Of Vampires and Horcruxes: Quest for Immortality

Now here's one tough (and maybe even, crazy) question for the Twilight and Harry Potter series junkies: What do Bella Swan and Lord Voldemort (Tom Marvolo Riddle) have in common?


You might ask, "What would Meyer's clumsy, compassionate 18-year-old girl-next-door living in an obscure town called Forks share in common with Rowling's scheming, evil, criminally-insane dark wizard of the wizarding world?"

I have just started reading "Breaking Dawn," the final book of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight saga, and saw the final installment of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Book series onscreen, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," which concluded a decade of epic young adult literature of the 21st century. Incidentally, we took up Archetypal Criticism Approach in our Literary Criticism class. This critical approach "gets its impetus from psychologist Carl Jung, who postulated that humankind has a 'collective unconscious,' a kind of universal psyche, which is manifested in dreams and myths and which harbors themes and images that we all inherit. Literature, therefore, imitates not the world but rather the 'total dream of humankind."' (Walker, p. 17)

"Archetypes are the unknowable basic forms personified or concretized in recurring images, symbols, or patterns which may include motifs such as the quest or the heavenly ascent, recognizable character types such as the trickster or the hero, symbols such as the apple or snake, or images such as crucifixion (as in King Kong, or Bride of Frankenstein)--all laden with meaning already when employed in a particular work. " (Walker, 2002)

Archetypal critics search for archetypal patterns in literary works (e.g.,character types, story lines, settings, symbols). According to Jung, these patterns are embedded deep in the "collective unconscious" and involve "racial memories" of situations, events, relationships from time immemorial. (Murfin and Ray, p.23)

If this is starting to sound interesting to you, then you have chosen the right career path-- that of a future literature teacher. Knowledge and understanding of the critical approaches will also improve you as a reader. You will become a "critical" reader, not the passive swallow-everything-hook-line-and-sinker kind. Now, back to the question I posed earlier:

In the light of the Jungian or Archetypal Criticism, what's the common denominator between Bella Swan and Voldemort?

What archetypal patterns (in character types, story line, setting, etc.) can you spot and point out?

To those who have not experienced these phenomenal works of pop literature, you may cite at least two works of short fiction or two novels, at least, and share your analysis. But I strongly encourage you, soon-to-be teachers of literature, to expand your horizon and include in your reading repertoire books that define the generation that you'll be shaping.

Carpe diem!

The Passionate Shepherd to his Love, the Freudian way

This poem of Marlowe was introduced to us as an example of a Pastoral Poetry , but little did we know that the poem contains repressed desires, sexual innuendos and imageries when viewed upon the lens that of a Freudian’s.

The title itself is already intriguing. The word “passionate” is such a strong word that suggests extreme emotions describing the man who pleads with a woman. It was seconded by the first line of the poem that imbues a pleasure-seeking behavior of the man. He is not asking for the woman to marry him but only to live with him as to “Come live with me and be my love”. Marlowe being an Elizabethan (a period that exhibits romantic luxuriance) writer is sending a connotation that the woman is being invited to come and make love. Clearly, there is no declaration of love implied in the first line. The man only has this ardent desire to possess the woman sexually that is why she was invited.

The next line mentions, “That valleys, groves, hills, and fields, Woods, or steepy mountain yields“. In this line, the man promises the woman to experience pleasure in those locations. For the Shepherd, it appears to him that his expectation is that the pleasures of the world are principally sexual. There’s also a resemblance of those locations mentioned to that of a woman’s body. When the man speaks of pleasure, he actually thinks of the woman’s body that he will yield for. 

“And we will sit upon rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.”

And the man continues wooing the woman. We can paint from the lines quoted above the lovers’ sexual activities promised if only the woman accepts the man’s invitation. The “rock” describes the man’s horniness, of him getting hard, and when we say “rock”, it can also entail the moving back and forth of the couples in a sexual intercourse.
When the “shepherd feeds his flock”, it’s the woman –deepthroating- him moving his’ all the way to her mouth. The “river” is the fluids in motion during the intercourse. The“melodious birds singing madrigals” is the noise of passion or pleasure spoken or shouted by someone during sex. 

