The Trace Of Souls In The Horizon Of Archetype

The Countness of Cathleen and The Land of Heart's Desire are important works of Yeat's poettic dramas. This dissertation will interpret the heroines of the two plays by archetypal criticism, separately in myth criticism, psychoanalytic criticism and ritual criticism.In the myth criticism, the images of the two figures are opposite in the text which is combined Irish fairy and folk tales and myths in Bible.In the myth system of circle patterns which is made by Yeats and Frye, the two opposite images get a historical connection.In the intertexual personal-mythe of Yeats the two images are identical. In the psychoanalytic criticism,dual arts creation psychology makes the two image oppsite,while the Faustian psychology make them connect to each other. Furthermore, the two images become homogeneous when both figures confront the dread to death. In the ritual criticism,the two image are oppssite as figuers in different kinds of ritual.However, they have the similar ending of being acrificed. Yeats treated the performance of his plays as rituals,in which the two images play the same role.Yeats gave the two images complicated connotation, which shows his world value, especially his viewpoint of the development of history. The tremendous literatural value of Yeats' poetic dramas can be showed by the Archetypal criticism of the two images.