
beautiful. It had taken the shape of a pregnant woman, naked and smiling in the heat of the 
afternoon sun. Thunderblack and glistening, she stood on long straight legs, her belly big and 
tight. Vines of hair twisted all over her head? (Morrison, Beloved 308). In many ways, their brief 
glimpse of Beloved is defined by her femininity, as she is obviously tied to fertility and 
generative nature (hence, the vines in her hair and the appearance of pregnancy). As Morrison?s 
writing indicates, the sight is both beautiful and terrifying, as Beloved represents something 
literally unnatural?a kind of force subverting the act of pregnancy and motherhood. It is as Ella 
feared, for the ghost from the past has not only put its claim on the present, but her pregnant 
status signifies that it may be extending itself into the future as well. 
By the end of the novel, Beloved has become a kind of parody of womanhood, someone 
that could potentially force Sethe to confront the fact that her own ideas concerning fertility and 
femininity were twisted and perverted by Schoolteacher and his boys. This stems from her status 
as a projection of Sethe?s shadow: in the best of all possible worlds, the advent of the resurrected 
Beloved would provide an opportunity for Sethe to confront the past and make peace with it. 
Instead, Beloved represents the life Sethe could have led, one marked by fertility and femininity 
rather than pain, loss, and victimization. Rather than allowing Sethe to move on, she becomes 
 
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transfixed by the opportunity to start over with Beloved; this opportunity is bittersweet, for as 
Denver notes, Beloved has no intention of offering the forgiveness that Sethe so ardently seeks. 
Beloved?s embodiment of femininity and motherhood seems to hint towards Morrison?s 
idea of a woman reclaiming her femininity, and it works on multiple levels. One aspect of this is 
that Sethe is reclaiming her notion of motherhood?ideally, she would realize that with both 
Denver and the reincarnated Beloved, there are times when one must simply let go. The second 
aspect of this confrontation is that Beloved offers a glimpse of someone who cannot stop feeding 
on her mother?s love; she is a monster that has been created by Sethe?s reckless love, and only by 
transforming this reckless love into a positive self-love would it be possible for Sethe to achieve 
self-actualization. However, Beloved is successfully driven off before such a confrontation can 
occur, leaving Sethe full of the same reckless love, but without any kind of outlet for it. It is 
interesting to note that, within the context of Sethe not achieving an individuated self within the 
text, the communal intervention that dissipates the spirit of Beloved may, in fact, do more harm 
than good. 
In many ways, events towards the end of the text can be viewed in positive terms of 
healing: after all, Sethe is offered reincorporation into a community that had previously shunned 
her, and reunited with Paul D at the same time that she is freed from a malignant spirit. At the 
same time, Denver has literally and metaphorically taken her first steps into the wider world, 
becoming an independent adult rather than a timid child. However, this does nothing to change 
the fact that Sethe feels broken, as if a part of her had been taken away. When Paul D tries to 
cajole her by claiming that ?we got more yesterday than anybody?we need some kind of 
tomorrow? and to console her by claiming that ?you your best thing,? a bewildered Sethe can 
only ask ?me? Me? (Morrison, Beloved 322 ). Why, when the malignant spirit is removed from 
 
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her life, is Sethe still unable to individuate and self-actualize? The primary reason for this can be 
traced to the simple fact that she has failed to fully confront her shadow. The ghost is driven out, 
but not fully driven off, and it has presumably resumed its place within the dark recesses of 
Sethe?s mind: rather than being part of a story to pass on, the ghost and the events of its death 
and rebirth have been repressed by Sethe and the community. As the epilogue reminders readers, 
there remains ?a loneliness that can be rocked? and ?a loneliness that roams. No rocking can 
hold it down? (Morrison, Beloved 323). This serves as a sobering reminder that she continues to 
lurk in the netherworld of unconsciousness, and Sethe?s refusal to dive into that world 
paradoxically keeps her from escaping the specter (rather literally, in Beloved?s case) of the past. 
 Jung claims that when consciousness is ?itself trickster-like,? confrontation with past 
behaviors and identities is impossible. In fact, such confrontation is ?possible only when the 
attainment of a newer and higher level of consciousness? enables someone to ?look back on a 
lower and inferior state? (Jung, Four Archetypes 168). Towards the beginning of the novel, Sethe 
was at a point where she was capable of doing this: the arrival of Paul gave her a chance to feel 
marginally less burdened, and to realize that the past held small bits of joy that were buried 
beneath the horrors. In fact, she feels relieved ?that the responsibility for her breasts, at last, was 
in somebody else's hands.? As the text unfolds, the significance of this claim becomes more 
apparent. Her feelings of responsibility towards her breasts signified both the lingering 
responsibilities that she felt for her children, as well as the sense of guilt, pain, and violation that 
she felt over being abused by Schoolteacher?s boys. Morrison?s notion of Sethe reclaiming her 
femininity, then, is that much more difficult for Sethe, as she associates femininity with her 
breasts, and her breasts with the horrors of rape. The arrival of Paul gives her an opportunity to 
share the physical and emotional burdens that she carries with another person, to confront the 
 
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past and potentially emerge stronger than before. It is no coincidence that Beloved physically 
manifests so shortly after Paul D?s arrival, as this arrival gave Sethe an opportunity to 
differentiate her consciousness.  
As Jung writes, the trickster figure is ?obviously a ?psychologem,? an archetypal psychic 
structure of extreme antiquity,? and when fully manifested, it ?is a faithful reflection of an 
absolutely undifferentiated human consciousness, corresponding to a psyche that has hardly left 
the animal level? (Jung, Four Archetypes 165). The physical manifestation of Beloved is a figure 
of dual antiquity, as she embodies the ancient history of Sethe?s own life while, as Quashie 
claims, Beloved is also an embodiment of the collective black female body, one that is not 
constrained by any fixed point in time. However, Beloved is not a positive embodiment: rather, 
she is a figure of endless need, an unleashed id that confronts Sethe?s ego. Jung classifies the 
trickster as a being that ?has hardly left the animal level,? and Beloved?in many ways still the 
infant that she once was?seems to correspond to such a level. Ideally, Sethe would be able to 
confront such a being, this manifestation of her own internal shadow, and emerge stronger, full 
and whole. However, the kindhearted intervention from her community keeps this from 
happening, as their appearance and intervention seem to dissipate Beloved into nothingness. 
If Sethe, then, brought Beloved back, this brings up a number of questions concerning 
how and why she did that, as well as how this affects her attempts at self-actualization. Jung 
writes in-depth about the archetypal child, a ghostly figure much like Beloved. However, with 
the conceit that Sethe has manifested Beloved, as opposed to becoming haunted by an external 
force, why would she manifest this force? According to Jung,  
If we cannot deny the archetypes or otherwise neutralize them, we are confronted, 
at every new stage in the differentiation of consciousness to which civilization 
 
Snellgrove 108 
 
attains, with the task of finding a new interpretation appropriate to this stage, in 
order to connect the life of the past that still exists in us with the life of the 
present, which threatens to slip away from it. (Jung, The Archetypes and 
Collective Unconscious 157). 
Therefore, the manifestation of a spectral child is a direct result of her inability to otherwise 
achieve an individuated self. As mentioned previously, Sethe is unable to reconcile her past with 
her present, whether that means giving Denver the care and attention that she deserves or 
volunteering the truth to Paul D of her own volition. There is a natural concern that the physical 
reality of Beloved?s physical body will continue to fade away (just as the dark color of the 
baby?s blood has faded into a pink memory of her headstone), and so Sethe manifests the ghost 
of her dead daughter. It is interesting to note that the doubled symbolism of Beloved?that of a 
shadowy trickster that represents repressed aspects of one?s mind as well as a child symbolizing 
one?s greatest goal?complement, rather than contradict each other. In fact, Jung characterizes 
the trickster as a figure with an ?approximation to the savior? because it serves as a validation of 
?the mythological truth that the wounded wounder is agent of healing, and that the sufferer takes 
away suffering? (Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious 256).  
Historically, the child motif (sometimes referred to by Jung as the child god) is an image 
that is essentially variable? ?a special instance of ?the treasure hard to attain? motif,?? which 
may symbolize anything from Jesus Christ to ?the golden egg,? so long as it represents the 
individuation that the individual seeks? (Jung, The Archetypes and Collective Unconscious 158-
160). Therefore, Beloved serves as the as the embodiment of Sethe?s desire for her murderous 
actions to be both forgiven and understood; symbolically, she also serves as an embodiment of 
Jung?s trickster, the ?wounded wounder? and the ?sufferer that takes away suffering.? This helps 
 
Snellgrove 109 
 
to further illuminate the troubled relationship that Sethe has with her reincarnated child, as she 
sees actualization as a matter of being redeemed?having her wounds cleansed?by one who 
continues to wound her. In truth, her actualization would come from confronting such a spirit 
and integrating her violent past with her present life, as opposed to using the present day ghost to 
negate the horrors of the past. The ghost of the epilogue seems to hint at the impossibility of true 
reconciliation and/or actualization?it represents ?a loneliness that can be rocked? and ?a 
loneliness that roams. No rocking can hold it down,? (Morrison, Beloved 323) meaning that it 
can never inhabit the stillness of Sethe?s life in the way that she desires. And, of course, it would 
seem impossible that one could rock that loneliness without absorbing the loneliness: Sethe can 
never really self-actualize because she is constantly seeking actualization from a reconciliation of 
the past, which seems to doom her (perhaps cyclically) to reanimating the tragedies of her past 
rather than creating a new future. 
Ultimately, the notion of this archetype as the embodiment of a goal helps to reaffirm the 
tragedy of the end of the novel: whereas the community believes that they have saved both Sethe 
and Denver by exorcising a satanic spirit, they have effectively driven it from the house before 
Sethe can confront the spirit as a way to individuate herself. How, exactly, would Beloved have 
helped Sethe in such a way? Jung writes that  
In the psychology of the individual there is always, at such moments, an 
agonizing situation of conflict from which there seems to be no way out?at least 
for the conscious mind?But out of this collision of opposites the unconscious 
psyche always creates a third thing of irrational nature, which the conscious mind 
neither expects nor understands?Since, however, the solution of the conflict 
through the union of opposites is of vital importance, and is moreover the very 
 
Snellgrove 110 
 
thing that the conscious mind is longing for, some inkling of the creative act, and 
of the significance of it, nevertheless gets through. From this comes the numinous 
character of the ?child.? (Jung, The Archetypes and Collective Unconscious 168). 
Beloved?s function as a ghost, then, echoes (appropriately enough) the moment of her physical 
death. The horrible choice Seth is forced to make lines up well with Jung?s schematic: she was 
placed into a position from which there was no easy escape. Morrison herself acknowledges the 
impossibility of the decision, saying that ?I can?t think of anything worse than to kill one?s 
children. On the other hand, I can?t think of anything worse than to turn them over to living 
death. It was that question which destroyed Baby Suggs? (Morrison, ?A Bench By the Road? 
46).  Forced to choose between infanticide and condemning her child to ?living death,? Sethe 
unconsciously attempts to create an irrational third solution. The idea of this as an unconscious 
solution is supported by the novel, in which Sethe is described by Schoolteacher as ?wild,? her 
eyes appearing blind because ?the whites in them had disappeared,? the pupils blending in 
because ?they were as black as her skin? (Morrison, Beloved 177). When she reluctantly tells the 
story to Paul D, she does not focus on murder as the conscious act, but rather the goal of that 
murder: ??I stopped him,? she said, staring at the place where the fence used to be. ?I took and 
put my babies where they?d be safe?? (Morrison, Beloved 193).  
Unconsciously, she is receiving what Jung describes as ?an inkling of the creative act,? 
focusing not on what she is destroying?the life of her child?but what she is creating: a safe 
place. It is significant, of course, that Sethe focuses on ?where the fence used to be? during this 
exchange, as it signifies her unconscious attempt at eliminating the barriers of her conscious 
mind (barriers comprised of the impossible decisions that she was asked to make), as well as the 
idea that she had placed Beloved in a place that was beyond any fences, and beyond the earth 
 
Snellgrove 111 
 
itself. However, the dark irony of this is that Beloved is placed somewhere all too safe: within 
the depths of Sethe?s unconscious mind, deep within a place that Sethe is afraid to access. 
Beloved only appears in a physical form when, after enough time, Sethe is interested (at least 
partially due to the arrival of Paul D) in actualization, and a kind of reconciliation with the past. 
At that time, Beloved manifested, giving Sethe a literal opportunity to confront her past. 
However, Sethe is ultimately incapable of embracing her shadow?her inner demons and her 
past?and tries to further repress them, keeping her from attaining actualization.   
 Therefore, the elimination of Beloved?s physical body was a way in which the spectral 
body was created, a spectral body that hints at Sethe?s longing for actualization. How, though, 
was such a haunting figure a symbolic representation of Sethe?s need for actualization? 
According to Jung, ??Child? means something evolving towards independence. This it cannot do 
without detaching itself from its origins? its redemptive effect passes over into consciousness 
and brings about that separation from the conflict-situation which the conscious mind by itself 
was unable to achieve? (Jung, The Archetypes and Collective Unconscious 168). The ghostly 
form of Beloved had a two-fold purpose: it allowed Sethe an alternative to her horrific dilemma, 
allowing her to believe her child was safer in the afterlife than she would ever be in life. Over 
time, however, Sethe is ideally meant to reconcile herself to the reality of her actions while the 
aforementioned confrontation with the shadow, as Morrison says, represents an attempt to 
reclaim some of the excessive love she had given Beloved during both life and death. This period 
would also give her a chance to reform the ?unhealthy? and zealous ?mother love? she has into a 
love for herself. Unfortunately, she is unable to bridge the past and the present, remaining stuck 
in the horrific re-memories of her previous life. Jung describes the consequences for an 
individual unable to properly link past with present:  
 
Snellgrove 112 
 
If this link-up does not take place, a kind of rootless consciousness comes into 
being no longer oriented to the past?With the loss of the past, now become 
?insignificant,? devalued, and incapable of revaluation, the savior is lost too, for 
the savior is either the insignificant thing itself or else arises out of it.  (Jung, The 
Archetypes and Collective Unconscious 157).  
The key word, in this case, is ?insignificant:? Beloved has not been fully driven away, both in the 
sense that she lives on in the memory of Sethe and in the fact that her spirit apparently still 
wanders the area. However, through well-intentioned community intervention, Beloved has been 
driven out of Sethe?s home, denying her the chance to make peace with it. Beloved, as a vengeful 
spirit, is most certainly not ?the savior? in a traditional sense. From appearances, she seemed 
perfectly content to, as Denver intuited, punish Sethe for killing Beloved as a baby. However, 
psychologically, there is the possibility that Sethe?s ?savior??namely, the self-forgiveness that 
she needs in order to individuate herself?may ?arise? from Beloved, in the sense that she is 
forced to confront the reality of her actions. On the most basic level, her encounter with the 
physical reincarnation of her child provides an opportunity for her to realize that she can never 
receive forgiveness from the dead. This is a large part of what makes Paul D?s words so haunting 
and powerful: ?you your own best thing? is a way of reminding her that only she can forgive 
herself for what she has done. Part of that forgiveness is accepting the reality of her actions, but 
as her conversation with Paul D indicates?the emphasis on the fact that she kept her child safe, 
instead of the blunt truth that she killed her child?she is not willing to accept that reality, and 
uses the reincarnation of Beloved as a way to further bury the truth. 
 It should be noted that Sethe running to the memory of Baby Suggs after the latter?s death 
follows Sethe?s pattern of seeking forgiveness, rather than facing reality. She naturally feels guilt 
 
Snellgrove 113 
 
over the death of Baby Suggs: ?There was nothing to be done other than what she had done, but 
Sethe blamed herself for Baby Suggs' collapse. However many times Baby denied it, Sethe knew 
the grief at 124 started when she jumped down off the wagon, her newborn tied to her chest in 
the underwear of a whitegirl looking for Boston? (Morrison, Beloved 105). However, even 
embedded in that guilt is the refusal to acknowledge any agency that she had regarding the death 
of Beloved, because ?there was nothing to be done other than what she had done.? Sethe is 
unable to fully face the memory of Beloved?s death, so she instead tries to run to the memory of 
Beloved. This is something made explicit when she visits the Clearing, hoping to be counseled 
by the wisdom of Baby Suggs? own ghost:  
Baby Suggs' long distance love was equal to any skin-close love she had known. 
The desire, let alone the gesture, to meet her needs was good enough to lift her 
spirits to the place where she could take the next step: ask for some clarifying 
word; some advice about how to keep on with a brain greedy for news nobody 
could live with in a world happy to provide it. (Morrison, Beloved 112) 
Sethe is unable to turn to herself for actualization; unable, in essence, to begin meeting her own 
needs. Therefore, she tries to find actualization through Baby Suggs, unable to face her own 
archetypal shadow?the vengeful ghost of her dead child?until it tries to kill her. The idea that 
Sethe is running away from her shadow is one that is made clear even by her motivation, which 
is the question of satiating ?a brain greedy for news nobody could live with in a world happy to 
provide it.? It seems that Sethe hungered for misery, and yet the prime, primal source of misery 
in her life?the killing of her child?was by her very own hands. She cannot confront that 
memory, and effectively does not confront that memory, until Beloved (first as a ghost, then in 
 
Snellgrove 114 
 
physical form) forces her to do so. In this sense, the ?clarifying word? that she seeks from Baby 
Suggs is another layer of abstraction meant to insulate her from this necessary confrontation. 
 One of the primary elements to Jungian thought is that of the anima and animus, and this 
provides us with one of the key lenses through which to view Sethe, Beloved, and Denver. 
Andrew Samuels provides a context necessary for understanding this aspect of Jung?s 
psychology: 
?anima and animus promote image s which represent an innate aspect of men and 
women?that aspect of them which is somehow different to how they function 
consciously; something  other, strange, perhaps mysterious, but certainly full of 
possibilities and potentials. But why the ?contrasexual? emphasis? This is because 
a man will, quite naturally, image what is ?other? to him in the symbolic form of a 
woman?a being with an-other anatomy. A woman will symbolize what is foreign 
or mysterious to her in terms of the kind of body she does not herself have. The 
contrasexuality is truly something ?contrapsychological?; sexuality is a metaphor 
for this. (Samuels 172) 
With this in mind, the male characters within the text take on a special dimension. The primary 
male character, and the one imagined as the Other by Sethe, would be the character of Paul D. 
Special attention is paid to the essentially timeless nature of his appearance?how ?except for a 
heap more hair and some waiting in his eyes, he looked the way he had in Kentucky.? This 
presents a deliberate contrast to the mental and physical character of Sethe herself, which she 
feels has been irrevocably changed by her time during and after Sweet Home, changes that her 
rememories ensure that she is unable to forget. In Jungian terms, Sethe is actually projecting her 
animus onto Paul?a kind of fantasy of strength and stability that represents what she herself has 
 
Snellgrove 115 
 
been longing for. Between memory, rememory, and an actual ghost haunting her home, Sethe?s 
life seems to be a kind of vaguely-controlled chaos, which makes the imagined stability of Paul 
part of the Otherness that she finds attractive. Sethe?s longing for stability is characterized by one 
of the earliest descriptions of Paul, in which Morrison writes that, 
for a man with an immobile face it was amazing how ready it was to smile, or 
blaze or be sorry with you. As though all you had to do was get his attention and 
right away he produced the feeling you were feeling. With less than a blink, his 
face seemed to change?underneath it lay the activity? (Morrison, Beloved 9).  
In this case, the activity that Sethe perceives underneath Paul?s face represents her own buried 
unconsciousness, something that she longs to access. This longing is represented by the 
emotional mimicry that Sethe perceives: what is attractive about Paul is not the dynamic and 
unique feelings that he possesses as an individual, but the fact that he creates a kind of emotional 
reciprocity with Sethe.  
This reciprocity is important because it seems that Sethe often has her emotions buried 
deep within herself, which prevents access to those emotions by anyone, herself included. The 
integration of Paul may, in fact, represent a chance for her to attain her actualized self. As 
Samuels explains, this is because  
Projection of what is contrasexual is a projection of unconscious potential: ?soul-
image.? Thus the woman may first see or experience in the man parts of herself of 
which she is not yet conscious and yet which she needs. The man draws her soul 
(willingly) out of her?[Jung] speaks of t he soul as an ?inner personality,? the true 
centre of the individual. (Samuels 173). 
 