There was also a mention of the word “flowers” which in the freudian’s lense associates it to the woman’s vagina. The bed, whom for all we know provides comfort to us can become evenly romantic when described as a bed filled with roses, or “the bed of roses”. It arrays pleasant different sexual positions giving not only comfort but satisfaction as well.

There was also this dramatic scene in a sexual act when a man slowly undresses a woman piece by piece until only the skin is left to be seen that glitters like “purest gold”.

Lastly, the last stanza of the poem shows how the man lives out his fantasies through a woman that he’d do anything to the extent of promising the improbable and impossible just to get the woman’s affirmation of coming with him. "Come live with me and be my love" was mentioned in the poem for 2 times but the woman’s response was never heard in the poem. Could this be that the woman charges the highest possible price for sex?


JESSICA SERRANO
JOHN HENRY DELIG
BEEN3

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Feminism)

We believe that the portrayal of the protagonist in this fairytale is unjust. It teaches children that men should be strong, brave and intelligent whereas women should simply be beautiful and submissive. It is also ingrained to the children’s mind that women are helpless and in need of a man. The fairytale suggests that without the mercy of the hunter, Snow White would certainly have died. This gives the message that women cannot fend for themselves and would have to rely on a big strong man to save them, as they have neither the courage nor the strength to do so themselves.  

The dwarves took Snow White in and asked her to stay. If they had not offered her food and shelter, there is no way for her to find it on her own. Each time Snow White falls for her stepmother’s evil plan, the dwarves were there to revive her.

Beauty is important to the female antagonist in fairytales. Beauty is how Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty each find their prince. If they were not beautiful, the prince would never notice them. Snow White is beautiful but this is what gets her into trouble:

Firstly, her stepmother cannot bear someone to be more beautiful than she is, so the queen condemned Snow White to be hacked to death. The queen feels she has to be the most beautiful and this is the only way she can do because she has no other reasons to flaunt. However, not all women are solely concerned about their look, and they should not be judged by their appearance, but what is actually inside.

Secondly, if it is her beauty that gets her into trouble, it is also her beauty that gets her out of trouble. The hunter let her go because she looked so beautiful and innocent. If she did not look so beautiful, the prince would never have looked twice at her and she would remain dead because she is beautiful that the dwarves couldn’t bear to bury her in the ground. It shows that she is only valued because of her beauty and no mention is made to any qualities she may possess.

Thirdly, it is also her beauty that would lead her into her fall down. Snow White will soon become queen and because of this, she will become vain, the mirror would always tell her she is beautiful than the rest then pride will pumped her like a poison, this is why the queen tries to kill her. That is why the “happily ever after” is not realistic because of this cycle. I say this because the gifts from the queen showed that Snow White is subjected to become a vain.

Snow White is beautiful but intelligence is a quality she does not possess. Eventhough the dwarves have warned her of opening the door to stranger, still she opened the door to the evil queen. It shows that women are shallow and thoughtless, not to mention extremely unintelligent, as if they cannot learn from the past mistakes and that quality of Snow White gives all the rest of the women a bad name.

JESSICA SERRANO

JOHN HENRY DELIG

BEEN3

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe

“COME be WITH ME and be MY LOVE” – the line is repeated twice in the poem.

