The Archetype of Paricide in Literature and World Mythology

This article is an attempt to analyze the archetype of the clash between father and son in mythology and sample works from English Literature. Basing the argument upon psychoanalysis and mythology, the authors have endeavored to discuss the origin and the socio-political background of the clash between father and son. The works which have been analyzed in this study, include Hesiod's Theogony, Sophocle's Oedipus Rex, James Joyce's The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. The analysis shows that a balance between the masculine and the feminine elements in the father and consequently in the value systems of society leads, on the one hand, to the emergence of a logical behavior on the part of the father; which makes for the survival of the son, his normal development and his getting along within the society. On the other hand, emphasizing the elements of paternity and avoiding a normal and balanced behavior leads to a war between the father and the son which results in patricide.