Snellgrove 116 
 
Therefore, the projection of one?s animus may best be viewed as a kind of persona projected 
onto others; just as the typical persona represents a mask that allows individuals to project a 
certain appearance to the public, the projection of the animus allows them to view a variety of 
their own unique qualities within other individuals, giving them this individual perception of 
themselves that they would not otherwise be able to have. It is interesting to note the role that 
animus and anima play within the context of self-actualization: Jung readily notes that one can 
be possessed by this archetype as with any other (for instance, an elderly professional who 
abandons his own successful life to pursue an affair with a much younger woman represents 
someone becoming so captivated with the Otherness of the individual?her youth and beauty?
that he loses sight of his own identity), yet integration of the Otherness that it represents is 
necessary for actualization. Paul D, then?or, more accurately, Sethe?s animus projected onto 
Paul D?is someone that is able to bring forth the soul/self that Sethe has suppressed within her 
unconscious.  
The scene between Sethe and Paul D at her stove illustrates this relationship quite well: 
Paul is someone that many women have been able to make emotional confessions to??Women 
saw him and wanted to weep--to tell him that their chest hurt and their knees did too. Strong 
women and wise saw him and told him things they only told each other.? Sethe, for her part, sees 
their blossoming relationship as an opportunity to be relieved of some of the great burden that 
she carries. After all, she feels a profound relief ?that the responsibility for her breasts, at last, 
was in somebody else's hands? (Morrison, Beloved 21). This shifting of responsibility represents, 
for Sethe, her ability to access the unconscious world; Samuels points out that this, too, is quite 
necessary, because such a figure plays ?a vital role in analysis in connecting the person as he or 
she is (ego) with what he or she may become (self)? (Samuels 172). This focus on mediating ego 
 
Snellgrove 117 
 
and self is quite important, because it is not a union with Paul D (whether sexual or emotional) 
that, in and of itself, will provide Sethe with actualization. Rather, she projects her animus onto 
Paul, and interaction with him allows her to finally access an aspect of herself that would 
otherwise continue to be suppressed. 
 The mediation between ego and self relies on integration with one?s animus, a mediation 
that mirrors necessary confrontation with one?s community, which is something that Sethe is all 
too familiar with. Samuels elaborates on how the Otherness of the animus sometimes conflicts 
with community values: ?Animus and anima are ways of communicating otherness, difference, 
that which is momentarily unavailable because of unconsciousness. Animus and anima speak, 
then, of the unexpected, of that which is ?out of order,? which offends the prevailing order? 
(Samuels 173). This highlights the confusing nature of Sethe?s own conflict with her community: 
typically, as Jeffery Miller explains, ?an individuals? persona? functions as a ?public mask aimed 
at conforming with the collective,? and is itself ?counterbalanced by the anima or animus which 
demands interaction with the unconsciousness? (Miller 66). Obviously, Sethe is an interesting 
case because the mask that she wears is not intended to help her conform with the collective.  
This lack of conformity is made quite clear via Ella?s reaction to Sethe after she is 
released from prison: ?When [Sethe] got out of jail and made no gesture toward anybody, and 
lived as though she were alone, Ella junked her and wouldn't give her the time of day? 
(Morrison, Beloved 302). This seems to be the chief charge that the community has leveled 
against Sethe: the abundance of the feast thrown by Baby Suggs fosters jealousy, and brings 
about the question of how and why Sethe and Baby Suggs were so (relatively) privileged 
compared to the rest of the community. Sethe?s independence after being released from prison 
served to cement that notion?that Sethe was somehow too proud to stoop down to the level of 
 
Snellgrove 118 
 
someone else. The question remains, though: why would her persona be something that she uses 
to refuse conformity, rather than to embrace it? Murray Stein presents a possible explanation for 
this:  
in order for society to be able to influence one?s attitude and behavior, one must 
want to belong to society. The ego must be motivated to accept the persona 
features and the roles that society requires and offers, or else they will simply be 
avoided. There will be no identification at all. An agreement must be struck 
between the individual and society in order for a persona formation to take hold. 
(Stein 115) 
As addressed earlier, this does not mean that Sethe is somehow free of the masks of persona: 
rather, the spirit of rebellion that comprises her public identity has effectively become the mask 
that she wears. This seems to be symbolized by the early scene with Paul D at the stove, in which 
she intuitively understands what his affection means, but the abused flesh of her back has been 
unable to feel anything for years. That flesh, then, serves as a barrier?partly symbolic, partly 
literal?that serves two separate, yet related, functions: it separates Sethe from contact with the 
outer world, allowing her to resist integration or conformity with the community. While this 
seems desirable to Sethe on the surface, there is also the fact that this barrier to integration keeps 
her from actualization, because it keeps her in a constant state of emotional and psychological 
isolation. 
 Of course, not all aspects of the animus are positive, just as not all male figures within the 
context of Beloved are, themselves, very positive. Steven Walker provides illumination on the 
complex role that the animus plays in the psychological life of women: ?animus issues provide a 
psychological focus to the problem of women?s oppression by men and by patriarchal norms; 
 
Snellgrove 119 
 
they may be said to constitute the internal psychological dimension of an external and social 
problem? (Walker 55). What Walker describes is the depressingly common element of 
patriarchal reality: within the confines of a patriarchy, many norms effectively become 
masculine in nature, so women who do wish to conform to collective society are conforming to a 
de facto masculine society. Walker sees the more conventional aspect of this issue displayed in 
novels such as Wuthering Heights, in which Catherine has projected her animus onto Heathcliffe, 
yet chooses the unhappy marriage to Linton as a way of gaining both entry into and approval 
from the patriarchal world of high society. Therefore, she remains possessed by her animus 
(having no way to integrate her projection of it into herself), a possession that nearly drives her 
insane. In many ways, Sethe faces almost the exact opposite of this problem: when it comes to 
the community that she rejects, their idea of collective conformity hinges on integration into a 
patriarchal society. One interpretation of this is that the community itself is possessed by their 
own animus, one that hews much closer to Jung?s original, patriarchal vision of the animus: as 
Tessa Adams points out, ?Jung characterizes ?animus possession? to the detriment of women? 
(97), and sees the anima/animus relation in terms of binaries. Adams claims, ?these oppositions 
include?rationality/intuition, discrimination/connectedness?spirit/soul, and so on? (98). On the 
surface, such oppositions do not seem to favor one sex over the other, which is one of the reasons 
Adams and other feminists are interested in reclaiming Jungian thought in order to promote 
feminist philosophy.  
In practice, Jung often seemed enveloped in the patriarchy himself: a man possessed by 
his anima is often viewed either with positivity (such as a stoic intellectual who decides to finally 
embrace instinct and intuition) or understanding pity(as with the hypothetical case of the elderly 
professor who leaves his life behind in order to live with a woman barely out of her teenage 
 
Snellgrove 120 
 
years). By contrast, Jung often viewed women possessed by their animus in more negative terms: 
they are moving away from instinct and intuition rather than towards it, and as such, women 
possessed by their animus become overly analytical and overly intellectual; in one anecdote from 
a party, Jung recalls a woman who seemed to be simply repeating information from memory 
without adding anything new. When Jung politely prompts her for her own opinion on the matter 
she has been discussing, she (without irony) says that she needs to think about it. She is, to Jung, 
the epitome of animus possession, so caught up in the world of parroting intellectual discussion 
that she has effectively removed herself from the intuitive heart that exists at the core of all 
intellect. 
 However, the heart of Jung?s own philosophy is something that can be revisited, revised, 
and reclaimed for feminist thought, and this is something that Morrison seems to be doing in 
connection with Sethe and her conflicts with the surrounding community. Adams points out that 
?the positive dynamic of animus and anima is that of mediation out of which our relationship 
with our hidden ?otherness? is forged? (99). Complete possession by the anima or animus is the 
exception, rather than the rule, when it comes to the psychological archetypes; ideally, they 
represent yet another chance for the kind of union necessary for self-actualization to occur?as 
with the Apollonian and Dionysian elements, an actualized self is one that is able to balance the 
abstract intellect of the masculine world and the instinctual, intuitive aspect of the feminine 
world, a balancing act that seems destined to fail in the world of Beloved. But why, exactly, is 
this? 
 Because (as touched on previously) it is the community itself that is caught in the 
patriarchal world, and seems to reject Sethe because she is a threat to that order. Adams points 
out that Jung, despite being part of the patriarchal order, anticipated this problem through his 
 
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writing. ??for women Logos is seen to operate primarily through the screen of the father and 
cultural representations of the male,? which supports the implication ?that the social convention 
of women?s passivity is psychologically perpetuated? through the lens of male thought (99). 
Therefore, the community projects a kind of shadow/animus hybrid onto Sethe, viewing her as 
someone possessed of stereotypical male qualities (independence, strength, agency) that is 
considered as the Other to their closed community. This provides one intriguing interpretation of 
their perception of Beloved herself, with some members of the community vocalizing that Sethe 
may deserve to be haunted due to the actions she had taken against the infant body of Beloved.  
Though Sethe (and through Sethe, the reader) is aware that her murderous actions were 
motivated purely by instinct (something Jung would associate more closely with the anima, 
rather than the animus), the community seems to view it as an essentially unfeminine action: the 
mother murders her own child. However, infanticide was not only a commonplace practice 
during slavery, but not unheard of within their community, as Ella (perhaps the most vocal of 
Sethe?s detractors) seems to derive an almost stubborn pride from the fact that she refused to 
nurse her children previously fathered by her white masters.  
If simple hypocrisy is ruled out, then there are two possible explanations for Ella?s 
particular vehemence to Sethe?s actions. One concerns the nature of the infant: Ella?s refusal to 
nurse the children of white masters could be considered an extreme act of resistance against 
slavery, highlighting that while she may be helpless against the abuse (sexual and otherwise) that 
occurs, she will not be seen as complicit in the immoral institution in any way, even if it means 
letting an infant die. The other possibility is more direct, and also likelier: that Ella has drawn a 
distinction between sins of omission and sins of commission. This is why, despite her own part 
in letting children die, she tells Stamp Paid "I ain't got no friends take a handsaw to their own 
 
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children? (Morrison, Beloved 221). Setting Ella?s particulars aside, though, infanticide (often 
with a sharp metal object) was a historical reality for many slaves, and their motivations were 
quite similar to Sethe?s, as they did not wish for their infants to experience abuse during their 
growth and development, culminating with being sold to a nameless white master. The question 
remains, then: why condemn Sethe for an action that, albeit horrifying, was far from unheard of? 
Why did her detractors include Ella, a veteran of infanticide?  The Jungian answer is that much 
of the community actively desires to view her as a projection of their own shadow. In blunter 
terms, she can be the scapegoat for a variety of sins: the fortune and bounty of Baby Suggs? party 
is dismissed as excessive pride and vanity, and Sethe?s subsequent coldness to the community 
after her return is characterized as an extension of that haughtiness and pride. Perhaps most 
notably, the killing of her own child is given as the reason for this treatment, despite this not 
being consistent with historical reality or the world of the text. This, then, is a negative 
projection: rather than allowing the community to put their own lives and actions into a kind of 
perspective, they instead view some of their own negative qualities and actions in Sethe. By 
marking her as some kind of communal Other, they attempt to exorcise themselves of their own 
demons. It is little surprise, then, that they do not band together in her defense until Beloved 
(characterized as a demon child) is discovered. There now exists for them a more proper Other 
(as Beloved literally comes from another world, according to her comments to Denver), as Sethe 
is welcomed back by Ella and others as victim, rather than victimizer. 
 Considering that Beloved?s ghost had long haunted Sethe and her family, one obvious 
question exists: why did Ella and others find the presence of the ghost tolerable, but the presence 
of the resurrected Beloved intolerable? If Beloved is the collective female body, then she would 
serve to function as a kind of embodiment of the collective anima as well?Sethe?s detractors 
 
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may very well feel that Beloved, in ghostly form, is something Sethe ?deserves,? a lost feminine 
spirit that attempts to force itself onto the seemingly-masculine Sethe. It is interesting to note 
Ella?s highly specific thoughts concerning Beloved as a ghost versus Beloved as a flesh-and-
blood person: ?As long as the ghost showed out from its ghostly place--shaking stuff, crying, 
smashing and such?Ella respected it. But if it took flesh and came in her world, well, the shoe 
was on the other foot. She didn't mind a little communication between the two worlds, but this 
was an invasion? (Morrison, Beloved 302). Why would Ella (and by extension, other members of 
the community) respect a vengeful spirit, but disdain that spirit when it is turned to flesh? And 
why would the latter be considered ?an invasion,? whereas the other was not? Once Beloved is 
made into flesh again, no possibility remains of Sethe integrating the feminine spirit of her child 
into herself. In point of fact, the fleshly Beloved still seems interested in such an integration, so 
she seems intent on slowly killing Sethe, drawing the life from her in an attempt to reduce Sethe 
to the same spectral status that Beloved once had.  Even though the community has notions 
concerning actualization that do not coincide with Sethe?s?specifically, they wish to 
reincorporate her into a patriarchal framework, whereas Sethe is trying to establish an actualized 
self that is dependent from patriarchy as well as the undue influence of any others?they seemed 
to intuitively understand the importance of this flesh-and-blood Beloved. More accurately, they 
intuit that she is important without understanding why. They see her as a kind of animus figure 
that has now overstepped its boundaries in its relationship with Sethe, despite initially supporting 
the haunting nature of the spirit because it completes the cycle of suffering that Sethe initiated 
when she killed her own child. 
The cyclical nature of this suffering?the idea that the child is inflicting pain on the 
murderous mother that the latter may well deserve?is something else that Ella is very critical of. 
 
Snellgrove 124 
 
As she noted, ?nothing could be counted on in a world where even when you were a solution you 
were a problem? (Morrison, Beloved 302). Rather than a general lamentation, this phrasing 
provides a key to understanding this text through the lens of Jungian thought: on the most basic 
level, there is the idea that Sethe sabotages all of her attempts at self-actualization. This can be 
seen numerous times, from her reinterpretation of the shadows on the road (claiming that it 
represented a family held together by Beloved?s presence, rather than Paul D?s presence) to her 
heartbreaking refusal to accept that she, rather than anything or anyone external to herself, could 
be her ?best thing.? On a similarly basic level, this seems to illustrate Sethe?s refusal that 
actualization represents an interior act?while Paul D, Beloved, and others may serve as 
archetypal figures in her own life, or projections of her own thoughts and feelings, their presence 
in her life allows her to simply view things from a different perspective, and possibly to initiate 
changes within her own life. However, the gradual transformation of Beloved as she transitions 
from simply being dead to being a ghost to being a flesh-and-blood reincarnation serves to 
reinforce Sethe?s inability to complete self-actualization because she projects everything 
outward, rather than inward. Beloved, as the greatest of these projections, is effectively 
dissipated by the community before Sethe can reincorporate her into her mind, meaning that the 
self-actualization is now farther away than ever before. 
 Why, then, is it necessary for her to project her animus onto Paul D in the first place? She 
is unable to access her own unconsciousness due to the barriers within her body and mind, so she 
projects that which she desires onto the character of Paul D so that she may be able to access the 
parts of her which had previously been hidden. Her vision of Paul D as a possible key to her own 
wholeness returns to her at the end of the text as well: ?She opens her eyes, knowing the danger 
of looking at him. She looks at him. The peachstone skin, the crease between his ready, waiting 
 
Snellgrove 125 
 
eyes and sees it--the thing in him, the blessedness, that has made him the kind of man who can 
walk in a house and make the women cry? (Morrison,  Beloved 321). The phrasing of this 
passage is especially curious, as Sethe connotes looking at Paul with ?danger.? What, exactly, is 
this danger? The simplest explanation seems to be that he might force Sethe into a kind of 
confrontation with her emotions. Obviously, one element to Paul D?s return is the idea of a 
circular narrative: just as Sethe?s own narratives of her life are circular, this story regarding her 
life ends where it began, with Paul D representing a possible chance for the actualization of 
Sethe. More importantly, she continues to project her animus onto Paul: he still symbolizes 
aspects such as ?blessedness? despite the horrors he has been subjected to, and shows Sethe that 
it is possible to move beyond the pain she has known for her entire life. As her Othered mirror, 
Paul also provides a model for the actualization that Sethe seeks; while he held great resentment 
towards Beloved for exposing the red heart that he had so carefully hidden from the world, he is 
ultimately able to reconcile the vulnerable state this leaves him in with his emotions towards 
Sethe?specifically, that she had seen him at his most vulnerable before, and taken pains not 
only to not mention it but to not acknowledge in any way the spiked collar around his neck. As 
such, Sethe becomes a kind of feminized ideal for Paul D: while Beloved is hungry to expose the 
red heart that Paul had hidden so deep within himself, it is only Sethe that is able to perceive 
male vulnerability while simultaneously acknowledging how important it is to his masculinity 
that she hides her perception of it. 
 The novel?s frequent shifts in perspective provide a valuable framework for 
understanding the distinctions between Paul as he is perceived by Sethe (who, in turn, is 
projecting her animus onto him) and the actual Paul, who seems to be projecting his anima onto 
Sethe. These perspectives often shift as Sethe?s moods shift, which is why Paul driving the 
 
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haunting ghost from the house is first perceived as an act of strength, and only later (when Sethe 
is fully under Beloved?s spell) is it viewed as a kind of incursion?an alien intrusion into the life 
that Sethe, Denver, and Beloved had created. This directly correlates to Sethe?s changing 
priorities: since it is the ?animus which demands interaction with the unconscious? in opposition 
to the persona, which is ?aimed at conforming with the collective?, Paul?s role will necessarily 
change as Sethe changes (Miller 66). Specifically, what changes is Sethe?s requirement for 
accessing her unconscious life. Early on, the ghost serves a more explicit role in keeping Sethe 
from any such access, because it serves as a constant reminder of her actions. Unable to find 
forgiveness from Baby Suggs, Denver, the community, or even herself, Sethe dons the 
aforementioned persona that enables her to consciously embrace the role of rebel. The more 
consciously that she associates herself with rebellion, the further she gets from the unconscious 
world that she needs to access. Therefore, the animus she projects onto Paul encompasses not 
only the strength, stability, and wisdom that she longs to have?that she feels she can only access 
through others, rather than herself?it allows her to fantasize about having a stable family at last, 
comprised of herself, Denver, Paul D, and no ghost. This effectively serves as a fantasy of 
integration with her community, which is further symbolized by her willingness to accompany 
Paul on a fun trip to the carnival, what is described as ?her first social outing in eighteen years? 
(Morrison, Beloved 56). Even the interplay of shadow and light point to this, as her perception of 
their shadows holding hands is simply a trick of the sunlight, something in stark opposition to the 
?pool of red and undulating light? that came from Beloved?s ghost, and had been driven out by 
Paul. This, then, was Paul?s role early in the text, allowing Sethe to access her unconscious need 
for integration, acceptance, wholeness, and stability. 
 
