Hans Christian
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON’S THE LITTLE MERMAID AND THE REPRESSED ELEMENTAL ANIMA
RUNNING HEAD: LITTLE MERMAID, ELEMENTAL ANIMA
David Johnston
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON’S THE LITTLE MERMAID AND THE REPRESSED ELEMENTAL ANIMA
INTRODUCTION
According to the wisdom of Marie Louise von Franz (1973), a Jungian depth-psychological study of fairy tales begins with the initial exposition of all the characters. One examines the quality, number and role of characters for what is missing in order to bring archetypal completeness. In this tale, it is the Sea-King and his six daughters including the Little Mermaid. There is also the king’s mother, who is described as being a woman of great wisdom. There is no queen and the king is widowed. They all live in a beautiful palace far out in the ocean, where it is very deep, as mermen and mermaids, and have fishes’ tails.
This story comes directly from the imagination of Hans Christian Anderson and is not based on oral folk tales that are normally the basis of written Fairy Tales. Nor does the story involve heroic motifs and the triumph of the inferior son or daughter, where most of the action often begins in the Royal Palace and usually takes place on the earth. Here, the cast of characters and description of the initial situation takes place in the sea, which is, symbolically considered, the realm of the collective unconscious. Moreover, given the fact that everybody has fishes’ tails, from the point of view of consciousness, the characters depicted are all driven by unconscious instinctual impulses, including the Little Mermaid.
There are eight characters described at the beginning of the tale, the king, his mother, the Little Mermaid and her five sisters. Symbolically, the queen is missing, although the king’s mother is described as very wise and as having brought the children up well, and the total number of characters amount to eight, a
RUNNING HEAD: LITTLE MERMAID, ELEMENTAL ANIMA
David Johnston
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON’S THE LITTLE MERMAID AND THE REPRESSED ELEMENTAL ANIMA
INTRODUCTION
According to the wisdom of Marie Louise von Franz (1973), a Jungian depth-psychological study of fairy tales begins with the initial exposition of all the characters. One examines the quality, number and role of characters for what is missing in order to bring archetypal completeness. In this tale, it is the Sea-King and his six daughters including the Little Mermaid. There is also the king’s mother, who is described as being a woman of great wisdom. There is no queen and the king is widowed. They all live in a beautiful palace far out in the ocean, where it is very deep, as mermen and mermaids, and have fishes’ tails.
This story comes directly from the imagination of Hans Christian Anderson and is not based on oral folk tales that are normally the basis of written Fairy Tales. Nor does the story involve heroic motifs and the triumph of the inferior son or daughter, where most of the action often begins in the Royal Palace and usually takes place on the earth. Here, the cast of characters and description of the initial situation takes place in the sea, which is, symbolically considered, the realm of the collective unconscious. Moreover, given the fact that everybody has fishes’ tails, from the point of view of consciousness, the characters depicted are all driven by unconscious instinctual impulses, including the Little Mermaid.
There are eight characters described at the beginning of the tale, the king, his mother, the Little Mermaid and her five sisters. Symbolically, the queen is missing, although the king’s mother is described as very wise and as having brought the children up well, and the total number of characters amount to eight, a
References: Emma Jung (1974). The anima as an elemental being. In Anima and animus. Zurich: Spring Publications. pp. 45-94 passim. Greg Lester, PhD, (2005). Personality disorders in social work and health care. Course Workbook. Cross Country Education. p. 9. Marie-Louise von Franz (1973). Interpretation of Fairy Tales. Zurich: Spring Publications. pp. 26-32 passim. Rick Weiss. Study: U.S. Leads in mental illness, lags in treatment. The washinton post. June 07, 2005.