The love archetype in the Sultan snake plays by Bahman Beyzaiee Comprehensive abstract

The criticism of psychology in the contemporary era, especially based on the Yung theories has opened a new threshold toward the literary issues. Since love is one of the leading and complicated topics of the human’s psyche. We have investigated the archaic love in the Sultan snake through the archaic criticism. We intended to uncover the internal layers of the text for the readers to comprehend and enjoy the text and introduce a sample to interpret the similar works from this point of view simultaneously. The play called Sultan Snake by Bahram Beyzaiee is one of the various text in which the archaic love has been reflected and has been written with the adaptation of a magic legend called “The drunked Mirza and Bibi Negar”. (Nemat Tavoosi, 2014: 87) The narration of it has been brought by Samad Behrangi in the collection of Azarbaygan legend (Rahmanyan, 2007: 60) and Bahram Beyzaiee has rewritten the legend in the form of a play. The narrator first indicates the mythological atmosphere in the story and awakens the mind of the reader that “the originality of this peculiar story has remained from a far long past” (Beyzaiee, 2003: 504) and this conception is also tangible and clear in the speech of the king which tells the his sovereignty is a territory that “one side stretches to Jabels and Jabelqa and another side stretches up to China” (et al 504). The narrator also indicates to romantic context of it vividly. Since “Beyzaiee and Yung both have intention toward their unconsciousness” (Reyhan, 2001: 49). We intend to answer the following questions while analyzing the archaic love in the Sultan Snake play. To which archaic love of Yung each character of the story adapt with?
- How has the archaic love been dramatized all through out the Sultan Snake play?
This research has been done in a descriptive- analytical and data analysis based on information gathering instrument, library, documenting and note taking. The theoretical basis of this research revolves around the Yung’s and Joseph Cambel’s attitudes and works that the conception of the archaic in the Sultan snake play has been analyzed based on their thought and ideas.
Main Mythological criticism in the contemporary era is mainly based on the theories of Yung and Cambel. On the Yung’s point of view, art and literature are areas for revealing the mass unconsciousness and he believes that “a part of the personality is related to consciousness and some factors we have to confirm to be able to explain their existence. These factors are unconscious” (1991: 77) and Yung divides the unaware psyche of the human in to two categories: mass unaware and individual unaware and believes that the archaic form the mass unaware from which many of the unconscious behaviours of human would be shaped, since the archaic are permenant landmarks marked and reflected in the heart of every human (Kazazi, 1993: 74).
The number of the mass archetype unconscious is so vast. One prominent archetype which has become so visible in the mythological texts is the love archetype. The love archetype has different images and always found new forms and clothes all through out the human community. Love myth has found a different reaction in the various cultures of human being. The mundane love in its oldest form is shaped in the shape of Adam and Eve, because Yung believes that Adam and Eve are the metamorphic sister of the old human who revived themselves with power of love (Yung, 2002:367). The prospects of the love archetype are being shown in its best form in the shape of Anima and Animos. Anima and Animos are two psychic archetype of human, that means every body intends to reveal the opposite gender features, although “men considers only themselves as man and women vice versa”, but the reality of psychology expresses the fact that human is a bisexual entity (Senford, 7: 1388). From Yung’s point of view “based on an old narration Adam has been bisexual before Eve” (Yung,2002: 367). The analysis of love archetype in the Sultan snake play has been analysed and evaluated in relation with the sage archetype and the process of individualism in which every character in the play symbolizes one Yung archetype.
The conceptions of archetype of Yung in the contemporary era have made the literary works into a new study. Love is one of the most prominent archetypes of human which has been hidden from the early creation in the existence of human and has been expressed in myths and books. From Yung’s point of view, human is bisexual and its existence is shaped with two parts called Anima and Animos and the human psyche has always intended to join to its lost half. The apparent image of love in Sultan snake of Bahram Beyzaiee which is a mythological and romantic literary work expresses itself in the relationship between miss Negar and Sultan snake and this opposing couple can be a symbol for all the imaginable opposing couples which have been separated from one principle an d a gap has been created all through out the history and in today’s world, Anima and Animos intend to join together. From Yung’s view, the love phenomenon is justifiable with the idea of Anima and Animos and all people seek to be attracted by their opposing sex which reflects their internal features. This conception in “Sultan snake” play has been revealed within the characters miss Negar and Sultan snake and the friar who is the symbol of sage archetype in the play. He picked them in form of an apple which was the symbol of pregnancy and showed to their parents and the children were supposed to marry with each other through the recommendation of the friar to reach their ultimate level of psyche that can reach the process of individualism with the help of the love by Anima and Animos, of course with elixir of love, Sultan Snake passes from his shadow archetype which was formed in the character of sheriff and finally copes with it. Also, the two main heroes of the play unveil in the love journey. It is necessary to explain that the mask of Sultan snake is coetaneous which is necessary for dominating others and he wears it until he reaches to his ultimate goal (beloved), puts it away. Miss Negar also passes the love area in which she wears seven pairs of shoes and clothes and makes them threadbare. She also abandons her archetype which is “to be the minister’s daughter”. Yung believes that the process of individualism and climax have been attained in the Sultan snake play in the shadow of love archetype.