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 The rejection of Paul D as a source of wholeness helps signify Sethe?s growing 
dysfunctional relationship with Beloved; rejecting him similarly signifies a dysfunctional 
relationship with the concept of actualization itself. Once Sethe is fully under the reincarnated 
Beloved?s spell, Paul is driven from the house. He perceives this event as allowing himself to be 
moved, something that provides a key to understanding Sethe?s mindset: by helping to push Paul 
D away, Sethe is indicating that his role of facilitating her access to her own unconsciousness is 
no longer required. This is partially signified when Sethe inwardly comments on Paul D?s 
outsider status: ?They were a family somehow and he was not the head of it? (Morrison, Beloved 
155). Later, during their confrontation, she points out that ?Thin love ain't love at all? (Morrison, 
Beloved 194) While this is given as a defense for infanticide, it also reinforces the bond shared 
between Sethe, Denver, and the resurrected Beloved?their blood is thick, leaving no room for 
Paul D, who only now consciously perceives the gulf in emotion and experience between himself 
and Sethe.  Pushing Paul away may well be part of her attempts at actualization as well, as 
Beloved now serves in the aforementioned shadow/anima hybrid role, which would theoretically 
allow Sethe to access her unconscious, just as Paul D helped before Beloved arrived. Their 
methods are different, however: Paul is the image of stability, allowing Sethe to imagine herself 
as part of a stable family, reintegrated into the community, and having someone with which to 
share her burdens: ?Sethe looked to her left and all three of them were gliding over the dust 
holding hands. Maybe he was right. A life? (Morrison, Beloved 56). This external notion of 
dropping her mask and embracing previously hidden aspects of herself mirrors, of course, the 
journey to self-actualization. While it should go without saying that the relationship with 
Beloved failed to result in the actualization of Sethe, it is important to note that this was not a 
foregone conclusion: as with Paul D, Beloved?s appearance offered an opportunity for 
 
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integration and actualization, because it represents another opportunity for Sethe to interact with 
her repressed aspects.  
While Paul represented her ability to interact with the strength and stability that she had 
buried so deep within herself that even she was unaware of it, Beloved, as a kind of animus 
projection, allows Sethe to access other repressed aspects of herself. In this case, those aspects 
are feminine, and after her reappearance, Beloved seems to embody both the positive and 
negative aspects Jung associated with the anima, ranging from ?evil succubus? to ?beatific 
spiritual guide? to ?idealized woman? (Jensen 14). She is all of this and more: her presence 
seems to facilitate the shared psychic union between herself, Sethe, and Denver, something 
which may represent the closest Sethe comes to actualization within the text. In this sense, she 
certainly functions as a spiritual guide, someone who has straddled multiple worlds and can 
serve as mediating force between them. Towards the end of the text, she is simultaneously the 
succubus and the idealized woman, with the gathered community members showing much 
surprise at the fact that she ?had taken the shape of a pregnant woman, naked and smiling in the 
heat of the afternoon sun. Thunderblack and glistening, she stood on long straight legs, her belly 
big and tight. Vines of hair twisted all over her head. Jesus. Her smile was dazzling? (Morrison, 
Beloved 308) even as she was visibly sapping the life from Sethe. 
 The nature of Beloved as anima projection helps provide illumination for the miserable 
state that she is left in when Beloved is driven away: the ultimate purpose of projection, be it 
positive or negative, is to use that projection in order to become a fuller, more actualized self. 
Positive projections provide a means to interact with and understand one?s own hidden strengths, 
whereas negative projections are the exact opposite, allowing individuals to project their own 
negative traits onto others so that they do not have to confront those traits within themselves. 
 
Snellgrove 129 
 
This is important because, as a projection of anima, Beloved is able to embody both positive and 
negative aspects. As Jung writes, ?the anima is bipolar and can appear positive one moment and 
negative the next; now young, now old; now mother, now maiden; now a good fairy, now a 
witch; now a saint, now a whore? (Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious 200).  
Such ambivalence in regards to this archetype should not be surprising, considering that 
the function of one?s anima (and, as many modern Jungians assert, the animus as well) is to 
mediate between one?s ego and one?s self. The ego, as the collection of a person?s experiences 
that comprises their conscious life, becomes the largest obstacle to individuation, because their 
conscious life effectively obscures their unconscious life. How does this tie into the complicated 
relationship between Sethe and Beloved? The short answer is that it further complicates that 
relationship on a number of levels, and frustrates Sethe?s ability to individuate. As a negative 
projection of Sethe?s own femininity, Beloved serves as a constant reminder of Sethe?s 
murderous past; in turn, Sethe cannot fully accept her past and her decision to kill her child 
because the child is now alive, and condemning her. During these torments, Beloved is clearly a 
negative projection of Sethe?s anima, but what is interesting is that she is not constantly negative. 
There are moments, as when Sethe, Denver, and Beloved skate on the ice, that they form a 
picture of unification and wholeness: ?Walking back through the woods, Sethe put an arm 
around each girl at her side. Both of them had an arm around her waist. Making their way over 
hard snow, they stumbled and had to hold on tight, but nobody saw them fall? (Morrison, 
Beloved 205). During such scenes, Beloved becomes a positive projection of Sethe?s repressed 
anima, one that allows Sethe to experience the mother/daughter moments that would otherwise 
be denied to her by her previous violent actions. As her happiness transforms to a kind of 
 
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nameless sorrow, it seems that Morrison is signifying Sethe as getting closer to accessing her 
own unconsciousness. 
As with Virginia Woolf?s Orlando, the presence of ice for such a scene holds a high level 
of symbolic value: in Jungian analysis, water often represents the relationship between 
consciousness and unconsciousness. The metaphor is quite straightforward, as self-actualization 
involves the individual diving into the depths of their unconscious mind, and by necessity 
disturbing the otherwise serene stillness of the water?s surface, representing the conscious 
persona that they embody. That mask is destroyed when the individual can fully reach the depths 
of their unconsciousness, and yet the ice represents the barrier that keeps Sethe from fully 
plunging into those depths. This scene, then, takes on a kind of sinister dual-meaning that 
highlights the ambivalent nature of the anima: ideally, Sethe?s happy moments with Beloved 
would give her a chance to become whole again, reunited with both a person (Beloved) and an 
emotional state (happy, maternal love) that she was previously separated from. However, this 
connection is limited at first to a purely conscious level, one meant to play upon the surface of 
Sethe?s mind without delving any deeper. Supported by both Denver and Beloved, Sethe is 
unable to ?fall??that is, to descend any deeper into her unconscious in order to confront what is 
there. 
Ultimately, Jungian analysis helps us to more appreciate the psychological turmoil that 
slavery, racism, and the influence of white patriarchy helped perpetuate during Sethe?s lifetime. 
Even the events that border on magic (chiefly the resurrection of Beloved) are dragged back to 
reality, echoing Esu the trickster, with his one foot planted firmly in the material reality of the 
world. For Sethe, Beloved is that trickster, both in terms of psychological significance and 
psychological function?Beloved is a bridge to her own past. Unfortunately, her obsession with 
 
Snellgrove 131 
 
the past and her own regrets keeps her from crossing that bridge, and therefore fully mediating 
past, present, and future. She remains out of balance, unable to embrace the truth of Paul D.?s 
simple words, words that echo the powerful promise of actualize: she is her own best thing. 
However, the world of slavery and white patriarchal corruption prevented her from escaping its 
grasp, as her desperate attempt to save the life of her infant child further tied her to the world of 
violence that surrounded her. In many ways, that event became her constrictive yard, and even as 
Denver finally learns to travel beyond the boundaries of her own world, readers see the glaring 
truth that Sethe has created her own boundaries, and may never be able to transcend them. 
  
 
 
Snellgrove 132 
 
Chapter 3  
Atwood and Jung: The Unconscious Enslaved 
Of the three writers my own analysis focuses on (Woolf, Morrison, and Atwood), 
Atwood is arguably the most suited to Jungian analysis. After all, she is no stranger to Jungian 
thought: in Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, she offers a wonderfully succinct 
description of ?the psychologists of the twentieth century,? and pointed out that ?Jung was 
steeped in Germanic folk tales, but also in anima-dramas such as the ballets of Giselle and Swan 
Lake (100-101). She also finds the archetype of the anima quite useful for decoding literature, 
using it in her famous speech on the presentation of ?evil? women in literature. In this speech, 
Atwood framed the issue in Jungian terms, claiming that ?if you are a man, the bad female 
character in a novel may be?in Jungian terms?your anima; but if you're a woman, the bad 
female character is your shadow; and?she who loses her shadow also loses her soul? (Atwood, 
?Spotty-Handed,? par. 25). Additionally, while exploring mythology and speculative fiction in 
her 2011 text In Other Worlds, Margaret Atwood counts herself among ?we Jungians? while 
offering a playfully brief Jungian analysis on Batman and other comic book characters (Atwood, 
In Other Worlds, 30). 
Just as Atwood is no stranger to Jung, her work is well known and analyzed among the 
Jungian and post-Jungian communities. Susan Rowland wrote of Atwood?s Alias Grace that it 
?is an example of a literary work that exposes through fiction the historical nature of the phallic 
anima, while it simultaneously draws upon the Jungian unconscious to represent gender as never 
completely certain, never completely knowable or finished? (Rowland, ?Jung?s Ghost Stories,? 
48-49). In ?Parodic Border Crossings,? Hilda Staels notes that Atwood?s ?writing is informed by 
Jungian archetypal theory in her use of conventions from the Gothic, ancient myth, and fairy 
 
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tales,? though Bouson?s analysis focused chiefly on the Atwood texts featured within the title of 
the text (41). Elizabeth Baer, while researching Atwood?s Surfacing, made a similar connection 
between Atwood, Jung, and Germanic folklore, claiming that ?attention to the role of the 
fetus/abortion in Surfacing brings us?to the significance of the egg and the key in ??Fitcher?s 
Feathered Bird.?? She goes on to point out that, in Jungian psychology, ?the egg is frequently a 
symbol of the self in dreams? (Baer 29). Dunja Mohr, whose critique of The Handmaid?s Tale 
was not explicitly Jungian, nonetheless focuses on some of the issues that are core to Jungian 
self-actualization, claiming that ?[Offred] creates polyperspectives? Her subversive use of 
language as a liberating discourse moreover deconstructs the either/or patterns of thought; and as 
she becomes increasingly cognizant of Gilead?s patriarchal perspective, she balances it with her 
own and other?s contrary discourses? (Mohr 233). Finally, speaking directly to the issues I?d like 
to address within this chapter, Sharon Wilson (in Margaret Atwood?s Fairy-Tale Sexual Politics) 
notes that ?although Atwood parodies sexist ?truth? and dramatizes the old, great stories in such 
?realistic? settings?part of the unrecognized appeal of an Atwood text is that the images, 
characters, and structures are ?magical:? they have archetypal depth. ? Of The Handmaid?s Tale, 
she notes that ?Offred finally experiences a fairy-tale transformation of sorts? because, along 
with the Atwood character Joan Foster, ?they tell their own stories and, resembling Surface?s 
unnamed narrator, are able to begin again, unlimited in the space at the end of the novels? 
(Wilson 10-11). 
From the Jungian perspective, the tantalizing question that Wilson raises is whether or 
not Offred represents an actualized character at the end of the text. While it is true that she is 
?unlimited in the space at the end? of The Handmaid?s Tale, she is also disembodied. Her fate is 
uncertain, and the cold consolation that the nation of Gilead eventually fails is obscured by the 
 
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horrific specifics of its creation and the ambiguous fate of the protagonist, as well as that both the 
horrors of Gilead and the personal nature of Offred?s tale are downplayed by male academia, 
effectively giving patriarchy the final voice of the text. Offred, then, may not achieve self-
actualization in traditionally Jungian terms, but Jungian analysis of her Tale provides critical 
depth and understanding of the characters and events of the text, allowing us to view the 
?archetypal depth? that Wilson mentions by taking a closer look at the archetypes themselves, 
with a focus on how they fit into Atwood?s feminist framework 
Such understanding may require, however, a re-contextualization of Offred?s character: 
Shirley Neumann, writing on the larger feminist implications of The Handmaid?s Tale, notes that  
We must be wary, however, of the impulse to make an unmitigated heroine of the 
novel's Offred. Her desire to survive and to know comes with a necessary degree 
of complicity and a tendency to relapse. In her new self-awareness, Offred 
specifically accepts the element of complicitous choice in her situation. (863) 
From the Jungian perspective, Offred embodies a kind of paradoxical situation. As Neumann has 
noted, she seeks the increased self-awareness (which runs parallel, for the most part, with the 
notion of self-actualization) that can only come from (re)discovering her true identity, as 
opposed to the identity that Aunt Lydia and others have tried to imprint upon her. However, she 
is unable to access the past without complicity with her present captors, something that ties into 
the broader feminist viewpoint that she longs to return to a time that women were still vulnerable 
to predation by men, and still unequal within society (as she ironically notes later, the world of 
Gilead has many of the trappings of her mother?s ideal world?one in which the safety of women 
is paramount?yet the dream of her mother?s world has been perverted by patriarchy). This 
struggle between memory and complicity (a struggle that Toni Morrison explores so vividly in 
 
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Beloved as well) is one of the more straightforward reasons why it is nearly impossible for 
Offred to self-actualize, as the process of her actualization is tied so closely with the outward 
persona that she presents to the world. She cannot remove that final mask and achieve mental 
and emotional wholeness without subjecting her physical body to great harm, as she operates 
under constant physical, emotional, and psychological duress. While more sympathetic towards 
Offred than Neumann, Lauren Rule makes a similar observation regarding complicity, claiming 
that  
Although Offred continues to insist that she has sovereignty over her own body, 
that her body is ?my own territory,? she reveals that she has mapped herself 
within the Gileadean landscape. The rhetoric that likens her to virgin territory has 
taken effect, and her body itself has become a treacherous and contested space. ? 
Indicating doubts about her ability to win any battle over her body?physical, 
psychic, or political? the narrator imagines that her place within this landscape 
allows no exits? (630)  
This serves to further highlight the need that Offred has for the mental and emotional freedom of 
self-actualization: powerless to change whatever the patriarchal culture of Gilead chooses to do 
with her body (which has become thoroughly colonized through violations of ink and flesh), 
Offred?s only option in her quest to achieve self-actualization is to reshape the world around her, 
effectively creating a form of psychological escape in a world that physically offers ?no exits? to 
the women it has subjugated. In effect, this is what she does through her narrative: while her 
?reconstructions? are ostensibly meant to provide added veracity for those listening to her tale, 
the lecture at the end of the text (itself a patriarchal counter-narrative to the feminist voice of 
Offred, according to Rule) indicates that many inventions on the part of Offred (inventions that 
 
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range from the potential pun of the title to the name of Serena Joy) represented Offred?s sense of 
humor, and a way of imprinting her own feminine voice and narrative over the masculine voice 
and narrative of Gilead. Why is this important? While it arguably provides her with a kind of 
escape from the monolithic patriarchy of Gilead, it frames the entire text within the confines of 
another kind of persona. It is impossible to claim that Offred has actualized, and not simply 
because of her uncertain physical fate, but the uncertainty of the entire narrative, as well as the 
troubling idea that Offred has simply swapped one persona for another, and is now performing a 
kind of identity for her future audience, just as she did for The Commander and other inhabitants 
of Gilead. However, these shifting personas do give a vital glimpse into the anima and animus 
within the text, and how the highly ordered male/female roles are shaped (and shaped by) these 
psychological archetypes. 
 While a bit obvious, the strict divisions between male and female roles within Gilead 
society provides a gateway to analysis of the anima and animus functions through the eyes of 
Offred, The Commander, and others. In fact, Gileadan society is arguably left with only two of 
the four stages of erotic development, as their careful removal of women from key aspects of 
religious wisdom denies them the purifying mother image of the Virgin Mary, while the 
stigmatization of independent female thought would seem to quell the Sophia stage (though the 
Commander?s interactions with Offred imply that he may see her as such a projection of himself, 
though quite limited in scope). The lack of a Virgin Mary stage of erotic development is, 
perhaps, ironic, considering the ostensibly religious foundation of Gilead. However, Jung?s 
notion of the Virgin Mary is that of a purifying force, one that allows for the spiritual cleansing 
of men. Much of Gileadan thought, however, is rooted in the opposite of this, with men 
perceiving women as being somehow dirty and unclean?people that need to be purified by the 
 
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extreme measures taken by men who think they know what is best for the women. Overall, their 
projections of women are limited to the generative Eve/mother archetype, and the sensually 
physical Helen archetype. This limited erotic development, then, provides an ideal starting point 
for such analysis. 
At a glance, the casual reader might wonder why the fiercely patriarchal society of Gilead 
would project anima archetypes at all; are these not threats to their masculinity? However, it is 
important to keep in mind that such projections are often unconscious; the more they cover their 
conscious lives with a codification of masculine thought, the more the unconscious mind will 
seek expression through feminine projection. To put it another way: the unconscious mind longs 
for the psychological balance of actualization, even when the conscious mind does not. Offred 
identifies this need early in the text, noting that ?there's a rug on the floor, oval, of braided rags. 
This is the kind of touch they like: folk art, archaic, made by women, in their spare time, from 
things that have no further use. A return to traditional values? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 7). 
Of course, Gilead society hand-picks what totems best represent their notion of ?traditional 
values,? and choose to decorate using the ?archaic? items women have repurposed ?from things 
that have no further use.? This hand-picking is meant to sate those needs for feminine expression 
that linger beneath conscious awareness (effectively draping the masculine world with some of 
the trappings of femininity, which is necessary for the men who also, on some unconscious level, 
long to return to the way things used to be), yet the consciousness of the act betrays, as Offred 
notes, the societal pecking order they wish to reinforce. Just as the women have repurposed these 
decorations, male society has repurposed the women, turning even a subtle display of femininity 
into an unsubtle display of masculine dominance. It is little wonder that The Commander seeks 
to interact with Offred in a way that better represents tradition, rather than the masculine parody 
 
