The Individuation Of Voldemort And Harry In Harry Potter

Up to now,the seven-part Harry Potter series by the British woman writer Joanne Kathleen Rowling has achieved an astonishing commercial success.In June 1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published in the UK.The last book of the original planned seven,Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows didn't come off the press until this summer after a decade's waiting.Harry Potter series mesmerizes readers of a broad range of ages around the globe,receives widespread acclaim and exerts unprecedented influence.Based on Carl Gustav Jung's archetypal theory,this thesis aims at conducting a full comparison of individuation between Voldemort and Harry,the two main characters in the Harry Potter series.According to Jung,if a person attempts the difficult task of individuation,namely,a process of psychological growth,he should recognize and accept his shadow,anima,and persona.The thesis holds that firstly,Voldemort's shadow is his obsession with power and immortality by instinct.Dimly aware of his shadow,Voldemort is taken possession by it,ultimately bringing about grave catastrophes to himself as well as to others.In contrast with Voldemort,Harry,though undergoing bewilderment and anxiety,courageously faces up to the inferior aspect of his psyche--a fragment of Voldemort's soul inside him and integrates it into the personality,thus giving full play to the positive aspect of his shadow.Secondly,the absence of the maternal role and the soul mate gives more than a hint that Voldemort loses his anima,resulting in the dehumanization of his appearance and inner cruelty.In the case of Harry, three female figures,that is,his biological mother Lily,his friend Ron's mother Mrs.Weasley and his beloved Ginny serve as his anima.Harry's kindness,sympathy and bravery primarily demonstrate his successful uniting of the anima with his masculinity,thereby,averting the one-sided psychic development as that of Voldemort.Thirdly,Voldemort intentionally deserts his persona of a promising wizard but Harry initially afflicted with the inflation of his persona of a hero,comes to a full understanding of his role as a hero,finally undertaking the mission of protecting the wizard world from Voldemort's malevolence in accordance with his own inner free will rather than with others' expectations.On the whole,overwhelmed by his shadow,Voldemort neglects his anima and abandons his persona,thus failing to be a spiritually mature person.Harry, by contrast,confronts his shadow,identifies his anima,adopts his persona, and consequently,achieves a more balanced personality.In conclusion,Voldemort ends in an inevitable failure on his way to individuation,while Harry proceeds along the path of individuation in the hope of becoming an individuated person with a perfect nature.