The Unconscious Heroe Essay -- Literary Analysis, Bram Stoker

Bram Stokers Dracula is a tale that sets its characters on a path of psychological turmoil and princely satisfaction. The supernatural nature of the lamia as well as its seemingly human form allows i to analyze these characters as being archetypes of the in the flesh(predicate) unconscious for the human characters confronting them, oddly the fanny and the anima/animus as postulated by Carl Jung in his textual matter Aion. moreover the purely human characters that encounter these vampires, and thus their own unconscious, by doing so become themselves a hero archetype within their personal narrative as postulated by Joseph Campbell in his text The Hero with a Thousand Faces. This is made evident when comparing Jonathan Harkers first self-motivated resistance with Dracula in his sleeping chambers, in which Jonathan cannot vanquish the creature, with the episode in which Arthur Holm timber is successful in destroying the vampire Lucy Westerna. This essay will demonstrate how the interactions in the midst of human and vampire in the novel represent a heroic struggle between a person and their personal unconscious.Carl Jung deposits He must(prenominal) be convinced that he throws a very long shadow before he is willing to withdraw his emotionally-t cardinald projections from their object. (Jung 7) This sentence best describes the state of Jonathan Harker when he first goes to confront Dracula. Dracula is a projection of Jonathans shadow and gains power over him because of Jonathans ignorance to his own unconscious mind. The text demonstrates that Dracula is a psychological projection and at that placefore not palpable through the use of dehumanizing imagery such as referring to him as repellent leech (Stoker 83) and as such a monster. (84). Jung also notes that examining the ... ...on when describing the plunging of the stake into Lucys heart, it proceeds to explain how her body shook and quivered and twisted in around the bend contortions (254) and d escribing Arthur driving deeper and deeper the mercy-bearing stake. (254) This jibe serves as a metaphor for male self-assurance as can be seen when considering Freuds notion that subconscious images of wood and sticks represent the phallus in the subconscious. If one continues to follow this reasoning this scene can be perceived as Arthur vanquishing the taboo Lucy with his mighty penis, there by restoring the balance in the universe with man on top. Furthermore, if one considers the phallic imagery used, this scene can be interpreted as the consummation of the engagement between Arthur and Lucy, further establishing Arthurs dominance, as in the Victorian age the husband was the master of the wife.