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of ?traditional values,? as this is one of the only ways he can access his own repressed feminine 
aspect. 
One of the major contentions of my text is that The Commander projects his own anima 
onto Offred. Why, then, would his unconscious mind do such a thing? The chief answer to this 
question is that the society of Gilead had so successfully reshaped the world into its own 
masculine image that everything feminine that remained was not truly feminine, but a masculine 
representation of femininity, like the archaic feminine decorations that emphasize power 
differentials rather than lauding something truly feminine. Serena Joy and the other wives of 
officials, too, seemingly validate the importance of retaining ?traditional values,? yet the 
limitations placed on them by The Commander and those like him ensure that they simply reflect 
what masculine society wishes to see. Offred, upon seeing The Commander?s sitting room, 
focuses on two paintings of women that she speculates Serena Joy acquired ?after it became 
obvious to her that she'd have to redirect her energies into something convincingly domestic.?  
These paintings, then, acquire a special significance, as they represent Selena?s masculine-
approved, domestic idea of femininity. How, then, are the women in these paintings described? 
?In any case, there they hang, their backs and mouths stiff, their breasts constricted, their faces 
pinched, their caps starched, their skin grayish white, guarding the room with their narrowed 
eyes? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 80). For all intents and purposes, these women are 
portrayed as dead?constricted corpses on display for The Commander?s pleasure. They are 
devoid of any vitality, and to Offred?s eyes, serve as guardians against intrusion into the 
masculine world created by The Commander and his ilk. It is also notable that the only uniquely 
feminine aspect of the painting?the breasts of the women?have been ?constricted.? On the 
surface level, this, too, reinforces male domination, and the repression of anything uniquely 
 
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feminine. However, more interesting to this Jungian interpretation is the deceptively simple fact 
that the women have been made to look more like men, hair presumably obscured beneath the 
starched caps and breasts constricted into their frames. This painting, then, is the rather literal 
portrait of acceptable femininity within the world of Gilead: that which reflects men. Offred?s 
presence (as well as that of her predecessor) serves as an understandable treat for The 
Commander, as her vitality, combined with his intimate knowledge of her body, serves as a 
markedly pleasant contrast to the man-like, corpse-like representations of femininity that adorn 
his office. 
Viewed through this lens, it is no surprise that The Commander would risk so much in his 
interactions with Offred: most women can no longer serve as reflections of a man?s feminine 
nature because they (like the painting above) are forced to reflect masculinity, serving as another 
column supporting Gilead?s ?traditional values.? Offred, then, represents someone onto whom he 
can project the truth of the past (as opposed to the propaganda of ?traditional values? to which 
Gilead aspires to return to), because only through such a projection can he access his repressed 
feminine nature. It is interesting that The Commander serves as a prime example of a person for 
whom the conscious and unconscious mind may run on parallel paths, albeit with a different 
destination in mind. On a conscious level, The Commander longs for some of the courtship 
rituals of the pre-Gilead era: as illustrated by the visit to Jezebel?s, he enjoys the reputation of 
being a powerful man able to charm a woman by his wit and his privileges, something that he 
cannot effectively do under Gilead?s laws because (irony of ironies) he is more of an object to 
Offred than he is a three-dimensional human being. However, on an unconscious level, he intuits 
that such interaction between men and women requires equality (or a simulacrum of equality), an 
intuition that prompts him to takes measures that ostensibly put the two on equal footing, albeit 
 
Snellgrove 140 
 
in a limited space and for a limited period of time. Even the forbidden items in his sitting room 
were designed to create such temporary parity, primarily through the mutual, ritual use of 
forbidden activities, such as not only allowing Offred to read, but to read magazines and other 
items that were supposed to be purged as part of Gilead assuming power. This compulsion to 
reach out to Offred  (simultaneously elevating her while further objectifying her) is all key to 
understanding the Commander?s need to access his anima: In Symbols and the Interpretation of 
Dreams, Jung points out that Middle Ages thinkers such as Dominicus Gnosius understood that 
man ?carries Eve, his wife, hidden in his body.? He points out that this anima image ?is kept 
carefully concealed from others as well as from oneself. A man?s visible personality may seem 
quite normal, while his anima side is sometimes in a deplorable state? (189). This ?deplorable 
state? describes the hyper-patriarchal culture of Gilead quite well: if women are necessary for a 
man to self-actualize (accessing the inner soul within himself by projecting onto a figure such as 
his wife), then The Commander has, from a psychological perspective, cut himself off from his 
own soul by forcing women to be reflections of men and masculinity. His wife might have 
allowed him access to this soul in pre-Gileadan society, but now she, like all women in the 
nation, is forced to be a reflection of conscious male desire, rather than unconscious need. The 
result is that she is much like the paintings she has picked: strikingly pretty, overly formal, and 
ultimately dead inside, her femininity reduced to token roles of domesticity that are approved by 
the patriarchy. Offred, then (as well as her unfortunate predecessor) provides an opportunity for 
The Commander to access his anima, but it is an extremely flawed opportunity, considering that 
Offred is highly aware that this is simply another performance that is required of her. 
 This requires a kind of double performance on Offred?s part?and a kind of double 
Othering, as she must now perform as his ideal reflection of femininity (that is, the pre-Gilead 
 
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femininity that is required for him to relive his memories of fantasies of pre-Gilead courtship) 
during their private time together, while still serving as a reflection of masculinized femininity to 
Serena Joy and others within the house. From the Jungian perspective, this kind of intense 
performance-as-persona is made quite clear by Offred, who thinks to herself ?I wait. I compose 
myself. My self is a thing I must now compose, as one composes a speech. What I must present 
is a made thing, not something born? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 66). Her attempted journey 
towards actualization, then, can be imagined as a journey back to the person that she was ?born? 
as, as opposed to the ?made thing? meant to satisfy The Commander and those like him?
primarily by serving as their own anima reflections, albeit in a limited form. As previously 
mentioned, Gilead?s social stigmas ensured that women could only embody the Eve and (through 
forbidden avenues such as the club) Helen stages of erotic development, and so it is with Offred. 
Symbolically, this can be understood as a kind of unraveling: men are unable to conceive of 
women beyond those first two archetype stages of erotic development, and have arranged all of 
society in order to align with that limited view. Offred, like other women, can no longer be a 
composite woman whose identity has elements of both Eve and Mary, both Helen and Sophia; 
rather, she must compose (in truth, re-compose) herself in order to better accommodate the 
prejudices and stigmas of the society around her. Those social stigmas also ensured that 
indiscretions like those on The Commander?s part would be inevitable: as Jung points out, anima 
represents the ?soul? of man, ?that which lives of itself and causes life.? By way of example, he 
points to the figure of Eve, claiming that ?she is full of snares and traps, in order that man should 
fall, should reach the earth, entangle himself there, and stay caught, so that life should be lived? 
(Jung, The Archetypes and Collective Unconscious 26-27). It is worth pointing out that this is 
another instance in which the conscious and unconscious needs of The Commander are 
 
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effectively at odds with one another: consciously, he has placed Eve and other women within the 
generative archetype of Eve, projecting onto them an Old Testament-friendly concept of being 
vessels for God?s edict to procreate. However, psychologically, Eve is also a subversive force, in 
the sense that she helps mediate man into the harshness of the real world, as opposed to fantasies 
of paradise and perfection. Offred, though intended to perform only the former function, 
certainly situates herself as a subversive element within the text, entangling The Commander into 
fantasies of how ?life should be lived? as opposed to the sterile world of Gilead, which is 
presented as a kind of paradise from which no one should desire to escape. 
Of course, this subversive role of Eve is contrary to the sermon given by The Commander 
in which he reminds his household of the principles of their society, including that ?Adam was 
not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression? (Atwood, The 
Handmaid?s Tale 221). The result is relatively straightforward: from the Jungian perspective, 
most men have willingly removed themselves from access to their soul because they place blame 
on the symbolic figure of Eve for fulfilling her psychological function with regards to the male 
mind?that is, she (and, by extension, all women) are blamed for the perceived loss of paradise, 
rather than lauded for bringing men back down to earth. She is blamed for the ?snares and traps? 
that Jung mentions because the patriarchal Gileadan society regards this as part of the larger 
?transgression? that can only be redeemed through giving birth to a child. This duality perfectly 
captures the bizarre duality that Yoshida speaks of regarding Eve, because she is ?at once the 
object of sexual fantasy and the scapegoat of misogynistic anxiety? (38). It is noteworthy that 
Gilead society sees their cultural imperative for women to give birth as a way of resolving this 
otherwise intractable dilemma, because giving birth to a child will return the woman to the 
psychologically safe (and stifling) status of primal mother, rather than the temptress that invites 
 
Snellgrove 143 
 
them to discover the tangible pleasures of the real world rather than the abstract pleasures of a 
theoretical one. The psychological binary in place?sexual fantasy versus scapegoat?also 
accounts for the Madonna/whore dichotomy in place throughout Gilead. 
 This is perhaps the chief reason why The Commander chooses to take Offred to the 
forbidden hotel-turned-brothel, Jezebel?s. As Jung illustrates, ?man?s anima must fit the woman 
somewhere, or such a figure would never have originated.? Therefore, while the anima often 
serves as a way for the masculine individual to self-actualize, the form of the anima (particularly 
in the case of the anima being projected onto others) shifts in relation to the woman that he is 
projecting upon. How does this apply to Jezebel?s? In the society of Gilead, women are forced to 
present a composed self that conforms to masculine desire, so The Commander taking Offred to 
this underground club is a way for him to reverse Jung?s imagined course, changing the woman 
he desires so that she better matches the anima he seeks to project on her. The demure scapegoat 
of Eve no longer works his purposes; rather, he longs for the temptations of the lustful Helen. 
This need for her lust is, of course, all artificial fantasy on the part of The Commander: he cannot 
impose any real psychological change on her, and is accordingly unable to catalyze any such 
change or actualization in himself. Put more simply, not all psychological projections lead to 
actualization, and The Commander?s focus on his conscious needs concerning Offred (dressing 
her like a temptress as part of his fantasy that he actually tempts her) often overrides the potential 
such projections have for allowing him to access his unconscious, especially his repressed 
feminine aspect.  
Jung provides additional illumination concerning what The Commander is trying to do by 
taking her to the brothel. Jung writes that in the Eve stage of development, a woman might see 
man as ?nothing but a generating phallus,? and that the following stage (that of Helen), ?human 
 
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consideration appears? concerning men, yet they exist as ?a more or less friendly or unfriendly 
presence; he is just a man that happens to be there? (Jung, Visions 491). This lack of true 
intimacy perhaps best describes The Commander and Offred?s initial ?relationship? outside of 
the ritual sex: while he insists on a different kind of ritual when they play Scrabble, one in which 
he instructs her to kiss him ??as if you meant it,?? she intuits that ?he was so sad? (Atwood, The 
Handmaid?s Tale 140). The Commander seems to realize, if only unconsciously, that forcing 
Offred?s mind and body cannot produce any true intimacy?despite whatever favor he shows her 
by allowing her access to forbidden games, drinks, and texts, he is ultimately ?a man that 
happens to be there,? and his decision to be a ?friendly or unfriendly presence? does not elevate 
his status in his mind, nor does it elevate their relationship. 
 What he longs for, then, is the next stage of erotic development, which Jung describes as 
that of ?the lover? and later, the Virgin Mary. On the face of it, this may seem paradoxical?
however, Mary functions symbolically as a kind of force which purifies everything, including the 
erotic love of the Helen archetype. This erotic love is not destroyed, but transferred into a 
different aspect of man?s spiritual development. Therefore, he is able to view himself as more 
than the phallus of the Eve stage, or the simple romantic dalliance of the Helen stage; rather, he 
has become a true lover, transcending from being ?a man that happens to be there? to ?the man? 
in the mind of the woman he cares for. Jung characterizes this stage as ?very psychological, 
because there is a definite choice, exclusiveness.? This ?exclusive choice?goes to the core of 
things, it goes to the soul of woman? (Jung, Visions 491). Choice is at the heart of the text in 
many ways: Aunt Lydia, helping to indoctrinate Offred, Moira, and other women, insisted that 
before Gilead, they ?were a society dying?of too much choice? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 
25). And it is choice that characterizes her dangerous relationship with Nick: she enjoys ?the 
 
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ritual politeness of asking? if it is too late for her to come in and join him because it makes her 
?feel more in control, as if there is a choice, a decision that could be made one way or the other? 
(Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 269). However, in the darkness of their rented hotel room, it is 
clear to Offred that she doesn?t have a choice with regards to The Commander. She dismisses the 
possibility of rebuffing his advances, thinking to herself that ?I can't afford pride or aversion, 
there are all kinds of things that have to be discarded, under the circumstances? (Atwood, The 
Handmaid?s Tale 255). This paradox on the part of The Commander is made quite clear by the 
text, as someone who played a role (an integral role, if the lecture at the end of the text is to be 
believed) in eliminating nearly all aspects of choice from the lives of women longs to be chosen 
by someone.  
Psychologically, this inability to access the archetype of Mary/the lover has much 
to do with the perceived spirituality of women; as Jung makes clear, Mary is meant to be 
a kind of intermediary stage in which man is able to glimpse the next stage (Sophia) in 
which ?the god? that ?already appears in the lover? becomes perceptible?echoing 
Augustine?s notion of the three heavens, this represents the shift in which a man is able to 
view spiritual/inner understanding directly, as opposed to viewing it through a physical 
medium, such as a person. As such, the importance of the Mary stage for the 
psychological development of men is that it represents the ?soul of the woman,? both in 
terms of her ability to make her own choices and in the man?s ability to perceive women 
as something beyond the aforementioned Madonna/whore paradigm?as neither mother 
(here identified more closely with Eve than Mary in the schematic of Jungian 
development) nor whore (here represented by Helen, who serves as both an objectified 
and objectifying source of erotic desire ), but someone with agency and voice. By 
 
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physically inhibiting the lives and development of women, men have psychologically 
hindered their own development, and so The Commander?s longing for Offred to treat 
him as a lover rather than a master does not represent a conscious urge to destroy Gilead 
(if nothing else, he obviously benefits from the country in a number of ways), but an 
unconscious urge towards the actualization that the institution of Gilead has halted. This 
longing, then, serves as another grim irony, as the minds of men have become as infertile 
as their bodies, even as they continue to ostracize and castigate the only group?
women?that might help them unite with their unconscious mind. 
Obviously, the agency required for women to psychologically fulfill this role for 
men is something that goes against the interests of the patriarchal leadership of Gilead, 
and they have taken great care to change Biblical scripture and wisdom in order to reduce 
this agency to nothingness. One of the most telling additions to biblical wisdom is that 
?blessed are the silent,? an addition meant to transform the mandated lack of 
communication on the part of women to a promise of a better world in the future. This 
notion of placing a patriarchal stamp on religious information goes hand in hand with 
keeping the Bible out of reach of women as well: as Offred ironically notes, ?It is an 
incendiary device: who knows what we'd make of it, if we ever got our hands on it? We 
can be read to from it, by him, but we cannot read? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 87). 
Women within this society cannot be precursors to perceiving God-within-woman 
because God (symbolically functioning within the Jungian framework as more of the 
embodiment of unconscious understanding than as an actual deity) is kept from them. 
Developmentally, The Commander and his ilk are frozen between viewing women as a 
 
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biological means for reproduction, or as ornamental, sexualized beings (as when he takes 
Offred to their forbidden club). 
Given the negative effect that this has on men in terms of both psychological 
development and emotional happiness, one obvious question would be whether this is 
intentional or not. A cursory glance at the social structure of Gilead shows a society 
designed to offer the wealthiest, elite men access to a variety of sexual partners, all while 
removing that pesky need for consent. However, The Commander, as our chief 
representative of patriarchal authority within the tale, is unhappy with the arrangement: 
after taking Offred to the club, he attempts to justify its existence, claiming that 
you can't cheat Nature?Nature demands variety, for men. It  stands to reason, it's 
part of the procreational strategy. It's Nature's plan?Women know that 
instinctively. Why did they buy so many different clothes, in the old days? To 
trick the men into thinking they were several different women. A new one each 
day. (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 237) 
While The Commander speaks from an obvious misogynistic bias, he seems to instinctively 
understand the Jungian notion of persona with regards to women, and how it relates to the 
performance of societal expectation: the idea of women trying ?to trick the men? seems to echo 
Offred?s belief that she must now compose herself?however, The Commander seems to believe 
that the need to compose one?s self into a different identity is an artifact of ?the old days.? 
Offred, though her pre-Gilead memories are often scattered, disagrees with this assessment, 
considering that the need to compose/create a self is something new; she views Gilead as the 
entity that actively seeks to unravel the composite identity she formerly held, forcing her to 
 
Snellgrove 148 
 
compose a new identity in order to accommodate Gilead and its denizens. Which perspective, 
though, is correct? 
 They are both correct in many ways. Before Gilead, different (and non-assigned) clothes 
obviously still existed as a means of creating a persona for women to attract men. However, this 
is one of the Jungian obstacles to self-actualization, because it involves the conscious 
performance of a false identity rather than embracing the unconscious truth of a self made fully 
whole, rather than fragmented into pieces. Put another way, women who honestly believed that 
they had to appear as a different person in order to sexually attract and maintain the attentions of 
men were sabotaging their own chance for self-actualization, representing only chosen slivers of 
their self at certain times, rather than embracing the full diversity of their being. However, in a 
post-Gilead world, the sense of self that this is built on is eradicated as thoroughly and repeatedly 
as the patriarchal government can manage, all in the perverted name of progress: the intent seems 
to be to eliminate that need for women to ?trick men,? as the government sees it more as an issue 
of temptation and morality as opposed to the dubious claims of the ?procreational strategy? that 
The Commander speaks of. The challenge for Offred, then, is that much more severe: before she 
can transcend her persona in order to discover her actualized self, she is forced to create a new 
sense of self, one that would ideally be wholly independent of any persona intended to curry 
favor with The Commander or anyone else. Tragically, the composed self that she creates is 
merely another persona intended for pleasing men (as with the romance with Nick, a romance 
that many feminists read quite negatively11), leaving her further from a true, actualized self than 
ever. 
                                                           