BAM. From the opening line itself, one cannot help not seeing anything Freudian. COME be WITH ME and be MY LOVE.( Just omit ‘be’,'and', & ‘by’) Using the Freudian approach, we can see that the persona of the poem seems to have delusions of grandeur, and believes that he can win the affection of his lady love by offering her all the material wealth he mentions in the said poem.  Realistically speaking, how can a shepherd afford “fair lined slippers with buckles of purest gold” and other such material things that are quite extravagant? Or is he talking about something else here entirely? ;) 

From the very first line, one can already surmise that the shepherd’s subconscious mind is asking his lady love not only to live with him, but also for something much, much more intimate. The line is followed by “And we will all the pleasures prove That valleys, groves, hills, and fields, woods, or steepy mountain yields,” which for us, seems very explicit. The valleys, groves, hills here represent a woman’s curves, her bosom and derriere if you will, and the field, the area between her legs.  Wood can be substituted for a man’s genitalia, which in this case, belongs to the shepherd. Basically, to us, the introductory line is an outright invitation of the shepherd to his lady love – an invitation to become intimate with him, to become one with him, to consummate their love. Be it on beds of roses that the shepherd claims he will make for the lady, or by shallow rivers where other shepherds are seen tending their flock. “And we will sit upon rocks…” here can also mean that the shepherd is saying that he is already rock-hard, so to speak. And the abundance of “flowers” mentioned in the poem, one was even a BED of ROSES – flowers represent a woman’s nether region, her vagina – which obviously denotes something very erotic. Shallow rivers and falls may quite possibly mean the exchange of bodily fluids during the act of lovemaking, and the singing of the melodious birds, the climax; perhaps the even the sounds they will make during the act of lovemaking. The mere presence of birds and flowers in the poem is quite the sexual innuendo. =) The various places mentioned where they will “all their pleasures prove” could well mean different sexual positions. He also offers her garments of the finest quality, because the only thing sexier other than looking at a woman’s naked body is seeing it clothed by wonderful garments, and then removing them piece by piece – he is implying here that he wants to give her all these wonderful things so that he may take them off himself, one at a time, to savor the moment of each and every part of his lady love’s body that is being revealed. His ultimate goal is to satisfy the woman’s desire - both material and sexual. One other thing, the fact that he offers her material wealth - wealth the likes that only nobles or royalty of that period could afford -  that is far above his station as a shepherd suggests that the shepherd has a repressed desire to be of noble status as well.

Yaw Mang

AJ Parel

Peter Pan --- Wendy Darling (feminism)

Wendy is the eldest, the only daughter and the heroine of the novel. She loves the idea of home making and storytelling and wants to become a mother; her dreams consist of adventures in a little woodland house with her pet wolf. She bears a bit of (mutual) animosity toward Tiger Lily because of their similar affections toward Peter. She does not seem to feel the same way about Tinker Bell, but the fairy is constantly bad-mouthing her and even has attempted to have her killed. She grows up at the end of the novel, with a daughter (Jane) and a granddaughter (Margaret). She is portrayed with blonde, brown, or black hair in different stories. While it is not clear on whether or not she is in love with Peter, it is safe to assume that she does have feelings toward him, at least as a child. Perhaps consequently, Wendy is often referred to as the "mother" of the Lost Boys and, while Peter also considers her to be his "mother", he takes on the "father" role, insinuating that they play a married couple at least in their games.

Wendy is a very strong character in the fairytale peter pan. she had an adventure with his little brothers to the land where nobody grows up. Peter Pan liked Wendy cause she's good at making chores, taking good care of her little brothers, and all the motherly stuffs she does. Peter Pan convinced her and her brothers to go w/ him to "neverland" which we guessed he just wanted to have someone like a mother-figure for the lost boys. On the other hand wendy quite handled the job very well. We find her very strong cause in the latter part of the story where peter pan would like to have her stayed in neverland, she refuses though as what the story is portraying there's this "love connection" between them. Wendy chose what should be and that is to return to the real world and have he dreams come true and that is to be a mother. 

from: olivyl balangue; genesis cabiles

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love; a look into a Freudian Lens

There are things that we thought it describes “innocence” and there are ways that we thought is seems to be “ordinary”. Yet, as we look upon to the “Freudian approach” it brings a deeper meaning. Men and women are the main point of this approach and the things that depicts pleasure. To men, this pleasure is when a man give everything that girls will find romantic. But little did we know it is the only way, men could get their delectation for women. They use fragrant words and promises of lavishness to seek satisfaction for women.

