Manifestations of the Animus Archetype in Rabindranath Tagore's Chitra: a Jungian Psychoanalytic Analysis
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Literary texts serve as rich sites for exploring psychological dimensions of human identity and consciousness. Within Jungian analytical psychology, archetypes function as universal patterns in the collective unconscious that shape behavior, cognition, and personality development across cultures. The Animus archetype, representing masculine aspects within female psychology, plays crucial roles in women's identity formation and psychological wholeness through the individuation process. Despite significant scholarship on Rabindranath Tagore's Chitra (1913), limited research systematically examines how the Animus archetype manifests throughout the protagonist's character development. This study investigates the projections and manifestations of the Animus archetype in Chitra's psychological makeup, exploring how masculine identity, warrior persona, internal conflicts, and ultimate integration reveal universal psychological patterns within culturally specific contexts. Employing qualitative research methodology, this analysis combines close textual reading with Jungian psychoanalytic interpretation, utilizing thematic analysis to identify patterns of Animus manifestation across narrative progression. Findings reveal three primary manifestations: masculine identity dominance shaping self-concept, conflict between Animus-driven warrior identity and emerging feminine desires, and transformative integration achieving psychological wholeness. The research contributes frameworks for understanding archetypal manifestations in non-Western literature, demonstrating Chitra's contemporary relevance to discussions of gender fluidity and identity integration.
Author: Khalil Ur Rehman
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7123600382
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