11 As this chapter will elaborate on in further detail, such feminists include J. Brooks Bouson, 
Juliet MacCannell, and Shirley Neuman, Juliet MacCannell 
 
Snellgrove 149 
 
 One of my contentions regarding this text is that this frustrating aspect of Gilead?s 
foundation (one which keeps women and women alike from actualizing, as men deny women the 
very agency necessary for the erotic development of either sex, even as this denial inhibits their 
own development) is deliberate. Atwood is very concerned with portraying a society that could 
reasonably occur, and it seems that, in designing Gilead, she may have examined some of the 
psychological limitations of medieval Christianity. Jung claims that, regarding erotic 
development, medieval Christianity commenced ?institutionalized worship of woman? (Yoshida 
102), which was a measured response to man?s focus on erotic love (corresponding most directly 
with the Helen archetype). The intent was that the psychological and emotional focus of men 
could be transferred away from the world of sex and fleshly desire, and onto an abstract, spiritual 
ideal: The Virgin Mary. Through such a figure, erotic love and erotic development could be 
purified from what religious leaders thought was the corrupting influence of erotic desire. In 
Jung?s original conception of erotic development, the ?institutionalized worship of woman? was 
actually problematic, as it kept individuals from completing their own erotic development. In 
fact, Jung proposed Sophia as a solution to this dilemma: as Yoshida succinctly puts it, ?The 
individual male subject is asked to transfer desire from the Virgin Mary of third-stage eroticism 
to an actual individual woman who embodies the personalized anima-form, or the transcendent 
mythical wisdom of Sophia?? (102). In short: she can embody the physical reality of Helen 
with the abstract spirituality of Mary, allowing individuals unfettered access to the unconscious 
understanding that has previously been filtered through different psychological prisms, such as 
Mary.  
 What significance does this hold for The Handmaid?s Tale? While his actions only hints 
at it, The Commander unconsciously longs to complete his own erotic development: to project an 
 
Snellgrove 150 
 
image of wholeness onto a woman, such as Offred, and to become whole and actualized himself. 
When it comes to Offred, she already serves to fulfill his need for the Eve archetype, fulfilling 
biological functions and ideally serving as a vessel for his future children. And it seems that the 
archetype of Helen does not satisfy him: while presumably able to use the women at the club 
(such as Moira) to sate his sexual needs, he longs for a relationship that is mental as well as 
physical. This longing is why it is notable that his relationship with Offred, beyond that of their 
regularly scheduled intercourse, begins with something as innocuous as Scrabble: he has 
perceived, if only unconsciously, that he will not be able to liberate/actualize himself without 
extending her at least a shadow of mental liberation. However, the lecture at the end of the text 
makes it clear that The Commander and his sympathies were something of an aberration: Piexoto 
speculates that The Commander?s true identity was Waterford, a man who ?We know, for 
instance, that he met his end, probably soon after the events our author describes, in one of the 
earliest purges? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 309). Such a purge presumably targeted those 
who were not properly in line with Gileadan thought?threats to the new order that they were 
attempting to create from the ashes of the society that Gilead had effectively destroyed. With this 
in mind, it is my contention that keeping its Commanders and other authority figures from self-
actualization was one of the intentions of Gilead?s architects.  
Religious leaders of the medieval world developed the so-called cult of Mary as a way of 
helping to purify the medieval mind: According to Philip Smith?s classic The History of the 
Christian Church, Mary historically functioned ?as a female mediator, replacing in the minds of 
men and women the lost goddesses of heathenism? (295). Smith draws special attention to St. 
Bernard, who urged his ?hearers to venerate Mary with their inmost hearts and affections and 
prayers, because God ?has willed that we should have all things through Mary?? (298). While the 
 
Snellgrove 151 
 
medieval world may have used a kind of cult worship of the Virgin Mary as a way to purify their 
minds, Gilead?s design would obviously be undermined if the worship of a woman (even a 
symbolic and holy woman) was part of its foundation. Considering that the club (with its ready 
access to objects of sexual desire that allow men to project the Helen aspect onto women) is also 
forbidden, it seems the architects of Gilead deliberately wanted to deny the erotic development 
of men beyond the ?Eve? stage, which was well aligned with both their religious philosophy 
(viewing all women as servants of men, intended to bear them children) and the blunt necessity 
of producing more children. It is an interesting notion: while much of the structure of Gilead is 
obviously intended to reduce the rights and responsibilities of women, this suggests that some of 
the architects and key designers of Gilead?s structure were concerned with men developing 
empathy and/or sympathy for women. It is not difficult to imagine how this could happen: if 
women were more readily associated with Mary rather than Eve, women would be honored as 
vessels of divinity?shades of the woman who gave birth to Christ. Instead, the government 
fosters an association of women with the misogynistic portrayal of Eve as a temptress, one who 
costs mankind a life in paradise, and whose suffering is effectively prescribed by God as a fit 
punishment. Intentionally or not, such a move helps freeze actualization on the part of men in its 
tracks. Actualization would involve projection of the anima, and the anima would be projected 
onto women: in order for men to view themselves as whole and complete, they would need to be 
able to project that image of wholeness onto women, which was impossible. Therefore, men in 
Gilead must also be kept in separate, discrete roles, something that is symbolized by their 
identification: one man may be a member of ?The Eyes? and another a member of ?The Angels? 
and others still may be ?Commanders.? If they aspire to be more than the special role to which 
 
Snellgrove 152 
 
they are assigned?to psychologically develop into a truly composite and actualized self?they 
threaten the entire system, and must be ?purged? from the body of Gilead. 
 One object of critical debate concerning Offred?s own journey towards actualization is 
her affair with Nick. Shirley Neumann, for instance, succinctly describes the affair as something 
that ?marks a relapse into willed ignorance? (864), and Bouson points out that ?the novel?s 
invocation of the conventional romance plot may also appear to present a culturally conservative 
message: namely, that falling in love is the ?central? thing, that a woman reaches self-fulfillment 
only in the love relationship? (Bouson, Brutal Choreographies 153). While less critical of 
Offred, Juliet MacCannell notes that Nick fits ?stereotypes of romantic, if hard-boiled, leading 
men?a private eye?A to ugh, but virile T-shirted bachelor, the loner who takes women as they 
come, without complications.? In short: she sees Nick as a relatively non-threatening ?shadow? 
of a man, someone who is ?partial enough? for Offred to find wholeness with, in opposition to 
those like the Commander who wish to override her feminine identity with the fullness of their 
masculinity (127).  From the Jungian perspective, this is certainly a troubling thought, as the 
actualization of a feminine self should not require another person in order to gain access to the 
wholeness within. However, I contend that Offred is attempting to use Nick as a means of 
accessing part of her unconscious life that the rigid state has forced her to continually repress. 
One of Aunt Lydia?s more insidious lessons is that ?Modesty is invisibility? Never forget 
it?.to be seen is to be?penetrated. What you must be, girls, is impenetrable? (Atwood, The 
Handmaid?s Tale 28). ?Penetration,? then, serves a symbolic function with the development and 
attempted actualization of Offred?s character, as she lives in a society that has attempted to make 
her impenetrable not only to others (discounting, of course, whatever Commander she is 
assigned to) but to herself as well. Lydia?s simplistic philosophy forms a kind of self-fulfilling 
 
Snellgrove 153 
 
prophecy for formerly-independent girls such as Offred and Moira, because anything that 
expresses or publicly characterizes them as possessing a unique, chosen feminine identity is a 
form of being ?seen,? as in being seen for who they really are, and thus penetrated by the gaze of 
others. Obviously, the women are not kept truly invisible in Gilead society: they must be seen by 
some men in various domestic capacities, such as shopping for food and other essential items. 
However, their feminine identity is effectively covered up by the clothing they are given, as 
those who view the red robes of a handmaid instantly know they ?belong? to someone, 
reiterating that the Gileadan ideal of feminine expression is for women to serve as reflections of 
men and masculinity.  
 How does this play into the notion of penetration as the key to actualization? Broadly 
speaking, penetration may consists of any act by which someone penetrates the patriarchal veil 
of women such as Offred and views them on their own terms, rather than as an appendage to 
someone like The Commander. The romance with Nick is certainly stereotypically romantic, as 
other critics have noted. However, I contend that this relationship is something that Offred is 
using to access the unconscious life that she previously led, the one that has been so thoroughly 
suppressed (and oppressed) by Gilead. The message, then, is not ?that a woman reaches self-
fulfillment only in the love relationship,? but that she achieves an actualized self through 
knowledge and expression of the fullness of her unconscious life. Nick, to be frank, is a means to 
that end: for instance, critics of the romance with Nick note the intimacy of Offred?s act of 
giving Nick her real name. As she asserts earlier in the text, her name is ?something hidden, 
some treasure I'll come back to dig up, one day? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 84) and so it is 
understandable that such critics would read the act of Offred giving Nick her true name as the act 
of giving him a valuable ?treasure.? However, within that same passage, Offred clearly 
 
Snellgrove 154 
 
explicates that the significance of using her real name is not limited to its value to others, but in 
its value to her. She asserts that ?I tell myself it doesn't matter, your name is like your telephone 
number, useful only to others; but what I tell myself is wrong, it does matter? (Atwood, The 
Handmaid?s Tale 84).  
Offred herself hints at the need for sharing her name to transcend romance later in the 
text when she remembers Luke: as she says, ?I want Luke here so badly. I want to be held and 
told my name. I want to be valued, in ways that I am not; I want to be more than valuable. I 
repeat my former name, remind myself of what I once could do, how others saw me? (Atwood, 
The Handmaid?s Tale 97). At first, this sad scene would seem to reinforce the notion of sharing 
her name to be a romantic act, as she fantasizes about her husband holding her and calling her by 
name. However, the feminist undercurrent to Offred?s thoughts begins to burst through in this 
section, because while she wants ?to be valued, in ways that I am not? (something that she 
initially links to memories of Luke, who viewed her as an individual woman and not an object 
representing subservience in all women), she immediately progresses to the desire ?to be more 
than valuable? and implies a causal relationship between ?what I once could do? and ?how 
others saw me,? the latter being rather explicitly tied to being acknowledged by others beyond 
being viewed as the property of someone else.  This is significant because Offred seems on the 
cusp of a major understanding in this passage: she wants to be ?more than valuable.? While this 
line can be read simply as the desire to escape objectification (in the sense that she wants to be 
more than an object to be valued), I contend that this line hints at an actualized future. As 
mentioned earlier, Gilead society permanently affixes the mask of persona onto women, and 
through the lens of Offred?s mother, we can clearly see that even in pre-Gilead society, such 
rituals occurred in which women felt they had to cater their appearance and personality in order 
 
Snellgrove 155 
 
to appeal to men. Offred dreams of an opportunity to transcend both past and present: to be 
?more than valuable? by eliminating the need to be valued by others at all. 
 This, then, fuels the relationship with Nick: she does not need to be valued or validated 
by her relationship with him. Rather, it is a way for her to better know herself?an important step 
on a journey will end with full actualization. As she says, ?I tell him my real name, and feel that 
therefore I am known? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 270). It is Offred and her actualization 
that are at the center of her relationship with Nick, rather than the ?love story? that critics scoff 
at. Offred?s language makes this much clear when she describes Nick as an ?idol? that she has 
created. He is not a man that she idolizes in the more modern sense of the word, but instead 
serves as an older kind of idol: Nick is a kind of totem through which she can access her own 
inner divinity. She acknowledges this in passing, describing him as ?a cardboard cut out? 
(Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 270). He is there, then, to provide a literal face to that 
unconscious soul that Offred is trying to access: Nick, much more than The Commander, serves 
as the animus for Offred. 
 The animus, as mentioned earlier, can be a powerful method by which a woman is able to 
access her unconscious self. As detailed in previous chapters, this figure is often projected onto 
actual men, just as men tend to project their animas onto women. In describing a patient of his, 
Jung offers an intriguing way of viewing the animus phenomenon, and gives details that help us 
to link such a figure to Nick: Jung claims that reality is ?the country of the normal mind,? 
something that is in opposition to the actualized self that only accessing the unconscious mind 
can provide:  
Reality as it is, the reality from which she has been long away. That has nothing 
to do with the unconscious. If there were an animus his country would be the 
 
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collective unconscious, for the animus is normally a function; one could call it the 
semiconscious fringe of her mind by which she perceives the collective 
unconscious? (Jung, Visions 1208-1209). 
This interesting juxtaposition describes Offred and her life quite well: she, too, pines for some 
kind of return to reality, whether that would constitute an outright return to the pre-Gilead life or 
simply taking solace in brief glimpses to the past, such as playing Scrabble with The 
Commander. For most of the novel, however, she seems unaware of the fact that the reality that 
she longs for will not provide her with the actualization and fulfillment she longs for. While it 
may have been less institutionally misogynistic, Offred?s pre-Gilead world was one that was still 
full of rape, murder, exploitation, and cultural oppression of women. Rather than mentally 
returning to those earlier times, she longs (on a nearly unconscious level) to escape the spectrum 
of oppression that both America and Gilead seemed to inhabit, albeit at different points in her 
own life.  
 Nick, then, helps to serve a vital purpose for this actualization: he meets the stereotypical 
qualities of an attractive male during the pre-Gilead culture, as McCannel has noted. This 
stereotypical masculinity, too, is in line with Jungian thought. Jung, when differentiating 
between the anima and animus images, claimed that ?the animus is often represented by a 
moving figure?an aviator or traffic manager,? and goes on to speculate that women are 
psychologically ?more stable? than men, and ?there is more movement in the unconscious? of 
their lives than in those of men (Jung, Analytical Psychology 158). This unconscious movement 
is in opposition to the relatively still life of the masculine unconscious, one whose anima images 
are correspondingly still?archetypal and near-mythic characters, such as Eve, Helen, and 
Mary?rather than the active embodiments of animus imagined by women. This is an interesting 
 
Snellgrove 157 
 
distinction, as Jung?s claim sees validated, in part, through the character of The Commander. 
While much of his professional life is not viewed by Offred (and, therefore, not shared with 
readers), his rank within the Gilead government marks him as someone on the forefront of 
multiple chaotic battles, helping to lead armies of ?angels? in their various skirmishes to (if the 
lecture at the end is to be believed) serving as an architect for much of the structure of Gilead?s 
policies and practices. He embodies chaos in the oldest, most literal sense, in that he must help to 
undo the world around him, and helping to rebuild it in his image. In this way, The Commander 
and those like him are embodying both the serpent/chaos monster and the God of the biblical 
Genesis, linking destruction and creation into a single act. Psychologically, then, it is little 
surprise that the Commander projects his anima onto Offred: as Jung has indicated, the anima is 
more of an eternal image for men, which is why it is symbolized by archetypes representing 
eternal images of women?images of stability, meant to counteract the chaotic nature of their 
lives. For Offred, however, things are different: while the patriarchal forces of chaos have 
certainly reordered and redefined her life, her day-to-day existence is quite mundane, a world of 
codified (and forced) serenity.  
It is no surprise, then, that Nick would serve as someone on whom she can project her 
animus: in this static, stale world he is the embodiment of Jung?s ?moving figure,? both in terms 
of actual movement (he is most often characterized as washing the car or engaging in other 
physical tasks, seemingly juxtaposed against the sedentary world of the elite, such as the aging 
Commander and Serena Joy) and in the sense of social fluidity: while Nick serves in a 
subservient role, he does so with a jaunty demeanor that implies that his own identity hasn?t been 
fully stamped out and replaced with one approved by Gilead. In this sense, I agree with 
McCannell, but do not find Offred?s romance with Nick to be incompatible with feminist 
 
Snellgrove 158 
 
ideology; rather, I see self-actualization as arguably the most important aspect (or even endpoint) 
of feminist philosophy, a way of mentally and emotionally liberating one?s self from a world that 
may still be patriarchal and/or misogynistic, but is unable to contain and constrain a woman any 
longer. Such self-actualization can only occur when the unconscious and conscious are joined 
together, and as Jung points out, projecting one?s animus onto a real person may well be critical. 
In dealing with the notion of animus projection, Jung writes of that same patient that the animus, 
projected onto a ?real man,? is something that ?would carry the transcendent function?because 
the animus and the mind of a woman are those functions in which the data of the unconscious 
and of the conscious can be united? (Jung, Visions 1209). Romance with Nick is not an obstacle 
to feminist actualization. Quite the opposite: while The Commander partially embodies the chaos 
used to undo the country that Offred remembers, Nick serves as a nostalgic throwback to that 
time period, one whose apartment reminds Offred of one designed ?for a student, a young single 
person with a job? A bachelor, a studio, those were the names for that kind of apartment. It 
pleases me to be able to remember this. Separate entrance, it would say in the ads, and that meant 
you could have sex, unobserved? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 260). Nick is not simply a link, 
then, to pre-Gilead times, but serves as a reflection of Offred before she met Luke. He reminds 
her of freedom??you could have sex, unobserved??and serves as a vessel for her own attempt 
at transcendence. 
On a kind of metatextual level, both Offred and her readers are frustrated in their attempts 
to find actualization within the psychological rubble of Gilead. Ideally, Jungian actualization 
would involve the elimination of psychological barriers entirely, freeing the self from its 
previous constraints and allowing it to embody its various aspects simultaneously. However, the 
fragmentation of Gilead (and the subsequent psychological fragmentation of women, such as 
 
Snellgrove 159 
 
Offred) forms a powerful barrier to such actualization. Offred seeks to keep herself together 
through the blend of fiction and reality that comprises her text: As Dunja Mohr points out, 
Offred?s rich internal life and the tale she weaves is something that is meant to keep her 
fragmented psyche whole.  
Atwood suggests with Offred?s narration that, although dualities may exist, they 
should not necessarily be considered as mutual exclusives, but can rather be 
united without leveling the differences?To allow the coexistence of more than 
one reality and perspective, perhaps even to view these as constituents, may not 
erase but bridge this mental split?multiple perspectives and various reali ties, and 
telling her story as well as other?s stories thus saves her from psychological 
fragmentation. (Mohr 233) 
While Mohr is not a Jungian, her analysis is certainly in line with the Jungian sense of 
actualization, as Offred?s Tale  is intended to allow a perception of ?multiple perspectives and 
various realities,? echoing the more cheerful transcendence of Walt Whitman, whose literal and 
figurative size allowed him to be ?large? enough to ?contain multitudes,? rather than to be 
limited. However, Mohr?s more optimistic analysis of Offred and her intentions seems rooted in 
the theoretical. While Jung?s own theories often faced similar accusations, the ultimate goal of 
his depth analysis was the actualization (and thereby the mental health) of his patients. Put 
another way, being lost within one?s carefully crafted fiction may constitute a kind of freedom 
from the harshness of reality, but comes to form its own kind of mental prison that might be as 
debilitating towards true actualization as the abuses of reality. 
 This means that certain troubling aspects of the text (such as the romance of and reliance 
upon Nick) take on a kind of mixed tenor. Tolan notes this in her own analysis: she points out 
 
