This presentation was given as the semester-end presentation on 'the Persona and Shadow Archetype' for the paper 'Indian And Western Criticism 109' in the M.A. English Semester 2

1. Persona and Shadow
Archetypes
Prepared by Ghanshyam Katariya

2. Introduction
Name: Ghanshyam Katariya
Roll No:07
Paper No: 109
Paper Name: Indian And Western Criticism
Topic: Persona and Shadow Archetypes
Submitted At: Smt. S. B. Gardi. Department of English
Email ID: gkatariya67@gmail.com

3. Table of Content
Archetypal
Criticism
Persona
and
Shadow
Dr Jekyll
and
Mr Hyde
Fight Club Conclusion

4. ● In literary criticism the term archetype denotes recurrent narrative designs, patterns of
action, character-types, themes, and images which are identifiable in a wide variety of
works of literature, as well as in myths, dreams, and even social rituals. (Abrams)
● The literary theory of the archetype was the treatment of myth by a group of
comparative anthropologists at Cambridge University, especially James G. Frazer, whose
The Golden Bough (1890-1915) identified elemental patterns of myth and ritual,
psychology of Carl G. Jung (1875-1961), who applied the term "archetype" to what he
called "primordial images," the "psychic residue" of repeated patterns of common
human.
● The experience in the lives of our very ancient ancestors which, he maintained, survive
in the "collective unconscious" of the human race and are expressed in myths, religion,
dreams, and private fantasies, as well as in works of literature. See Jungian criticism,
Archetypal Criticism

5. ● Archetypal literary criticism was given impetus by Maud Bodkin's Archetypal
Patterns in Poetry (1934) and flourished especially during the 1950s and 1960s.
(Abrams)
● Some archetypal critics have dropped Jung's theory of the collective unconscious
as the deep source of these patterns; in the words of Northrop Frye, this theory is
"an unnecessary hypothesis," and the recurrent archetypes are simply there,
"however they got there." (Abrams)

6. ● The persona (mask). This is the outward face we present to the
world. This hides our real face, this (according to Jung) is the
conformity archetype. This is the public face we put on to our peers,
our bosses, our community, and sometimes even our families. This is
not who we really are. (Moonchild)
● Originally the word persona meant a mask worn by actors to indicate
the role they played. On this level, it is both a protective covering and
an asset in mixing with other people. Civilized society depends on
interactions between people through the persona. (Sharp)
● The "I," usually ideal aspects of ourselves, that we present to the
outside world. The persona is . . . a functional complex that comes
into existence for reasons of adaptation or personal convenience.
(Sharp)
● The persona is that which in reality one is not, but which oneself as
well as others think one is. (Sharp)
Persona

7. Shadow
● The “shadow” archetype; this is animal side of our personality. Freud called this the id. This is the
source of both our creative and destructive energies. This is in line with the “theory of evolution”.
This archetype reflects the predisposition that had , once upon a time, survival value. (Moonchild)
● The falsity that we are forced to live with and endure everyday becomes a sort of trap, when we are
made to go against our natural selves, we begin to question who we are and often times find
ourselves in the middle of an identity crisis. (Moonchild)
● Jung stated it could actually be psychologically detrimental to our well-being when our environment
does not support us in use of our “dominant function” this is called “falsification of type”. When we
are forced to live our daily lives presenting a mask or different persona, than we are comfortable
with this becomes our abnormal norm. (Moonchild)
● The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become
conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves
recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. (Sharp)

8. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
● Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a novella written by Robert Louis Stevenson and
published in 1886.
● The story follows Dr. Henry Jekyll, a respected physician who develops a potion
that transforms him into his alter ego, the cruel and violent Mr. Hyde.
● The novella explores themes of duality, the human psyche, and the struggle
between good and evil.

9. Fight Club
● Fight Club(Fincher) is a 1999 psychological thriller film directed by David Fincher
and stars Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter.
● The story follows the unnamed narrator, an insomniac and discontented office
worker who forms an underground fight club with the charismatic and nihilistic
Tyler Durden.

10. ● The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-
personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without
considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves
recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real.
(Sharp)
● He takes a name, earns a title, exercises a function, he is this or that. In
a certain sense all this is real, yet in relation to the essential
individuality of the person concerned it is only a secondary reality, a
compromise formation, in making which others often have a greater
share than he. (Sharp)
“Between these two, I now felt I had to choose. My two
natures had memory in common, but all other faculties were
most unequally shared between them. Jekyll (who was
composite) now with the most sensitive apprehensions, now
with a greedy gusto, projected and shared in the pleasures
and adventures of Hyde; but Hyde was indifferent to Jekyll,
or but remembered him as the mountain bandit remembers
the cavern in which he conceals himself from
pursuit.”(Stevenson)

11. ● The shadow is composed for the
most part of repressed desires and
uncivilized impulses, morally inferior
motives, childish fantasies and
resentments, etc.all those things
about oneself one is not proud of.
● These unacknowledged personal
characteristics are often
experienced in others through the
mechanism of projection. (Sharp)

12. Conclusion
● The realization of the shadow is inhibited by the persona. To the degree that we identify with
a bright persona, the shadow is correspondingly dark. Thus shadow and persona stand in a
compensatory relationship, and the conflict between them is invariably present in an
outbreak of neurosis. The characteristic depression at such times indicates the need to
realize that one is not all one pretends or wishes to be. (Sharp)
● Responsibility for the shadow rests with the ego. That is why the shadow is a moral problem.
It is one thing to realize what it looks like-what we are capable of. It is quite something else
to determine what we can live out, or with. (Sharp)
● The shadow is not, however, only the dark underside of the personality. It also consists of
instincts, abilities and positive moral qualities that have long been buried or never been
conscious. The shadow is merely somewhat inferior, primitive, unadapted, and awkward; not
wholly bad. It even contains childish or primitive qualities which would in a way vitalize and
embellish human existence, but-convention forbids. (Sharp)

13. Works Cited
Abrams, Meyer Howard. A glossary of literary terms. Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999. Accessed
14 March 2023.
Fincher, David, director. Fight Club. 1999.
Moonchild, Meredith. Jung: An Introduction Into the World of Carl Jung: The Shadow, The Archetypes and
the Symbols. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016. Accessed 14 March 2023.
Sharp, Daryl. Jung Lexicon: A Primer of Terms & Concepts. Inner City Books, 1991,
https://www.psychceu.com/jung/sharplexicon.html
Stevenson, Robert Louis. “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.”
Project Gutenberg, 31 10 1992, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42 Accessed 14 March 2023.

16. Thanks You!