The analysis of the metamorphosis of dragon in Garshasp’s adventures based on archetypal criticism

Archetypal criticism is one of the interdisciplinary approaches in contemporary literary criticism.  Carl Jung sees literary heritage and common experiences in different cultures in the collective unconscious and believes the reason for the cultural similarities among nations lies in the common archetypes shared.  The purpose of this type of criticism is the analysis and evaluation of literary works and ancient narratives should the work lend itself to this genre of criticism.  The main purpose of metamorphosis is the presentation of symbols, and signs which intend to reveal the psychological states of man and seeks to explain and reveal ambiguous mysteries of the existence in mythologies via the archetypes.  The purpose of this article is to analyze and evaluate all types of metamorphosis of monsters who are dragons in origin in Garshasp’s adventures.  Among the antiheros with whom Garshasp, archetypal hero in Avesta fights only dragon like viragos metamorphosed as fairies or appalling monsters were investigated from the Jungian critical perspective employing library approach and descriptive analytic method.  The results obtained show that these demonic creatures despite their differences in appearance are in fact regarded as the metamorphosis of the dragon within the hero, or the hero’s anima.