Snellgrove 160 
 
that Nick?s value is primarily symbolic, a way of allowing Offred to ?[imagine] the other, the 
person on the outside,? Offred is trying to establish a ?self that can step outside of its society and 
offer a critique of that society,? hoping for a better tomorrow in defiance of the postmodern 
dictum that tomorrow will look much like today (172). However, at the same time, Tolan has 
noted some of the problems with the perception of ?truth? within the novel, such as the fact that 
the fictional aspects of the tale, its retrospective nature, and the final word being given to a male 
lecturer all created borders (or boundaries) to that which is intended to transcend them:  
In one sense, the ?truth? of the tale is maintained?its narrator never 
acknowledges her own fictionality; the story that she relates seems to encapsulate 
a whole world, without exposing the borders of the page. At the same time, 
Offred?s narrative is a concealed retrospective, and this device is only exposed by 
the epilogue, which acts as an equally concealed frame to the tale, dislocating the 
reader from the immediacy of Offred?s ?I? and refocusing on her as a contained 
text? (170). 
On merely a surface level, then, the fictional nature of the tale (and possibly many of its events 
and assumptions) frustrates attempts at actualization by the creation of additional borders: Offred 
creates that freedom from reality by her belief in the possibility of another world, but creates 
additional boundaries between her mind and the ?real? world around here, boundaries which 
readers then augment when they read her tale through their own lens. She is still fragmented, and 
her control over the degree of her psychological fragmentation should not be confused for 
wholeness and actualization. Jung describes the thin dividing line between these aspects as 
follows: while the transcendent function can be described as ?a natural process, a manifestation 
of the energy that springs from the tension of opposites, and it consists in a series of fantasy-
 
Snellgrove 161 
 
occurrences which appear spontaneously in dreams and visions.? However, failure to actualize 
can be a result of ?the fact that they lack the mental and spiritual equipment to master the events 
taking place in them? (Jung, Two Essays 80). It is clear that Offred makes earnest attempts to 
marshal the fantasies and narratives of her mind, but she is still clearly more influenced by the 
outer world than she is able to use her inner discoveries to affect change, either inward or 
outward. In many ways, the brief romance with Nick echoes this failure: while I contend that 
Offred used the relationship as a way of accessing her memories of Luke (another attempt at 
actualization, one in which she mentally supplants the horrors of the present with the pleasant 
aspects of the past. However, these attempts to remember the past seem to turn a deliberately 
blind eye to some of the negative aspects of the past, particularly regarding how women were 
treated. 
 Tolan delves into this with little mercy, claiming that ?The Handmaid?s Tale comes to 
satirically depict a dystopian society that has unconsciously and paradoxically met certain 
feminist aims? (Tolan 145) and that in portraying the burning of pornographic texts, Atwood  
?subtly implicates Offred?s mother and her friends in the deeds of Gileadean society. The 
difference between the two acts of censorship, it is implied, is simply one of degree? (Tolan 
151). Offred, while able to isolate some of the horrors of the past (in the time before Gilead), 
does not seem to fully make this connection between totalitarianism of the past and 
totalitarianism of the present; the danger, of course, is that when she creates a kind of 
utopian/anti-dystopian vision in her mind with which to better deal with the terror of the world 
around here (as Mohr asserts), she is retreating into the very foundation of the horrors around 
here. In Jung?s schematic of self-actualization, a large part of actualization comes from the 
ability to synthesize the world of opposing forces into something new. Speaking broadly, Jung 
 
Snellgrove 162 
 
describes the consequences of  actualization as follows: ?out of this union emerges new 
situations and new conscious attitudes,? and can be imagined as a ?rounding out of the 
personality into a whole? (Jung, The Archetypes and Collective Unconscious 289). Offred is 
unable to produce ?new situations and new conscious attitudes? because both her attempt at the 
situations and the attitude she presents are tainted by the past. She does not seek to round her 
personality out and into something new through the tension of these opposites: rather, she sees 
the new woman that has been created by Gilead as a perversion of her old self, and seeks to 
return to that self through any means possible. 
 
 
 
Offred?s actualization, then, is doubly endangered. Like Atwood herself (though to a 
lesser degree), Offred is creating a kind of mythic structure, something that is evident from the 
creative naming which goes beyond simply protecting herself or others. Perhaps the most 
stinging is the name of Serena Joy, clearly meant to imply a juxtaposition between the serenity 
and joy that she preached as a conservative commentator and the sterile and joyless existence she 
leads now, trapped in the faux-utopia that she helped to create. Of more mythological interest is 
the character of Moira. The name is immediately evocative of the Greek Fates?specifically, the 
Homeric personification of the three fates into a single individual. From the mythological 
perspective, her character seems to reinforce the negative portrayal of Gilead, with the rapacious 
patriarchy transforming a symbol of independence (someone who, in ancient stories, even the 
gods could not control or coerce) into another victim that is dependent on the world of man. She 
seems to be an agent of fate within the mind of Offred, at the very least: thoughts of Moira help 
Offred to preserve her identity, as her imagined advice??Don?t think that way?think that way 
 
Snellgrove 163 
 
and you?ll make it happen??holds at bay the fear of fading like a mirage before the memories of 
her own mind. For a time, Offred and the others  under Aunt Lydia?s care revere Moira as 
someone who is an agent of her own fate:  
Moira was out there somewhere. She was at large, or dead. What would she do? 
The thought of what she would do expanded till it filled the room. At any moment 
there might be a shattering explosion, the glass of the windows would fall inward, 
the doors would swing open. Moira had power now, she'd been set loose, she'd set 
herself loose. She was now a loose woman. (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 133). 
In order to understand the symbolic power of this ?loose woman,? it is important to clarify the 
Jungian notion of the Moira. As with most Jungian symbols, she does not literally conform to her 
mythological role as someone who determines the life and death of an individual: rather, she 
embodies one of the aspects of Jung?s mother archetype, a symbol of generative force. This 
embodiment, too, requires something of an explanation: a literal reading of the brash, lesbian 
Moira as a mother-figure seems absurd. However, in the context of Atwood?s feminist text (one 
that vehemently criticizes the patriarchal importance placed on women as being simply vessels 
for the pleasurable reproduction of the human race), Moira is a generative force of a different 
nature, offering a brief glimpse to Offred of a different kind of feminism. Moira is obviously not 
the marching, burning first-wave kind of feminist that Offred?s mother was. However, she seems 
abreast of current threats to women/feminine culture?as Offred drily notes, Moira?s academic 
interest in date rape is ?very trendy.? She is also able to slyly subvert the masculine/patriarchal 
requirements of women, financing her way through college by throwing ?underwhore? parties 
that are intended to sell racy lingerie to women who fear their husbands? sexual attention may be 
flagging. In this way, Moira (who is obviously not beholden to the interests of men, sexual or 
 
Snellgrove 164 
 
otherwise) is able to exploit the patriarchal world in order to cultivate (in the time before Gilead, 
of course) a new kind of feminine freedom for herself, one that does not focus on destroying the 
old, patriarchal world but using it to build a new one. 
 It is little surprise, then, that in the post-Gilead world that Offred inhabits, Moira is a 
symbol of both hope and fear for those in the RED center who ponder her escape. On one hand, 
she is freedom personified, a woman who is ?loose? from the tyrannical grip of the Gileadan 
authority. On the other hand, as Offred notes, ?Moira was like an elevator with open sides. She 
made us dizzy. Already we were losing the taste for freedom, already we were finding these 
walls secure. In the upper reaches of the atmosphere you'd come apart, you'd vaporize, there 
would be no pressure holding you together? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 133). This 
description is consistent with Jung?s mother archetype, in which ?these symbols can have a 
positive, favourable meaning or a negative, evil meaning. An ambivalent aspect is seen in the 
goddesses of fate? (Jung, Four Archetypes 15). Jung notes that while this archetype may be 
viewed in positive terms, such as the Greek Moira, they may also be viewed as witches, dragons, 
?any devouring or entwining animal? and even ?the grave? and ?death.? He likens this to 
medieval allegories, in which The Virgin Mary is both ?the Lord?s mother? and also ?his cross,? 
and claims that the archetypal mother has three chief qualities: a cherishing/nurturing aspect, an 
?orgiastic emotionality,? and ?her Stygian depths?  (Jung, Four Archetypes 16). Symbolically, 
Moira embodies all of these aspects to Offred specifically, and to the women in the RED center 
in general. She represents a kind of tantalizing hope (of escape, of agency, of simply controlling 
any aspect of one?s fate) that is mixed with a kind of dread: the same perceived power that she 
holds as a generative force also holds the power to undo that which has been made. Just as Moira 
illustrates the potential for creating a new kind of self, she also reminds Offred and the other 
 
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women of the danger of having ?no pressure holding you together,? and the threat of losing one?s 
feminine coherency in a world that has been designed by and for men. 
 The idea of the Moira serving as a generative force is rooted in ancient traditions. Jung, 
when describing the cosmology of Plato as described in Timaeus,  explains:  
Moira, the personification of inevitable fate--the mother--is in the center of Earth. 
The iron axis of the world, around which the whole cosmos is revolving, goes 
through her womb. In this dream sticking the staff into the fire also means an act 
of procreation. It is interesting that the iron staff as crozier is also the symbol of 
Osiris, as it is the attribute of the shepherd or of the male deity in general. So here 
the image of an animus figure is reduced to a simple symbol of the creative and 
procreative force, similar to what happened with the mother image" (Jung, 
Children's Dreams 95). 
It is very interesting to note some of the symbolic parallels at work between this cosmology and 
that of Gilead, which rather literally revolves around the axis of masculinity and its insertion into 
the womb of femininity. Jung?s careful language is quite accurate for this comparison: this is, 
indeed, a reduction, an ancient way of reducing the generative power of women to a subordinate 
position, relative to men (similar reductions, of course, are present in other ancient texts, such as 
The Old Testament and its insistence that women come from men, rather than the other way 
around). Atwood seems intent on analyzing the nature of this subordination, using the dystopia 
of the fictional world she has created to explore the horrifying ramifications of this pattern of 
thought. Atwood?s Moira, then, takes on further significance, as the representation of exactly 
who the patriarchal powerbrokers of Gilead wish to destroy. In fact, Offred notes the 
resemblance in clothing and style between her memories of Moira and some of the Unwomen 
 
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that she is shown on film as part of her re-education. Pre-Gilead, Offred believes Moira to be a 
personification of isolationist feminist thought?someone who ?thought she could create Utopia 
by shutting herself up in a women-only enclave? and, in Offred?s mind, ?was sadly mistaken.? 
Moira?s rejoinder is spirited, and to the point: ?That's like saying you should go out and catch 
syphilis merely because it exists? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 172). In order to more fully 
explore Atwood?s argument, this argument between Offred and Moira must be satisfactorily 
resolved. 
 This, of course, is a difficult task, as Atwood?s text illustrates the folly of both positions. 
The positive relationship with Luke (and, arguably, with Nick) helps to underscore that being 
hidden in a ?women-only enclave? will not be something that satisfies all women. However, 
Moira?s comment?in the horrific light of the abuses of patriarchy present in the story?seems to 
resonate as well: while Luke may not be ?a social disease,? the implication that positive 
relationships with feminist allies such as Luke somehow justifies the pervasive oppression of 
men would seem to undercut much of the feminist ideology in Atwood?s work. However, 
Jungian psychology provides a way of mediating this debate, just as Atwood herself seems intent 
on mediating the forces of first- and second-wave feminism. Hints of it are given by the cruel 
invective of Offred?s mother as she criticizes Luke?s hobby of cooking: ?Look at 
him, slicing up the carrots. Don't you know how many women's lives, how many women's 
bodies, the tanks had to roll over just to get that far? Once upon a time you wouldn't have been 
allowed to have such a hobby, they'd have called you queer.? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 
121). On the surface level, Offred?s mother is simply noting the important role that she and 
earlier activists had on the perception of sex and the expectation of gender roles: Luke would not 
be able to engage in a hobby previously thought to be non-masculine if others had not fought to 
 
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challenge the nature of masculinity and the role it played (and continues to play) in sexual 
dynamics. However, with Luke being a precursor to the figure of Nick (or, less charitably, with 
Nick being a stand-in for Luke), it is important to note that he, too, served as an animus figure 
for Offred. His nature as an animus projection differs from Nick?s, however, because it is 
effectively the projection of a different woman: the projection of Offred in the time before 
Gilead, rather than afterward. 
 Moira?s role as a kind of embodiment of faith is subordinate to her larger psychological 
role within the novel?that of Offred?s shadow. Despite the sound (and often, the unconscious 
appearance) of the shadow, it is important to remember that, as in previous chapters, the shadow 
is not a negative thing. At the outset of individuation, it serves two very important functions: the 
more common function is to serve as a kind of psychological overflow valve for an individual?s 
emotional extremes. In this sense, behind every level-headed person are fantasies of chaos and 
loss of control, even though these individuals are often not conscious of them. However, for 
individuation to truly occur, an individual must not only be aware of their shadow, but to 
confront it. Similar to the projections of anima and animus, this confrontation is meant to bring 
one into contact of their unconscious world, which is of the utmost necessity for any kind of 
individuation to occur. 
 How, then, might Moira serve as the shadow of Offred? After all, she is a person of flesh 
and blood, as opposed to a kind of fantasy of the mind, or a figure in a dream. However, within 
the context of Offred?s tale, she can be all of these things: the Tale is uniquely Offred?s, to the 
point that she embellishes characters into caricature, applies narratives where there are none, and 
so on. For readers, then, the flesh-and-blood Moira becomes indistinguishable from the fantasy 
of rebellion and chaos that exists in Offred?s mind. The very emphasis placed on Moira?s 
 
Snellgrove 168 
 
individualism and spirit implies Offred?s desire for actualization: as Jung points out, ?the shadow 
is a living part of the personality and therefore wants to live with it in some form. It cannot be 
argued out of existence or rationalized into harmlessness. This problem is exceedingly difficult,? 
not just for the challenges it poses to Offred?s idea of wholeness (forcing her into a recognition 
that, while she may think she can compose herself into a whole being, she remains fragmented 
and incomplete), but because it reminds her of her ?helplessness and ineffectuality? (Jung, 
Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious 20-21). On one hand, it would seem like such a 
revelation may not be of much concern to Offred, as she is already victim of a corrupt patriarchy 
that forces her into sexual slavery under threat of violent exile and/or death. However, 
acknowledging the shadow archetype means acknowledging that, to a large degree, even one?s 
fantasies are limited, because conscious fantasies are obviously limited by one?s conscious mind. 
Confronting Moira?s role as chaotic shadow within her own mind necessitates Offred 
acknowledging that even within the context of her story (full as it is of revisions, amended 
narratives, and dark witticism), she is still limited, and still longs for additional freedom. 
 A surface-level reading of The Handmaid?s Tale may result in the reader assuming that 
Moira is an idealized feminist character: while Offred certainly quibbles with her over the 
inability to truly exile one?s self from the world of men, the fascist patriarchy of Gilead seems to 
validate many of Moira?s claims. She is also possessed of undeniable energy and spirit, 
embodying rebellion and escape within flashbacks. Even when Offred is reunited with the flesh-
and-blood Moira (separate from the fantasy Moira in her mind, though to readers who are 
filtering these events through the narrative of Offred may find the figures indistinguishable) who 
has been integrated into the patriarchy, she seems possessed of special knowledge concerning 
figures such as The Commander, knowledge that seemingly gives her more agency, limited as it 
 
Snellgrove 169 
 
may be under the repressive patriarchy. With all of this in mind, the obvious question would be 
why Moira serves, then, as simply the shadow of Offred, considering that the shadow is often 
associated with ?the dark half of the personality? (Jung, Four Archetypes 124)? One relatively 
simple explanation is that the darkness and danger associated with the shadow archetype are 
obviously very relative terms: Jung speaks of the shadow as a figure ?whose dangerousness 
exceeds? the ?wildest dreams? of the individual, and that ?as soon as people get together in 
masses and submerge the individual, the shadow is mobilized, and, as history shows, may even 
be personified and incarnated? (Jung, Four Archetypes 147). Much of Jung?s psychological 
theories and philosophies are rooted in (then) contemporary culture; therefore, the shadow is 
associated with that which would make one an outlier in society: for instance, when the peaceful 
Thoreau imagines himself devouring a live woodchuck by the pond, he is embracing his shadow 
by embracing a chaotic wildness that has little place in the staid, civilized world of Concord. 
Through her use of dystopia, Atwood presents readers with a psychological conundrum that 
echoed many tenets of second wave feminism (including, through debate between Offred and her 
mother, clashes between second wave feminism and the movement that would solidify into third 
wave feminism12): within the oppressive patriarchy of Gilead, what, exactly, is danger?  
 In this case, Moira represents a kind of two-fold danger: one is obviously danger to 
Offred?s physical well-being. Offred clings to the hope that the ?bastards? will not grind her 
down, hope that is connected to the previous Handmaid who, in turn, Offred connects to Moira 
due to its playful rebelliousness. At the same time, however, there is the specter of the previous 
                                                           
12 The chief difference between these waves and their attendant ideologies are whether a woman 
is considered as object or subject: Offred?s mother clings to thoughts of male victimization and 
the isolation of women, whereas Offred and her husband present the notion that femininity and 
masculinity as selective concepts, freeing them from the binary paradigm of either/or. 
 
