The Tragic Fate Of Antoinette’s Family: A Reflection Of Collective Unconscious In Wild Sargasso Sea

Jean Rhys’ Wild Sargasso Sea was published in1966and gave a great stir in theliterary field. It of course has received a lot of attention from many critics at home andabroad. Though the novel has received a lot of studies from various perspectives suchas post-colonialism, feminism and so on, the author of the thesis finds that it still canbe interpreted from other angles. The novel actually tells the tragic fate of a whitecreole family. The thesis attempts to do an interpretation of collective unconsciousbehind the tragedy of the heroine’s family.Jung (1991) defines that collective unconscious as a common psychicpredisposition is shared by all humankind. This kind of psyche is inherited and has itsarchetypes. Meanwhile, Jung thinks that myths and fairytale is a well-knownexpression of archetypes that can prove collective unconscious. Based on Jung’s viewon collective unconscious and myths, this thesis does an interpretation of the threecommon psychic types reflected in the novel by associating with some archetypes inmyths to explore collective unconscious hidden in the tragedy of the heroine’s family.At first, the thesis analyzes people’s sensual desire and demonization aboutAntoinette and Annette by associating with female demons in myths to explorepeople’s common psychic predisposition of conflicting feelings about beautifulwomen. In addition, the thesis then interprets the feeling of insecurity of Antoinetteand her husband and the rumors of obeah. This analysis is associated with superstitionarchetypes in myths to interpret human beings’ psyche of fearing the unknown. At last,the thesis does an analysis of Antoinette’s failed marriage and people’s exclusion toher family. The little mermaid story archetype is employed to prove people’s psychictendency of excluding the different.Afterward, the thesis goes to reflect further on the tragedy of the heroine’s family from collective unconscious perspective. In doing so, it presents the implication ofcollective unconscious’s influence on human beings’ life. Since the psychicpredispositions—conflicting feelings to beautiful women, fear of the unknown andexclusion of the different—are shared by all humankind and their archetypes can befound in myths, we can prove the reflection of collective unconscious in the story.And these three psychic types bring fateful hurt to the heroine’s family. In this sense,the tragedy of the heroine’s family can be attributed to the power of collectiveunconscious.