An archetypal analysis of Angela Carter’s “The Werewolf” and Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Wife’s Story”

Yıl 2023, Sayı: 34, 1217 - 1226, 22.06.2023

Esra Ünlü Çimen

https://doi.org/10.29000/rumelide.1316374

Öz

In literary studies, archetypes, as recurring motifs in literature or mythological narrations, are generally addressed by Jungian analysts to find out the meanings and representations which comprise the “collective unconscious” of a certain culture. The wolf as an archetype often appears in literary works as a symbol of violence. In Angela Carter’s “The Werewolf” (1979), generally regarded as a rewriting of the fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood” from a feminist perspective, a little girl meets a wolf in the forest which turns out to be her grandmother who, in the end, becomes the victim of the child, through which this study argues that the story blurs the boundary between the dichotomies of innocence/experience and good/evil. Ursula K. Le Guin, in “The Wife’s Story” (1982), portrays a society in which humans are marginalized and eliminated by wolves. Like Carter, Le Guin does not depict the wolf as a ferocious animal. The study puts forth that due to its close connection with nature, the wolf acquires positive qualities compared to humans, putting into question the binary oppositions of man/animal, culture/nature. Although both stories attribute the wolf a new, positive identity and incorporate archetypal meanings and symbols related to the “werewolf” motif, these meanings and symbols have not been focused on in earlier studies. Therefore, this study aims to offer a Jungian archetypal analysis of both stories to find out how the dichotomies of innocence/experience, good/evil, man/animal and culture/nature are blurred with the new meanings they attribute to the wolf image.

Anahtar Kelimeler

archetypes, the wolves, the werewolves, “The Werewolf”, “The Wife’s Story”

Kaynakça

• Abbasoğlu, A. & Alban, G. M. E. (2018). Angela Carter’s deconstruction of traditional tales. International journal of media culture and literature. 4 (1). 7-24.
• Abrams, M.H. and Harpham, G. G. (2015). A glossary of literary terms. 11th ed. Cengage Learning.
• Atashi, L. & Bakshandeh, M. A. (2018). Little red riding hood in sheep’s clothing: a psychoanalytic reading of Angela Carter’s The Werewolf. Fabula. 59 (3-4). 295-309. https://doi.org/10.1515/fabula-2018-0105
• Beresford, M. (2013). The white devil: the werewolf in European culture. Reaktion Books.
• Bettelheim, B. (1976). Little red riding hood. The uses of enchantment: the meaning and importance of fairy tales. 3rd Print. Knopf. 166-83.
• Carter, A. (2006). The Werewolf. The bloody chamber. Vintage. 126-128.
• Darr, O. A. (2009). The devil’s mark: a socio-cultural analysis of physical evidence. Continuity and change. 24(2). 361-387. DOI: 10.1017/S0268416009007218
• Estés, C. P. (1995). Women who run with the wolves: Myths and stories of the wild woman archetype. Ballantine Books.
• Fetscher, I. (1984). Little redhead and the wolf. The trials and tribulations of little red riding hood: versions of the tale in sociocultural context. 2nd Print. Ed. Jack Zipes. Bergin and Garvery. 233-7.
• Fordham, F. (1966). An introduction to Jung’s psychology. 3rd ed. Penguin. 47-68.
• Franck, K. (2016). The development of the literary werewolf: language, subjectivity and animal/human boundaries. PhD Dissertation. Hertfordshire University.
• Ikoma, N. (2015). Wolves and witches: sexual outcasts in Angela Carter’s fairy tales. Invited Papers: 2015 CGS Symposium. Fairy Tales, Their Legacy and Transformation: Gender, Sexuality and Comparative Literature. 9-26. https://subsite.icu.ac.jp/cgs/docs/ikoma.pdf
• Jung, C. G. (1973). Four archetypes: Mother, rebirth, spirit, trickster. Trans. by R. F. C. Hull. 3rd print. Princeton University Press.
• Jung, C. G. (1980). Archetypes and the collective unconscious. the collected works of C. G. Jung. Bollingen Series XX. 2nd ed. Vol. 9. Trans. and Ed. Gerhard Adler and R. F. C. Hull. Princeton University Press.
• Klonowska, B. (2005). Contemporary fairy tales: Angela Carter’s the werewolf. Seria Filologiczna Studia Anglica Resoviensia. https://www.ur.edu.pl/files/ur/import/Import/2012/5/sar_v3_13.pdf
• Lau, K. J. (2008). Erotic infidelities: Angela Carter’s wolf trilogy. Marvels & tales. 22 (1). 77-94. Jstor. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41388860
• Le Guin, U. K. (1975). The child and the shadow. The quarterly journal of the library of congress. 32 (2), 139-48. Jstor. https://www.jstor.org/stable/29781619
• Le Guin, U. K. (1983). The wife’s story. The compass rose: a new volume of stories. Victor Gollancz. 245-9.
• Le Guin, U. K. (1990). Introduction. Buffalo gals and other animal presences. Roc. 9-14
• Levack, B. P. (2006). The witch-hunt in early modern Europe. 3rd ed. Pearson.
• O’Donnell, E. (1914). Werwolves. Small Maynard and Company.
• Payne, T. L. (2007). Dark brothers and shadow souls: Ursula K. Le Guin’s animal ‘fables’. What are the animals to us: approaches from science, religion, folklore, literature, and art. Ed. by Dave Aftandilian. Tennessee University Press. 169-79.
• Scholtmeijer, M. (2006). The power of otherness: animals in women’s fiction. Animals & women: feminist theoretical explorations. Ed. Carol J. Adams and Josephine Donovan. 3rd print. Duke University Press. 231-263.
• Shelby, S. (2014). Tracking the wild woman archetype. a process in individuation. Phd Dissertation. Pacifica Graduate Institute. 2014. ProQuest.
• Simpson, H. (2006). Introduction. The bloody chamber and other stories. Vintage. vii-xix.
• Snowden, R. (2010). Jung the key ideas. Hachette UK.
• Ünlü, E. (2017). Giriş. The Witch, The Witch of Edmonton, Vinegar Tom ve Byrthrite oyunlarında cadı imgesinin feminist analizi. Unpublished MA Thesis. Ankara: Ankara University. 7-24. https://tez.yok.gov.tr/UlusalTezMerkezi/tezDetay.jsp?id=A2Z94pTmL0bqtgJ-Faj2ww&no=k63NCO8RDwlAS11lOy-lXA
• von Franz, M. L. (1993). The feminine in fairy tales. Shambhala.
• Yang, K. Ya-Chu. (2018). Angela Carter’s postmodern wolf tales. Ecofeminism in dialogue. Eds. Dougles A. Vakoch and Sam Mickey. Lexington Books. 61-74.