Snellgrove 170 
 
Handmaid?s unknown fate?she is very likely dead or exiled after having the same kind of 
dalliance with The Commander that Offred has. Therefore, to be more like Moira is to court 
death and destruction, because she represents a threat to the corrupt state itself. Jung points out 
that most people hold to the ?erroneous belief that under normal circumstances the individual is 
in perfect order. He then looks to the state for salvation, and makes society pay for his 
inefficiency?in this way his code of ethics is replaced by a  knowledge of what is permitted or 
forbidden or ordered? (Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious 268). Jung?s 
philosophy, often accused of its own patriarchal bias, perfectly describes Gilead, in which 
women are encouraged to look to the state for everything, even as they are made the subjects of 
male ire for what amounts to male shortcomings (as when women are forbidden from mentioning 
the likelihood of their Commander or other high-ranking men being infertile). However, Atwood 
uses this Jungian trope to explore what happens when males and females are separated to the 
extreme, effectively creating separate cultures along gender lines. Therefore, male culture and 
female culture within Gilead both view Moira as a kind of trickster figure, though they do so for 
very different reasons. 
 For men/masculine culture, Moira and the other women who must work at Jezebel?s 
effectively serve as an explication of the otherwise implicit desire that the Commander has 
regarding his unofficial relationship with Offred: to both access and celebrate aspects of the pre-
Gilead world that they helped to suppress. Jung writes that the trickster myth was ?preserved and 
developed? because ?it holds the earlier low intellectual and moral level before the eyes of the 
more highly developed individual, so that he shall not forget how things looked yesterday? 
(Jung, Four Archetypes 147). It is quickly apparent why male and female culture within Gilead 
view Moira very differently: for males, she functions as more of a traditional trickster figure 
 
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because they are proceeding with the assumption that Gilead is evidence of their moral and 
intellectual development. As such, Moira and the rest of the girls at Jezebel?s are a way for them 
to safely ?slum??to briefly descend into this lower world as a way of reassuring themselves of 
their high place on the new hierarchy of morality that they have helped to create. Obviously, this 
is not correct?their very need for psychological reassurance (along with the Commander?s 
desire to actualize beyond the limited fulfillment that Gilead has offered him, resulting in his 
anima projections onto Offred) signifies that they have not reached the ideal, actualized state that 
they have intended to create. In this sense, Moira is a false trickster figure to the men of this 
patriarchal world because, as Jung notes, the trickster figure is a specialized form of the shadow 
archetype, which in turn is most often associated with one?s own gender (in opposition to the 
anima and animus, which are obviously represented by the opposite of one?s gender). 
 Aside from sexual attraction, then, how does patriarchal Gilead view Moira? On the most 
basic level, she is a safe representation for the Helen stage of the phases of erotic development. 
In an ironic twist, Moira becomes part of a trinity of female figures that serve as a complement to 
the Holy Trinity that serves as part of Gilead?s allegedly Christian foundation. Wives and 
handmaids, primarily reduced to a reproductive role, loosely represent the Eve archetype for 
these men, representing the hope for fertility as well as a straightforward desire for these women 
to be the vessels through which Gilead may return to the biblical edict to ?be fruitful and 
multiply.? Moira and other women assigned to Jezebel?s allow men to safely project the Helen 
archetype onto other women. It should be noted that even this ?safe? projection signifies the 
dysfunctional nature of Gilead: ideally, Jung?s schematic for erotic development is intended to be 
an ongoing process by which an individual approaches actualization, with their perception of 
anima projections changing as their own minds change and mature. For obvious reasons, the 
 
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state of Gilead discourages such development, as it would serve as a de facto acknowledgement 
that the state they have so carefully crafted is, in fact, imperfect, and leaves its citizens 
psychologically fragmented, as evidenced by those like the Commander (and, by extension, all of 
the men visiting Jezebel?s) who long for the past. Even as it discourages such development, 
however, Gilead effectively perverts the cycle of erotic development in order to suit the purposes 
of the state: men are encouraged to view women through distinctive lenses as part of an ongoing 
cycle. They do not truly progress in their erotic development, then, as regression into the rituals 
of Gilead (such as the monthly attempt to impregnate a handmaiden, which forces them back to 
the beginning of their erotic development through the Eve archetype) eliminates any progress 
they may have made. Jezebel?s, then, is a safe outlet for the purely erotic desires of the men, as it 
gives them a steady supply of women to which they can apply the lust that would degrade their 
wives (in the sense that it would degrade the more spiritual union that seems to define marriage 
in the mostly sterile world of Gilead) and unfairly elevate handmaidens, allowing them to 
transcend being symbolic stand-ins for the wife and becoming their own distinct objects of lust. 
Obviously, this is not much of an elevation in the eyes of the reader, yet such lust comes 
dangerously close to affording a unique identity onto a group (the handmaids) that is designed to 
be ubiquitous and (as much as possibly) interchangeably anonymous.  
The men?s lust for women such as Moira, then, has the hint of danger that excites them, 
even as the very existence of the club is hidden from the public eye, insuring that such dalliances 
do not threaten the state-approved relationships between men and women. The apex of this 
female trinity, then, would be the Virgin Mary. Interestingly, the Virgin Mary is not directly 
referenced within the text, and yet her symbols permeate the book, as can be seen with the blue 
gowns of the wives. With the infertility of Gilead, sex has effectively left the marriage (insofar as 
 
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it represents sex between husband and wife), and so the wives have been elevated to be stand-ins 
for Mary. This approximation of Mary, along with the otherwise notable exclusion of her from 
the text, points to a very interesting phenomenon: as noted in previous chapters, Jung believes 
that the Catholic Church deliberately cultivated a kind of cult of Mary, perhaps evidenced most 
strongly by the Middle Ages and its emphasis on chivalric ideals which were based (in part) on 
the pity of Mary, which itself was emphasized by non-scriptural doctrines that arguably afforded 
her a kind of quasi-divinity. 13 According to Jung, this so-called Mariolatry was dangerous for 
two reasons: the most simple was that it halted the erotic development of man, effectively 
freezing this development in a place of spiritual and religious devotion (obviously considered by 
The Church to be an improvement over the emphasis of worldly love that is evocative of Jung?s 
Helen stage of development) and keeping him from reaching the final stage, Sophia, in which 
one accesses the wisdom of actualization that transcends spiritual and religious instruction 
(obviously a threat to a religion that considers itself the sole font of moral instruction and 
guidance for society). 
The other consequence of this worship of Mary was more tangible and horrific: he 
believes that Mary become an object of collective worship in place of actual, individual women, 
which subsequently triggered some of the infantile aspects of their mind (since their erotic 
energy was now being channeled into a mother figure),  
And since all unconscious contents, when activated by dissociated libido, are 
projected upon the external object, the devaluation of the real woman was 
                                                           
13 According to Philip Smith?s The History of the Christian Church, Mary historically functioned 
?as a female mediator, replacing in the minds of men and women the lost goddesses of 
heathenism? (295). Smith draws special attention to St. Bernard, who urged his ?hearers to 
venerate Mary with their inmost hearts and affections and prayers, because God ?has willed that 
we should have all things through Mary?? (298).  
 
Snellgrove 174 
 
compensated by daemonic features. She no longer appeared as an object of love, 
but as a persecutor or witch. The consequence of increasing Mariolatry was the 
witch hunt, that indelible blot on the later Middle Ages. (Jung, Psychological 
Types 344) 
This is perhaps the simplest explanation for why Jezebel?s continues to exist within the world of 
Gilead: while men are publicly encouraged to maintain the chaste love of their sexless marriages, 
Jezebel?s provides a way of channeling this dissociated erotic energy into something marginally 
less destructive than the witch hunts that Jung describes. However, as noted earlier, erotic 
development is meant to be a process, and by effectively ghettoizing each stage into a kind of 
worship of different women (handmaid/prostitute/wife), the therapeutic effects of erotic 
development are lessened. As such, while the outright witch hunts of the Middle Ages are not 
reproduced in Gilead, they are enacted in other ways. 
 Perhaps the most obvious way that such persecution is enacted comes in the chilling 
phrase ?unwomen.? The novel does not delve into too many specifics regarding this term, often 
leaving the fate of these women to the grim speculation of other characters. For instance, when 
mentioning the common knowledge that Unwomen are exiled to ?colonies,? Cora adds that they 
ultimately ?starve to death and Lord knows what all? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 10). Slow 
starvation may very well be worse than Moira?s speculation about women whose minds become 
too entrenched in the pre-Gilead past: she claims they will be denied even exile to the 
Colonies?rather, they will be shot inside the Chemistry Lab and left to ?burn?with the 
garbage, like an Unwoman? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 216). It seems that the only time 
that Offred and others are allowed direct study of these Unwomen is when they are watching 
edited documentaries in the RED center. In the documentaries that Lydia forces the women to 
 
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watch, Offred sees how Gilead views Unwomen: ?Godless? women who were previously given 
?government money? and yet were guilty of ?wasting time,? producing a few ideas that Gilead 
?would have to condone,? but not enough to redeem them from the charge of Godlessness. These 
videos omit ?what the Unwomen are saying? and yet preserve ?the screams and grunts and 
shrieks of what is supposed to be either extreme pain or extreme pleasure,? with this particular 
video being a recording of Offred?s mother and other protestors at a ?take back the night? rally.  
(Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 119). Finally?and most notable for this Jungian analysis?is 
that one of the rewards of successfully giving birth is that the handmaid will ?never be sent to the 
Colonies, she?ll never be declared Unwoman. That is her reward? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s 
Tale 127).  
 This ties into Jung?s writings concerning Mary (and the negative effects of the so-called 
worship of Mary) in a number of interesting ways. On the surface level, it would seem that 
Gilead?s actions regarding these Unwomen mirrors the medieval witch hunts, beginning with the 
great pains that are taken to paint them as Other, right down to their title: it is difficult for a 
woman to foster feelings of sisterhood and solidarity with someone who is thoroughly described 
as their own antithesis?not a woman, but an Unwoman. Also similar to the development of 
medieval witch hunts was the bitter irony that the persecuted women are presented as 
persecutors: as with the edited documentaries that Offred views, these Unwomen are presented 
as an attack on the religious values of Gilead, to the extent that even their good ideas (or at least, 
ideas that even Gilead would ?condone?) are, according to Aunt Lydia, perverted by their 
godlessness: ?we would have to condone some of their ideas, even today. Only some, mind you, 
she said coyly, raising her index finger, waggling it at us. But they were Godless, and that can 
 
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make all the difference, don?t you agree?? 14 However, Atwood?s description of Gilead does not 
follow this exact Jungian paradigm for a very simple reason: for all of its religious ferocity, the 
staggering anti-woman bias that forms the bedrock of Gilead keeps a true cult of Mary from 
forming, because any special emphasis on Mary herself would be dangerously close to elevating 
a woman (the mother of Jesus or no) above men. In Mary?s place are the wives of high-ranking 
officials such as The Commander, draped in the blue robes that symbolically reinforce their 
status as stand-ins for Mary. The natural question, then, is why these women do not present the 
same symbolic threat to male authority that Mary does? The simplest answer to this is that, as a 
kind of collective object, they are less threatening to Gilead than a single figure: it is not the 
women themselves that are elevated within society, but the station of ?wife.? Therefore, although 
Offred describes the Wives as holding ?positions of such power,? they are married in ?group 
weddings? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 203) that are meant to enhance the public perception 
of these women as trophies for their future husbands, who have performed well enough for the 
state (usually through combat) to be considered worthy enough to marry. Additionally, while the 
text is predominately negative towards her, the presentation of Serena Joy gives an indication of 
how much ?power? these wives actually wield: while able to bend rules more effectively than a 
Handmaid or a Martha, Serena must also obey or covertly circumvent the patriarchal conceits of 
Gilead, such as infertility always being the fault of the woman, rather than the man.  And despite 
the media pressure she helped exert in her former life to make the world of Gilead a reality, her 
role in it is presented as rote and dull, a prison of domesticity (as evidenced by copious amounts 
                                                           
14 While neither Aunt Lydia nor Atwood explicate what these ideas are, it likely serves as a 
further indication that the extreme measures taken by some second-wave feminists (such as 
burning offensive materials) are a precursor to the male extremism of Gilead 
 
Snellgrove 177 
 
of knitting) that even Offred later thinks may have resulted in making her ?numb,? so that 
?possibly she feels nothing, like one formerly scalded? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 203).  
 Rather than the worship of Mary, then, Gilead has a worship of marriage, which has been 
transformed into a collective celebration of masculine valor?appropriately enough to this 
patriarchal world, the worship of marriage has been transformed into a kind of worship of men. 
Accordingly, women are judged (both figuratively and literally) in relation to how well they 
conform to this model of womanhood, in which any measure of social power can only come 
through subservience to the ideals of Gilead, and to one?s husband. Anyone that deviates from 
this model is declared an Unwoman, subject to exile or death. What is interesting about this 
model, though, is the paradox at the center of it: the symbolic Woman that serves as the 
counterpoint to this idea of the Unwoman is, at its heart, the symbol of motherhood. However, 
this symbol, like many others, has been perverted by the world of Gilead, as motherhood is 
defined strictly within the dynamic of marriage, with actual mothers?in many cases, the 
Handmaids?being offered the consolation prize of simply not being shipped to the colonies: 
Offred describes Janine?s (seemingly the mother of a healthy child) fate, claiming that ?she'll 
never be sent to the Colonies, she'll never be declared Unwoman. That is her reward? (Atwood, 
The Handmaid?s Tale 127). This brief glimpse of biological motherhood seems to stand in 
deliberate juxtaposition to those who ultimately raise the children, such as Serena Joy. In fact, 
Offred remembers being disappointed when she first meets Serena, because Offred longs for ?a 
motherly figure, someone who would understand and protect me? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s 
Tale 16). Serena obviously has little empathy for Offred outside of her reproductive use, as 
Offred sees her as part of the repressive system that has separated her from her daughter: upon 
looking at the long-hidden photographic evidence of her child?s survival, Offred is stung by the 
 
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realization that, to her daughter, Offred has become ?a shadow of a shadow, as dead mothers 
become. You can see it in her eyes: I am not there? (Atwood, The Handmaid?s Tale 228). 
 While deliberately evoking the atmosphere of the witch-hunt in her development of 
Gilead, Atwood also manages to point out that by transforming a negative image (in this case, 
Serena and women like her) into an idealized image, Gilead essentially forces women to become 
monstrous in order to avoid enslavement, exile, and/or death at the hands of the violent 
patriarchy. In this way, Gilead continues to evolve its collective notion of the anima, which is a 
transition that Jung noted began in the Middle Ages: he writes that ?to the men of antiquity the 
anima appeared as a goddess or a witch, while for medieval man the goddess was replaced by the 
Queen of Heaven and Mother Church,? something that he felt led to ?a sharpening of the moral 
conflict? which led to the aforementioned witch hunts (Jung, The Archetypes and Collective 
Unconscious 29).. Gilead now has replaced ?Mother Church? with its own notion of Mother, 
with many disturbing parallels to Jung?s description of the age of antiquity versus the Middle 
Ages. Just as the (mostly) benign image of the goddess/witch anima was transformed into an 
object of persecution in favor of the Queen of Heaven, the Middle Ages collective anima of the 
Queen of Heaven has, within Gilead, been identified as a threat to their system of patriarchal 
control. This image is transformed, rather than destroyed entirely, which provides a unique 
variation on the ?sharpening of the moral conflict? within the text, as morality been centered on 
the notion of opposition to their collective idea of the Unwoman, and society restructured 
accordingly. As detailed earlier, while actualization is difficult for women due to the absurd 
restrictions of Gilead?s patriarchal government, it is nearly impossible for men because they have 
transformed all of society into a reflection of their own psychology. They are denied the positive 
effects of projecting their anima and undergoing erotic development because they have already 
 
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arbitrarily assigned different women different roles within society. In short, the women are 
reflections of the men, and any attempt the men make to access their unconscious minds simply 
results in further delving into the carefully artificial conscious life they have made for 
themselves. Offred inadvertently touches on this subject when she notes that her self is now a 
thing that must be composed: what the patriarchy of Gilead wants is unnatural, and so women 
who are trying to integrate themselves into that society to varying degrees (or simply avoid exile 
and extermination) must artificially compose themselves into a proper mask to reflect male 
values, which jeopardizes the possibilities of actualization for all involved. 
 In many ways, the failure of Atwood?s characters to self-actualize reflects the nature of 
the work itself. As with the debate between Moira and Offred concerning the role or necessity of 
men to the happiness/prosperity of women, providing a clear-cut example or a simple answer is 
not Atwood?s intent. Rather, she points to the need for debate on the subject by creating debate 
on the subject, focusing on two equally competing, equally compelling views. In some ways, this 
shields her from the potential criticism of such an actualization: the critics who already condemn 
Offred?s affair with Nick (for its heteronormative implication that happiness and fulfillment can 
only come through a woman?s relationship with a man) would suddenly be validated if Atwood 
presented Offred as a woman made psychologically whole by her union with Nick (or, perhaps, a 
reunion with Luke). However, a large part of what the text is arguing concerns the impossibility 
of actualization in such a world. As much as readers identify and sympathize with Offred, the 
character?s actualization would hurt the larger themes concerning the evils of patriarchy and 
repression of women by implying, with na?ve hope and idealism, that any source (be it internal or 
external) could psychologically save characters from such systematic oppression. In fact, 
Atwood goes out of her way to detail the idea of psychological confinement, and the ambiguous 
 
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nature of the ending hints, if nothing else, at the idea that physical escape (or even simply the 
hope of physical escape) is not enough to save one from such systematic oppression. This 
psychological focus also allows her to underscore the patriarchy?s inability to actualize due to 
their own oppression; that they have created a nation focused fanatically on the creation of life, 
and in doing so, have removed any higher meaning of life, arbitrarily categorizing themselves 
just as they have arbitrarily categorized women. 
 In Jungian terms, this obsession with hierarchy represents an obsession with consciously 
controlling nearly all aspects of human life. In addition to the troublingly fascist government 
they create, the focus on conscious action removes them further and further from the world of the 
unconscious. This removal has a variety of negative effects, as it keeps them from beginning 
their journey towards actualization, frustrating their enjoyment of the very world they have 
created (as with The Commander, who still finds the need for a pantomime of parity regarding 
women like Offred in order to enjoy his prominent position within Gilead). Both the notion of 
the Unwoman and their execution and exile are products of an incomplete erotic development, 
resulting in a more modern equivalent of the medieval witch hunt. As previously stated, this 
erotic development is further harmed by the fact that the patriarchy of Gilead essentially forces 
women to be a mirror of men in terms of values, expectations, and goals. Such mirroring serves 
as a further parody of Jungian actualization, in which the projection of one?s anima is intended to 
be a way for a person  
 As with Toni Morrison?s Sula, part of the raw, distressing power of Atwood?s text is her 
portrayal of a world in which self-actualization is nearly impossible. In each text, a powerful 
cultural hegemony has created a violent, self-serving system that serves to entrap the mind as 
readily as it entraps the body. Therefore, even the possibility of the ?happy? ending for Offred?
 
