An Investigation into the Hero's Journey in Shazdeh Ehtejab Novel with an Emphasis on Archetypes of Awakening the Internal Heroes

Archetypal criticism is among the modern theories of literary criticism and is based on psychological criticism established on the basis of theories of Carl Jung. In this type of criticism، in addition to the study of، and investigation into، the archetypes of a piece of work، the way they are attracted by the poet or writer''s psyche is displayed. Archetypes، which are the result of recurring experiences of man during his life and are deposited in his unconscious، have been studied and analyzed from different angles and dimensions. Based on these studies، to reach perfection and individual dream، the journey of the hero is materialized by relying on the presence of archetypes in any individual''s life. The aim of this article is to examine the novel Shazdeh Ehtejab (''The Prince Ehtejab'') written by Houshang Golshiri from the point of view of archetypal criticism and by relying on the thoughts of Carl Pearson and Hugh Marr and on the basis of the twelve archetypes in Awakening the Heroes Within. The authors attempt to briefly introduce these archetypes and then indicate that the story characters such as the sage can take steps in the process of individualization by representing these archetypes and initiate the hero''s journey. The results of this study show that the novel Shazdeh Ehtejab is replete with archetypes، and due to its psychological approach، can be analyzed on the basis of archetypal theories. By representing nine archetypes، Shazdeh Ehtejab adopts the separation process، and the other characters in the story play the role of the caregiver on the initiation path for him.