                Christopher Marlowe in his poem “Come live with me and be my love” confirms the subliminal desires of the guys and on how would they use tactics to get the heart of the women or let’s say the pleasure from a woman. The poem describes “courtship” and the “urge of a man”. Roses, myrtle, pretty lambs, finest wool; all of these are the wishes that men thought to be the points of weakness to give in.

The Passionate Shepherd to His Love

And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys,groves,hills,and fields
Woods or steepy mountain yields.

What does this shepherd want to prove? Does he want to bear out what pleasure could bring “yields” if they do the intimate thing as they explore the wonder of the curves and the sleekness “valleys,groves,hills,and fields woods or steepy mountain” of each other’s body? The first three lines is already clear in confirming that that shepherd is really into the goal of making it with the nymph.
 

and we will sit upon rocks,
seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
by shallow rivers to whose falls,
melodious birds sing madrigals.

Hmmm… He does not only want to prove the pleasures but he also somehow described the way they’ll do it. “We will sit upon rocks” this may suggest a position or it may refer to the man’s organ as it erects, “seeing the shepherds feed their flocks” – shepherds here may also refer to him or the both of them as they find the height of his or their making love, “by shallow rivers to whose falls”- (haiai…) and now here’s the ejaculation and moments really come that they have to release the height by making sounds or let’s say moaning.

And I will make the the beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant poises

a cap of flowers, and a kirtle
embroided all with leaves of myrtle;

Then, the shepherd’s erroneous principle in life comes in. He would have the pleasure first before giving the nymph the lifetime assurance of marriage by having a splendid wedding. “And I will make the the beds of roses” – this may imply a bed of comfort in their own home, “and a thousand fragrant poises” - bunch of flowers? Bouquets? Well, we can see them in the wedding day  as they are held by the bride and the maidens, “a cap of flowers” – this may be the wreath wherein the veil is attached, and finally the wedding gown that is beautifully laced and made-“kirtle embroided all with leaves of myrtle, a gown made of the finest wool”

A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds,

With coral clasps and amber studs;

“Which from our pretty lambs we pull”, wait… does this suggests that they have savings for that day?  “Fair lined slippers for the cold, With buckles of the purest gold, A belt of straw and ivy buds, with coral clasps and amber studs;”, here is another set of elegant swears for a beautiful looking bride; from head to foot.

And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.

The shepherds's swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

And the last lines is the invitation that shows all the elegance that she may have, if and if only the nymph will take a move to be with him. Oh how a man can say all these promises but he would surely ground with selfish premises. 

Deon, Mharnelisa

Ponteras, Hanemar

The Passionate Shepherd in a Freudian Light

Though the poem may seem innocently lyrical and romantic at first glance, a Freudian approach to this would actually show the sensuality of the poem. Being asked to be the shepherd's "love" means being his lover. And what else could living with the shepherd mean aside from doing domestic duties? Of course it also meant domestic duties in bed. The title itself is very Freudian already; Marlowe describes the shepherd as passionate.

The word pleasures is also mentioned several times. In the first stanza, the author paints a very beautiful scene. Very romantic enough that the woman would not be able to resist a tumble in the fields or right there on the rocks, after the shepherd feeds his flock, or maybe even in between.

And what more sensual image than a bed of roses, made by the shepherd himself? Showering the woman with flowers, and making her a kirtle adorned
With only flowers and leaves of myrtle? Hmm. There are so many references to garments. Is this because clothes are sensual in the sense that they are barriers that cover the skin and hide the body's beauty? Gowns made of the finest wool so it's gentle to the skin? Does the shepherd imagine himself to be these garments that caress the woman's body? There is also awe and pride whenever a man sees his woman wearing the finest, especially if these came from him. The only thing that will probably thrill him more is when the woman will be getting out of these garments, a prelude to their May morning delights.

Priscila Delgado
Tessa Yulo