Snellgrove 181 
 
one where Nick has successfully smuggled her to freedom?leaves little room for actualization, 
as her story is not only told through a filter of performance (just as she willingly composes her 
self for The Commander, she artificially reconstructs large sections of her tale for those who find 
it), which later has a narrative imposed upon it by patriarchal academic forces. The cynical 
conclusion would be that her world is a continuum of patriarchal control, and that Moira was 
right, after all: men are a virus, and the only hope for happiness and prosperity is for women to 
quarantine themselves away. However, I do not believe that this is the message Atwood wished 
for her readers to take away from the text: rather, the cautionary nature of the text ensures that 
Offred?s own fate must remain unknown. Put simply, her uncertain future mirrors the uncertain 
future of the world. However, Atwood leaves hope for her readers, as they still have a chance to 
prevent their world from falling prey to the extremist attitudes that allowed Gilead to gain such a 
foothold. Just as Offred incorporated the fiery independence of Moira into the feminist voices 
that showed her an alternative way of viewing the world, Atwood?s readers can now incorporate 
Offred and Moira both, as they strive towards the ideal of Jungian actualization: being able to 
embody a multitude of voices and perspectives, rather than performing a single identity. 
 As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, it is notable that Atwood considers herself 
a Jungian, and that she finds the Jungian approach so viable within the 21st-century. A large part 
of this notability comes from the fact that the feminist Atwood, obviously aware of the historic 
and potential evils of patriarchal government, nonetheless sees the patriarchal Jung as a valuable 
lens through which to analyze literature and culture. Fortunately for critics, Jung?s voice and 
ideas are capable of transcending his limits as an individual, and have already been carried into 
the 21st-century in a number of intriguing ways. I believe this is primarily due to his focus on the 
symbolic significance of archetypes?while other psychologists burrowed deep into the world of 
 
Snellgrove 182 
 
the unconscious, Jung focused on the kind of psychological torch lights we leave as a culture, 
lights intended to help guide those following them into a world of actualization. In The 
Handmaid?s Tale, Atwood explores how one of the more insidious acts of brainwashing 
undertaken by Gilead is the perversion of such archetypal totems: the Bible, of course, is altered 
and edited, with Old Testament verses given as scriptural evidence for how the modern world 
should model itself. The implication is that the age of the inspirational text gives it wisdom and 
authority, an implication that Gilead perverts for its own purposes. Jung?s focus on archetypes 
and projections, then, is invaluable for helping to illustrate how Gilead?s culture is 
psychologically destructive for all involved. Obviously, the enslaved women are placed more 
regularly in both physical and psychological distress (it is nearly impossible to actualize and shed 
one?s persona when the persona is literally forced upon the woman by the government) than 
men, but The Commander provides evidence that even the slavers have separated themselves 
from their unconscious world. Therefore, the same men who felt that sex and love had been 
cheapened by its commoditization in the pre-Gilead world effectively shaped a world of similar 
sexual economy. Commanders and Angels have more agency and station than Marthas and 
Handmaidens, but they, too, are permanently performing persona, and those who step outside the 
boundaries of that persona (be it The Commander or Nick) may be summarily executed.  
However, the Jungian notion of actualization also helps to model a more mediated world. After 
all, one should not have to choose between a world of violent victimization (as with the pre-
Gilead world) or sterile slavery (as with the post-Gilead world); there are alternatives to how 
nations can (and perhaps should be) structured, just as there are alternatives to the structure of 
the mind. Offred may never have stopped performing, but she made the story her own, and was 
able to construct a self other than the one that Gilead intended to create. She may not have 
 
Snellgrove 183 
 
modeled perfect actualization, but serves instead as a model for seeking the unconscious world. 
By plumbing the depths of history, her prison, and even her own mind, she helps to illustrate that 
the future is not a monolithic entity created by external forces, but something dynamic that only 
the individual mind can generate from within. 
 
 
Snellgrove 184 
 
Conclusion 
 While Jungian philosophy is certainly not the first thing one is likely to think of when 
they imagine critical tools for feminist analysis and deconstruction, it is my belief that Jungian 
and post-Jungian approaches offer a versatile way to approach woman writers while mediating 
many of the struggles surrounding modern feminism. His focus on the maternal aspects of 
human beings (males included) helps to provide a necessary counterpoint to the legacies of Freud 
and even of Lacan, offering universal archetypes while respecting the differences between men 
and women. And, perhaps ironically, Jung?s own ideas have become one of the best tools with 
which to deconstruct the qualities within Jung that feminists have often taken offense at, 
including essentialism, misogyny, and racism. How so? According to Susan Rowland, ?the 
deconstructive strand in Jung's work enables a feminist critique of its sexist essentialism and 
logocentric pronouncements" (107); she traces this to Jung?s habit (frustrating to some) of often 
focusing on his own experiences, rather than on universal ones?what an archetype meant to 
Jung at an exact moment in time does not necessarily represent what it will look like to another 
person and a different moment in time. This opens the door for Jungian interpretation in many 
ways, as Jung?s own aforementioned limitations can be ascribed to the limits of personal 
experience and interpretation; at the same time, the ability to focus on individual interpretation of 
archetypes and actualizations helps to further open Jung?s works to the world of postmodern 
analysis and deconstruction, along with George Jensen. 
One inspiration for post-Jungian approaches has been George Jensen?s Identities Across 
Texts, a book in which he, too, seeks to reinvent and revise Jung for a 21st-century audience. I 
find Jensen?s claims bold, but some cannot yet be proven?for instance, he claims that  
 
Snellgrove 185 
 
If we view the anima and animus as a reaction to culture, that is, to culturally 
imposed gender roles, we find that they operate within that particular power 
structure. Contrary to Jung, I have argued that the anima and animus should not 
be viewed as archetypes, that is, as transcultural. They may appear to be 
archetypal only because patriarchy is so widespread. Once, however, we begin to 
look for the effects of culture and history, we find it. (Jensen 119) 
To some extent, my own work echoes this: certainly the use (and abuse) of the anima and animus 
in Atwood?s Gilead is in reaction to the imposition of gender roles, and the power dynamics in 
Morrison?s Beloved are driven in large part by perceived gender roles, and the interactions (or 
lack thereof) with the anima/animus. However, as Jensen himself notes, patriarchy is pervasive 
and ?widespread,? and it is quite difficult to specify how, exactly, Jungian philosophy will differ 
in a less patriarchal world.  
 What I am more in agreement with Jensen about is Jung?s viability for postmodern 
critics: Jensen claims that  
Jung's model of the psyche . . . could be described as postmodern, a view of the 
self that recognizes diversity and difference rather than unity and coherence . . . . 
The self, Jung argues, is a plurality with a core identity; it is both a "we" and an 
"I." But Jung's work is not often read in this way.  (2) 
Achieving actualization, then, becomes less a matter of achieving a kind of static wholeness, and 
more a matter of achieving a constantly dynamic state?of being able to be all aspects of one?s 
self simultaneously. This mode of actualization has helped guide my research into the characters 
created by Woolf, Morrison, and Atwood. 
 
Snellgrove 186 
 
  As elaborated on in the intro and subsequent chapters, Jung himself was philosophically 
limited. While speaking of a quest for actualization that is universal, and while offering a focus 
on maternal aspects in the face of Freud?s overwhelming patriarchy, the blunt truth is that Jung 
was racist, patriarchal, and likely misogynist. However, over half a century since his death in 
1961, critics and academics have continued to expand upon his philosophies, breathing new life 
into them and discovering new ways of perceiving existing literature, with the aforementioned 
Rowland offering the means by which Jungian theory can help deconstruct Jung himself. In fact, 
Jung?s philosophies (and the modifications to those philosophies made by later writers) has 
helped make Jung the ideal bridge between Modernist, contemporary, and postmodernist texts: 
while he serves well as a means of analyzing Modernist literature and its aforementioned search 
for greater meaning, the postmodern world?in which comprehensive systems of meaning have 
been rejected entirely?is an arena in which Jung shines, as the journey to self-actualization 
becomes a highly personal, highly subjective quest: one does not become complete according to 
an outside metric, but rather, as it is so wonderfully written by Morrison, realizing that we are all 
our own ?best thing.? Put another way, Jungian philosophy allows enough subjective 
interpretation as part of its archetypes and actualization that the subjectivity and relativity at the 
heart of postmodernism benefits (rather than hinders) the enterprise of Jungian analysis. 
 How, though, can Jung help shape the future of feminism? To begin with, Jungian 
philosophy offers a way of mediating second and third-wave feminism. Through the 
understanding and analysis of archetypes, the oft-criticized notion of universal 
femininity/womanhood that is part of second-wave feminism takes on a new life: as mentioned 
above, while the archetypes are universal (including maternal archetypes, and archetypes 
highlighting man?s relationship with woman), the effect they have on the individual (as well as 
 
Snellgrove 187 
 
whether or not they are of any help with the actualization of the individual) is highly subjective 
to each person. Additionally, Jungian philosophy is in line with second-wave feminism 
concerning the equality of women: while patriarchal himself, Jung emphasized the danger of 
men losing touch with the feminine side of themselves, and valued access to that feminine aspect 
as a way of accessing the unconscious and, therefore, actualizing one?s self. Third-wave 
feminism, with its attendant post-structuralism, also benefits from Jungian philosophy: while the 
refutation of binary constructions would seem antithetical to Jungian thought, an understanding 
of the larger world?s reliance on such binary structures as a way of creating and reinforcing 
power can be invaluable for those seeking to undo that power. This interpretative versatility on 
the part of Jungian philosophy helps to underscore its utility as a means of understanding power 
as well, as even those who reject his notions of transcendent actualization have seen the value in 
understanding the totems of modern cultural mythology.  Jung, then, treads a thin line for post-
structuralist feminism: while Audre Lorde famously noted that ?the master?s tools will never 
dismantle the master?s house,? Jung provides a way of not only better understanding the master?s 
house (as detailed in my chapter on Atwood, Jungian analysis can be quite fruitful in 
understanding repressive patriarchal forces), but the subjective nature his philosophy has 
undertaken via modern critics and writers allows for a formation of newer tools to perform such 
dismantling.  
 On a broader level, Jungian philosophy offers a way for modern feminism to once more 
become a tool for vital social transformation. Jung?s role as both interpreter and weaver of myths 
helps his philosophy serve in such a function, for while modern feminism often seems confined 
to the academy (arguably a side effect of the relative success of second-wave feminism?much 
of what they campaigned for has become ingrained into the public consciousness, to the point 
 
Snellgrove 188 
 
that many mistakenly believe it is no longer an important issue), Jung?s focus on the symbolic 
significance of archetypes helps his philosophy to extend beyond the academic world, as when 
Joseph Campbell?s Hero With a Thousand Faces (very much inspired by Jungian thought) 
helped critics and lay audiences alike appreciate tales ranging from The Odyssey to Star Wars. 
Accordingly, a modern focus on the use and abuse of archetypes within patriarchal culture can 
help to not only dismantle that culture, but to begin the long road towards a kind of collective 
actualization. In many ways, the focus on individual transformation helps underscore Jungian 
philosophy?s potential for social transformation, combining elements from different feminist 
philosophies while combining them into something new entirely. For instance, it acknowledges 
the biological and mental differences between men and women, which is one of the chief 
concerns raised by Audre Lorde. At the same time, Jung?s philosophy emphasizes the necessity 
of cooperation between the masculine and feminine elements of society: power imbalances occur 
when individuals have neglected part of themselves. However, by focusing on individual 
transformation and each person?s subjective journey towards self-actualization, Jungian 
philosophy offers modern feminism a foot in the door of almost all forms of social, cultural, and 
religious change. All of these aspects are fueled by modern/postmodern psychology, and by 
better understanding those psychological drives and urges, a better future for women and 
feminism can be both created and cultivated. 
 Regarding the three authors I have chosen to analyze in these chapters, I maintain that 
Jungian discourse offers a vital glimpse into aspects of the writers and their writing that has 
never before been seen. In some ways, the disparate nature of the writers helps to highlight the 
universality and potentiality of Jungian philosophy: his philosophies are just as useful in 
outlining the struggle for feminine equality amid the otherwise well-off and influential (as with 
 
Snellgrove 189 
 
Virginia Woolf) as they are in mediating the role of race and patriarchy in the brutal world of 
Toni Morison?s Beloved. Finally, the nightmarish alternate world presented by Atwood 
highlights the potentially dire social consequences when individuals deny their unconscious life 
and seek to consciously create the world in their own image. Through Jung, we are able to better 
grasp the universal elements that tie these disparate authors together while respecting the distinct 
cultural and social reality that each character inhabits. It is, after all, no great surprise that 
Orlando is the only one of these characters to achieve self-actualization, being possessed of great 
wealth, status, and independence. Sethe and Offred, while facing a very different set of 
challenges, are unable to achieve that actualization due to the pervasive racism and/or patriarchy 
of the world around them, and each seeks what amounts to a temporary escape from this 
oppression (Sethe retreats into the past via rememories, while Offred reshapes the past via her 
journal) rather than the lasting escape of actualization. 
 A casual observer might consider this a failure of Jungian philosophy: what is the use of 
psychological transcendence if it is unable to save these characters? However, the answer to this 
is quite simple. Simply put, Sethe and Offred are unwilling to fully embrace their unconscious 
life. Sethe is tethered to the blood and sadness of her past via her so-called ?thick love? whereas 
Offred trades one persona for another?and while she arguably possesses more agency in the tale 
she composes rather than the reality she lived, it is still a conscious performs, rather than an 
unconscious truth. What, exactly, an actualized Sethe and/or Offred might have entailed is a 
subject more suited for speculation than serious discussion: presumably, Sethe would have 
emerged with the strength of Denver rather than a frail unwillingness to face reality, and Offred 
would be shown to have definitively escaped Gilead so that she could (re)discover who they are. 
However, I feel that both Morrison and Atwood were highlighting the tragedy of their respective 
 
Snellgrove 190 
 
worlds?that there was a psychological toll as well as a physical one for those who have 
survived the pervasive trauma. Their lack of actualization does not negate the utility of Jungian 
analysis; rather, it highlights it, as differing interpretations of universal archetypes on the part of 
oppressor and oppressed alike can be more thoroughly explored.  
 As such, an actualized state can be viewed almost as a separate structure (hinted at with 
the emphasis in Atwood?s text of the need to compose the self). Our role as critical Jungian 
readers, then, is to look at the shards that remain of shattered attempts at actualization and to 
better paint a picture of what that actualization looked like. This makes Jungian theory doubly 
interesting for such analysis because it involves both deconstruction and a kind of reconstruction, 
something that is explored in my chapter on Morrison?s Beloved, as that texts shows the need to 
not only de-colonize the minds of those affected by slavery, but to re-colonize them as a move 
towards an individually-defined sense of wholeness and actualization. That these characters did 
not achieve actualization is less important than determining why they failed?what it says about 
the characters and the cultures they inhabit. It is notable that each of my three chosen authors 
have created a world that echoes speculative fiction: Woolf?s Orlando, of course, highlights 
Orlando?s ability to jump through time and to change gender at will. Morrison?s Beloved, while 
grounded in brutal reality (especially concerning an escaped slave killing her child to avoid his 
enslavement), nevertheless focuses heavily on supernatural elements, ranging from the malicious 
specter of Beloved to her reanimated body. Atwood?s text is arguably the most ?realistic? in the 
sense that nothing supernatural occurs, nor do any characters possess extraordinary abilities; 
however, the story itself is posed as a ?what if? based on the state of patriarchal repression that 
exists throughout the world, meaning that while Atwood may possess the most ?realistic? of 
these three texts, it is also the most speculative. 
 
Snellgrove 191 
 
 What is significant, then, regarding the status of their fiction as speculative? At bare 
minimum, speculative fiction often invites the Jungian analytical lens due to the highly personal 
use of symbols and archetypes within each text: it is impossible to look at, for instance, the 
supernatural haunting at the heart of the otherwise quite realistic Beloved and not wonder what it 
says about these characters and their community, as well as how such a haunting interacts with 
Morrison?s notion of ?re-memory.? Jungian analysis allows us to not only analyze these 
characters and their quest for wholeness, but to look at the historic use of such archetypes 
(Beloved herself invites discussion concerning the ancient archetype of the Trickster), as well as 
the unique interpretation of the individual author. The speculative nature of these works allows 
for explications of certain archetypes (the anima coming to life, for instance, or even collective 
denial of the anima in the case of Gilead) that might not otherwise be possible. Such fiction also 
befits the more deconstructive, post-Jungian view, as actualized wholeness is largely defined by 
each character, often unconsciously. As critics reading these texts from a Jungian perspective, we 
are afforded a unique opportunity to compare these worlds to our own, and to draw conclusions 
regarding the author?s purpose from how these worlds deviate from our own. 
 In many ways, Jung is alive and well in 2012, though sometimes in unexpected areas. 
The cinema, for instance, seems to be constantly featuring a bevy of superheroes, revisions of 
fairy tales, and movies featuring supernatural protagonists and antagonists. In each of these 
movies, archetypes feature quite heavily?which is not much of a surprise, as Jung himself noted 
the use of archetypes in classic fairytales, and later Jungians such as Atwood noted how such 
structures are part of the typical superhero tale as well. What is, perhaps, surprising is the sheer 
hunger that the public has for such movies: the readiness with which they embrace movies such 
as The Dark Knight, which uses heroes and villains as a means of exploring topics ranging from 
 
Snellgrove 192 
 
America?s Patriot Act to the symbolic opposition of order and chaos. As such characters become 
internalized as part of the world?s collective consciousness, the discovery and analysis of 
archetypes becomes more important than ever before in the pursuit of one?s self-actualization. 
The nature of the movies helps point towards that need as well: invariably, they are tales in 
which good triumphs over evil, peace replaces strife and conflict, and so on. Jungian analysis 
helps, as ever, to determine how such figures function as symbolic guides to the unconscious 
mind of a person?how the journey to fulfilling actualization actually begins with an exploration 
of what the individual feels they lack, qualities for which the protagonists of these movies often 
serves a compensating function (someone that feels powerless, for instance, is naturally drawn to 
Batman, who possesses both economic and physical strength). 
Outside of the spheres of popular culture, Jungian feminism continues to thrive: recent 
research led by Jerry Aldridge has identified Jungian elements in 19th-century feminist figures 
such as Margaret Fuller; Ann Wan-lih Chang discovered that Jung?s unique approach allowed 
for an exploration of a uniquely female quest for individuation in the Marilyn McLaughlin tale 
?Witchwoman;? Nora Stovel explores the Jungian influence of Jung?s feminine archetypes in 
Carol Shields? Unless, noting the importance of Jung in the intersection between explicit 
feminism and intense postmodernism (51); Marek Oziewicz presented Jungian analysis of Ursula 
K. Le Guin?s revolutionary writing; in Michelle Stephens? ?What Is This Black in Black 
Diaspora?,? she analyzes Frantz Fanon?s Black Skin, White Masks, pointing out that the latter?s 
use of Jung?s collective unconscious illustrates that ?blackness ? is an  intercultural product of a 
New World modernity shared by blacks, whites, and others who find themselves interpellated 
within colonial racial structures (such as East Indians in Trinidad, for example, or South and East 
Asians in the United States)? (32). 
 
Snellgrove 193 
 
What does this mean for the future of Jungian analysis? It remains a vital way to not only 
take the pulse of the public consciousness, but to offer an analysis of that consciousness as well. 
Jung has transitioned well from the world of modernism to the world of post-modernism, and 
will continue to thrive in the future as well. The archetypes he describes are not going anywhere, 
though each generation may re-imagine and re-interpret them in a new way. As such, Jung is the 
bridge connecting past, present, and even future worlds of literature, a bridge that must still be 
traveled if one wishes to unravel the secrets of the unconscious mind behind the symbols and 
archetypes that comprise every story and pervade every culture. 
 
Snellgrove 194 
 
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