Alchemist, the Hidden Place of Archetypal Images

Based on Carl Gustav Jung's Analytical Psychology, unconscious which has two parts- personal and collective- is the place of primordial images or archetypes, which are said to be collective manifestations. So the unconscious is the Treasury of human experiences from our ancient fathers up to now. These archetypes, located in the dark depth of unconscious, are displayed in the form of various symbolic images in the literary works and in this way, they appear in boundaries of self-awareness. Archetypal criticism is a new branch of contemporary literary criticism which has attracted the literary critic's attention. In this approach, literary work is considered as a location for archetypes exhibition and knowing the concept of literary work is related to these archetypes. In this paper, the analytical descriptive method has been used and has been presented the theoretical definition of archetypal criticism as well as the analysis of Paulo Coelho's novel -The Alchemist- and also presenting of hero's journey since the opening dream, the guidance of the wise old man and discovering the inside Anima up to hero 's individuation. This paper shows that the author has benefited of archetypal characters and situations, accordingly, Character's roles and actions, based on Jung's theories can be studied.