The Collective Unconsciousness Of Far From The Madding Crowd

Thomas Hardy is an outstanding Victorian novelist and poet, and Far from theMadding Crowd is usually acknowledged as one of his famous novels. Ever since itwas published in1874, Far from the Madding Crowd has received wide attention andwon Hardy great fame by its compelling plot and picturesque natural scenery.Revolving around beautiful Bathsheba and her three admirers, this pastoral romancetells a love story between twists. As Hardy s first novel with tragic color, Far from theMadding Crowd lays foundation for his later masterpieces. Therefore, it has attracteda lot of attentions and many scholars have enriched the studies of the novel fromdifferent angles. However, most of the research focus on the analysis of theenvironment and the fate of these characters, the connection between their mentalityand their conducts was rarely concerned so far. Specifically, the influence of thecollective unconscious on their personalities as well as on the relations with othershas been neglected.The theory of collective unconscious is first proposed by the famous Swisspsychologist Carl Jung, who asserts that the content of the collective unconscious arearchetypes. In his theory, four major archetypes, namely, the persona archetype, theshadow archetype, the anima archetype and animus archetype, and the self archetype,influence the forming of one s personality. By applying Jung s theory of collectiveunconscious, this paper attempts to investigate the archetypes of the characters in Farfrom the Madding Crowd and to reveal the underlying reason for their complexrelationships and their misfortunes. The thesis consists of four chapters.Chapter One explores Boldwood s and Bathsheba s lives and loves under theinfluence of the persona archetype. Both the positive effect and the negative effect oftheir persona archetypes will be investigated. The over expanded persona makesBoldwood a reserved person, but his indifference piques Bathsheba. Therefore, shesends a suggestive Valentine card to him. However, Bathsheba is frightened when sherealizes his obsession. Although she doesn’t love him, under the restriction of thepatriarchal society, she has to take the consequence of her imprudence. Thus shedoesn t reject him decidedly and even promises to consider his proposal, which inturn makes their relationship intricate. Chapter Two looks into love under the animaarchetype and the animus archetype. Bathsheba as the representative of female under the animus archetype and Gabriel as the representative of male under the animaarchetype will be analyzed respectively. The reason for their choice of love ormarriage will also be explored. Chapter Three deals with the negative impact ofBoldwood s and Bathsheba s shadow archetypes on their lives and loves. And theinterior reasons for Troy s death as well as Boldwood s tragedy will also beexpounded. Directed by her shadow, Bathsheba sends Boldwood a suggestiveValentine card but marries Troy. However, her shadow wakens Boldwood s shadow,and the inflation of their shadows leads to a series of unpleasant events, whicheventually ruins Boldwood s life and makes Bathsheba s life a misery. Chapter Fourfocuses on the characters under the self archetype. As Boldwood s self archetype failsto balance his other archetypes, he ends with a tragedy. Whereas, Bathsheba s selfarchetype keeps her other archetypes in a reasonable range, it helps her overcomeadversity and harvest happiness at last.By analyzing different archetypes of the protagonists, we draw the conclusionthat the imbalance of the archetypes is the root of their misfortunes. The overexpanded persona or the over inflated shadow will distort one s personality andfinally leads to the failure of one s life. Therefore, we must admit and control thesearchetypes in proper range so as to get along with others and achieve our goals in life.