INTEGRATION OF PSYCHE IN KATHERINE MANSFIELD’S "MISS BRILL": A JUNGIAN APPROACH

Abstract

Less than hundred years ago, C. G. Jung theorised that all humans carry archetypes in their collective unconscious. Archetypal criticism therefore, seeks to identify and analyze the presence and variance of these universal images and patterns in works of literature. Among archetypes, persona and shadow are of great importance to the salient process in analytical psychology, namely, the individuation process. Katherine Mansfield's "Miss Brill" is one of those works of literature that is capable of being analyzed through the aforesaid critical approach. By proving the assumption that a neglected shadow and a persona with which the individual is identified reside deep inside the protagonist's psyche, this paper provides an insight into the aforementioned process as it gets fulfilled to accomplish Miss Brill's psychological wholeness. Accordingly, it is argued that the state of chaos which Miss Brill experiences at the end of the story, is in fact the sequel of integration of psyche after she goes through the individuation process which in turn leads to a different reading of the story inasmuch as it urges the reader to study the work as though the protagonist is there to admire for what she goes through and not to sympathise with.