The Comparison of Psychological Archetypes between Miss Harvism and Granny Weatherall

1. Introduction

Miss Harvism is a character in the classical novel Great Expectations written by Charles Dickens .She has a weird temper and lives under the shadow with a heart of revenge to men ， which gives us a kind of feeling with love ， hatred ， regret and pity .Granny Weatherall is the heroine in the short novel of The Jilting of Granny Weatherall written by Katherine Anne Porter.There are two similar scenes with sad tones appearing in the history of literature ，which happen to the two women above ，that is ， they two as brides wearing the wedding gowns wait in the church yet the grooms never appear and then makes they two sad for a life time .The author of this paper adopts Psychological Archetypes Studies criticism to try to compare them by the analysis of Psychological Archetypes. Many international studies about Miss Havisham are very deep. Shores（1972） says that Miss Havisham’s real love consists of “blind devotion， unquestioning self—humiliation， utter submission， trust and belief against yourself and against the whole world， giving up your whole heart and soul to the smiter.” Guo（2008） analyses Miss Havisham in Great Expectations from the Perspective of Archetype by using Jung’s archetype consists of four major aspects： persona， shadow， anima/animus and self，finds that the image of Miss Havisham's tragedy is caused by the four psychological aspects，which enlightens me a lot.

2. Critical Approach and Analysis

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung believed that archetypes are models of people， behaviors or personalities. The following are the five most common archetypes.\"The Self \"is the regulating center of the psyche and facilitator of individuation. It represents all that is unique within a human being. \"Shadow \"represents the traits that lie deep within us. The traits that are hidden from day to day life and are in some cases the opposite of the self is a simple way to state these traits. \"The Anima \"is seen by some as the feminine side or form of a man， but Jung did not fully intend this to be viewed in this way.It is what allows a man to be in touch with a woman. \"The Animus\" is similar to the anima except for the fact that the animus allows a female to understand and communicate with a man. \"The Persona \"is the way we present to the world — a mask which protects the Ego from negative images.

2.1 the Self and Shadow of Miss Harvism and Granny Weatherall

Self is the most important of a mind ，which is also called “unconscious self ”. Miss Harvism has a kind of pure pursuits in her mind ，which is still vulnerable . The house she lives is so gloomy and terrible and she is so alarming after being hurt.She feels horrible even desperate then leads herself to the road on the verge of the society.There are a lot of conflicts in her mind that her Anima and Animus can not be realized. Her self is defeated. Granny Weatherall is from an ordinary family，though not mentioned，we can guess that she is actually a very docile and hardworking woman. She is struggling and then gets harder and harder no longer being the innocent girl before. There are many attributes of Granny Weatherall’s personality：some endearing， some frustrating， and some tragic. She is a funny， wry and smart woman who finds excessively good behavior annoying in everyone， including her children， perceptive about people other than herself and capable of cracking jokes minutes before death.During the growing up of Miss Harvism， her family is not complete for having no mother. She can not get the love of a mother.After being deserted by the man ， her shadow is deepened . Just like the dark place she lives in. After adopting Estella ， her shadow is still worse and worse. All her anger， unsatisfying feeling is more. Later Miss Harvism’s shadow has not faded though she is better and feeling regret for her faults.The shadow of Granny Weatherall stands there and lingers in her mind forever though it is not so obvious as that of Miss Harvism. For she knows that life should go on .In her life ，she tries to conceal or get occupied and be busy doing other things ， which takes her time and she even has no time to think it too much ，yet it is there.

2.3 Anima and Animus of Miss Harvism and Granny Weatherall

According to the theories of Jung， Miss Havisham projects her earliest Animus to her father. The mother of Miss Havisham dies early and then her father denies her nothing，so she is a spoiled child. When Miss Havisham grows up，actually she is supposed to meet the one she loves and then gets married. Yet the question is that she falls in love with the wrong guy， Compeyson， who is so cunning ，then tragedy happens， her Animus dies， and she can do nothing but develop a mind of revenge for the rest of her life. She does not do anything to repair her Animus.Granny Weatherall， who is still producing Animus to her first lover， George ，yet on the wedding day ，he has not come ，which hurts her deeply and haunts her for all the time of life . However， she is not as fragile as Miss Havisham， she still goes on leading her life ，she gets married and has babies and tries her best to breed them ， performing as well as she could . she is strong. Granny Weatherall thinks of herself first and foremost as a gritty survivor. She prides herself on her strength， mothering skills， and ability to run a household single—handed. She also speaks of masculine jobs such as paying bills and digging post holes across one hundred acres of land. Granny’s last name， “Weatherall，” is significant： she has weathered all kinds of difficulties and can’t conceive of ever giving up the fight. Even when gravely ill， she tells herself that she’s not tired or dying and will be up and about and back to her old self in just a few days.

2.4 Persona of Miss Harvism and Granny Weatherall

As mentioned before， Miss Harvism’s mother dies when she is a little girl. Her father is a rich man who is full of haughtiness. He satisfies her all the requirements. Just at that time， this proud girl is hurt because he is just a cheater. In all her life， she has not met this kind of shame and hit . She loses the faith of life ，just let the clock keep still ，wears the terrible wedding gown ，locks herself and leads an abnormal life.What’s worse ，she adopts Estella ， regarding her as a means of revenge to men ，she has forgotten that once she was still an innocent girl with the beautiful fantasy of love. Granny Weatherall， once enjoyed the love which the man gave her. She recalls that “No ，I swear he never harmed me but in that.’’ She remembers this kind of sad feeling for all the rest of her life just as Miss Harvism. Then she marries other man called John and has babies， life is full of hardships but she tries her best to undertake all the trouble .She is a very good mother. She is not as pessimistic as Miss Harvism， she is strong and optimistic. Just like what her name means.

Both Great Expectations and The Jilting of Granny Weatherall describe two women who have psychological shadow affects all their life.According to the psychological archetypal analysis of the novel， the author finds that the Comparison of them is enriching for they are so many similar characters in different works in different countries. Meanwhile， the probes of religion， morality and humanity with the archetypes of psychology also make the novel surpass the historic time and space and become a heavy and serious human problem. No matter it is expressed through direct experience or narrative language， the influence of an archetype is great， for it gives off a sound greater than ours which conquers our heart. Only by understanding the Psychology of the characters， can we understand them better.

References：

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