ARCHETYPES OF SACRED MARRIAGE AND THE SELF IN THE PROSE OF MARIA MATHIOS

Abstract

The article explores the specifics of the reflection of the archetypes of the Holy Marriage as the embodiment of the divine couple and the Self as the transcendental center of the psyche, which strives for integrity and unity with the category of the divine. Since Maria Mathios largely refers to the depiction of complex human relationships in prose and touches upon the depths of the characters’ psychological world, this gives grounds to explore the peculiarities of their unconscious sphere of psyche, which, from the point of view of Jungian psychology, contain personal and universal archetypes. Their artistic representation allows us to comprehend the poetic section of the artist’s work and his psychological world in dynamics. The theoretical aspects of the research are based on the scientific achievements of C. G. Jung and his followers, who paid attention to the images that manifest the archetypes of Sizygia and the Self, their interconnection and influence on mental processes. The archetype of the Sacred Marriage is partly seen as inseparable from the Self as the personification of integrity, as it is a sacred union that generates it. The child and the circle (also a square in Jung) are its main symbols. The practical study involves the analysis of the system of characters and artistic images in the novel in the short stories “Hardly Ever Otherwise” and the story “Mama Maritza – Christopher Columbus’ Wife”, which consistently reflect the human psyche’s drive for individuation – the union of opposites, the integration of the archetypes of the collective unconscious, and the achievement of integrity. The leading archetype in these works is that of the Great Mother, which in “Hardly Ever Otherwise” shows tendencies to form a sacred union, and in “Mother Maritsa – Christopher Columbus’ Wife” it is fully realized with the formation of the divine quaternion “mother – bride – son – groom”. Based on the artistic images of Maritsa and Christopher, the archetypal dichotomy of a woman as a Saint and a Harlot at the same time and the embodiment of the symbolism of Christ as the Self, though not fully realized, in the image of Christopher are analyzed. The emergence of these motifs in the writer’s work indicates the desire of her own psyche to integrate the content of the collective unconscious, in particular the archetype of the Great Mother, and the dynamic processes of individuation in order to achieve psychic integrity.