An Analysis Of Stephen's Personality Development In A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man From The Perspective Of Jung's Psychology

As an autobiographical novel,A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man(1916)could be regarded as a self-portrait of James Joyce(1882-1941),as well as a description of the spiritual progress of Stephen Dedalus as a young artist.The novel shows in a profound way how Stephen,who lives in Dublin,resists the pressure from family,school,church and society in the closed and repressed Dublin social environment,and grows up gradually in his struggles all the way to find comfort and a sense of belonging in artistic creation.This thesis focuses on the personality development of Stephen,the protagonist of the novel,and analyzes the process of Stephen's self-shaping from obedience and piety to autonomy and rebellion,which reveals the internal factors of Stephen's resistance to authority and probes into the significance of Stephen's self-transformation in criticizing the present situation of Irish society.The thesis uses Jung's theory of personality development as the theoretical support.With the help of Jung's three spiritual levels,namely consciousness,collective unconscious and individual unconscious,to analyze the clues to Stephen's personality development.The first chapter focuses on Stephen's ego,the center of his consciousness.At the early years of Stephen's growth,his “differentness” gradually shows itself in his artistic sensitivity,in his adaption to the changes of external environment.The appearance of such consciousness plays a vital role in Stephen's future attitude towards love,religion and society,as well as the formation of his personality.The second chapter analyzes Stephen's personal unconscious and focuses on Stephen's complexes,namely mother,father and hero.Complex is an important concept put forward by Jung in his theory of personality structure.It is a psychological content that is suppressed and forgotten in the process of human growth.It is also the emotions,thoughts and memories existing in the unconscious.Stephen's complexes represent the awakening of the personal unconscious in Stephen's spiritual world and are the premise of the development of his personality.The third chapter explores Stephen's collective unconscious with three collective unconscious archetypes as the focus – persona,shadow and anima.Collective unconscious is one of the most important concepts in Jung's psychology,which runs through Jung's whole psychological theory.The personalization process of Stephen's main archetypes is demonstrated through the expansion of Stephen's persona,the awakening of his shadow and the emergence of his anima.This process has an important impact on Stephen's personality development.The fourth chapter discusses the process of Stephen's individuation.Individuation is the ultimate stage of personality development.After the previous stages,the awakening of the personal unconscious and the personalization of collective unconscious archetypes,Stephen undergoes his ultimate stage of personality development--self-realization,which is firstly based on the premise of full individualization,and then cooperates with the ego(that is,the center of consciousness),and finally achieves self-realization after the integration of ego,personal unconscious and collective unconscious.In Stephen's case,the ultimate stage of his personality development is to become an artist.Based on the analyses in the four chapters the thesis points out that A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man depicts the mental course of the protagonist Stephen Dedalus and presents the self-change of a young Irish artist who is not only restricted by Irish cultural traditions but also eager for freedom and liberation.In the process of folding Stephen's personality development,James Joyce reflects the desire of an Irish individual to realize national liberation,which has an enlightening significance for the development of Ireland and Irish literature.