Symbol of the androgyne: A Jungian interpretation of the psychological process of individuation in Virginia Woolf's 'Orlando: A Biography'

This study illuminates the Jungian concept of individuation and its goal of androgyny through a psychological interpretation of Virginia Woolf's Orlando: A Biography. Setting grounds for this study, the concept of Jungian literary criticism is reviewed and established as a psychological approach to literature that helps us to better know psyche and psychological processes through the interpretation of visionary works. Using a classical Jungian model of theory, the topic of individuation and alchemy is outlined, providing a lens through which this study is accomplished.; Orlando is a young man in Elizabethan England who has an androgynous nature that develops as the story progresses through four centuries. The individuation process is illustrated beginning with Orlando's confrontation with the anima, and continuing with his magical change of gender in a lesser coniunctio. As a woman, Orlando confronts and integrates the animus, and is subsequently able to identify with her own inner feminine. The psychological process is culminated with the greater coniunctio, from which she emerges a woman with a fully integrated psyche. Finally, the state of Orlando's psyche and her realization of the Self is illustrated as the interpretation illuminates the psychological state of androgyny. The interpretation ends with Orlando established as a symbol of the androgyne.; Understanding Orlando from this perspective illustrates how androgyny is not just the existence of masculine and feminine qualities, but the harmonious interchange between all opposites within psyche. Individuation and androgyny are ever evolving processes kept alive by the role of Hermes who is uncovered in the text as facilitator of the numinous experience and psychological wholeness. Understanding the text from this viewpoint may result in greater personal insight for the reader, potentially facilitating a symbolic experience, and thereby enhancing the process of individuation itself. Furthermore, by understanding the text in the context of visionary art, this study illuminates the importance of Orlando on the personal, cultural, and archetypal levels of human understanding, enhancing the value of the text both from a psychological and a literary perspective.