Anima/Animus

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Anima/Animus

• When animus and anima meet, the animus draws his
  sword of power and the anima ejects her poison of
  illusion and seduction (Jung 172).

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Anima/Animus Defined
In a 2009 Harvard study, these images explore our
societal assumptions on gender. Which image is
male and which is female? The answer is
surprising

• Anima in Latin translates as the soul but in
  Jungs world Anima is the soul-image of man,
  represented in dreams or fantasies by a feminine
  figureThe animus is the image of spiritual
  forces in a woman, symbolized by a masculine
  figure. If a man or woman is unconscious of
  these inner forces, they appear in a projection
  (Jung 109).
• The Animus, translating in Latin to the mind or
  spirit, also encapsulates a differing meaning in
  Jungs system of psychology, Every man carries
  within him the eternal image of womanThe same is
  true of the woman she too has her inborn image
  of manit is always unconsciously projected upon
  the person of the beloved, and is one of the
  chief reasons for passionate attraction or
  aversion (Jung 50).

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Anima The Feminine within the Masculine

• The anima is a factor of utmost importance in
  the psychology of man wherever emotions and
  affects are at work. She intensifies,
  exaggerates, falsifies, and mythologizes all
  emotional relations with his work and with other
  people of both sexes (Jung 120).
• When the anima is strongly constellated, she
  softens the mans character and makes him touchy,
  irritable, moody, jealous, vain, and unadjusted
  (Jung 120).

The Anima Sola or forsaken soul is a popular
religious folk image in portions of Latin America.
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Anima The Feminine within the Masculine

• No man is so entirely masculine that he has
  nothing feminine in him. The fact is, rather,
  that very masculine men have carefully guarded
  and hidden a very soft emotional life, often
  incorrectly labeled as femininewhich is why a
  man, in his love choice, is strongly tempted to
  win the woman who best corresponds to his own
  unconscious femininity (Jung 78).

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Animus The Masculine within the Feminine

• In woman the compensating figure is of a
  masculine character, and can therefore
  appropriately be termed the animusThere are
  naturally fields of experience in a man which,
  for woman, are still wrapped in the shadows of
  non-differentiation, chiefly things in which she
  has no interestThe wide realms of commerce,
  politics, technology, and science (Jung 94-95).

The Hindu goddess Durga (or Kali) is a female
figure that fully embodies what is traditionally
seen as male ferocity
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Anima and Animus Contrasted

• The inner masculine side of a woman brings forth
  creative seeds which have power to fertilize the
  feminine side of man (Jung 98).
• Whereas the man has, floating before him, in
  clear outlines, the alluring form of a Circe or a
  Calypso, the animus is better expressed as a bevy
  of Flying Dutchmen or unknown wanderers from over
  the sea (Jung 99).

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Anima and Animus Contrasted

• In men, Eros, the function of relationship, is
  usually less developed than Logos. In women, on
  the other hand, Eros is an expression of their
  true nature, while their Logos is often only a
  regrettable accident (Jung 171).
• The anima gives relationship and relatedness to
  mans consciousness, the animus gives to womans
  consciousness a capacity for reflection,
  deliberation, and self-knowledge (Jung 172).

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Initial Stages of Love as Projection

• No man can converse with an animus for five
  minutes without becoming victim of his own anima
  (Jung 172).
• The young person of marriageable age
  doespossess an ego-consciousnessbut, since he
  has only recently emerged from the mists of
  original unconsciousness, he is certain to have
  wide areas which still lie in the shadowThe
  young man (or woman) can have only an incomplete
  understanding of himself and others, and is
  therefore imperfectly informed (Jung 42).

As we explore both the written play and film
adaptations of Shakespeares well-known love
story, keep considering if the protagonists are
experienced enough to truly be in love or if what
they define as love is only mere infatuation
(projection).
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Romeo Juliet Timeline True Love (and Death)
in Less Than A Week

• Sunday, Day 1 Act I, first part of Act II
• Monday, Day 2 Act II, Sc. II Act III, Sc. IV
• Tuesday, Day 3 Act III, Sc. V Act IV, Sc. III
• Wednesday, Day 4 Act IV, Sc. IV Act IV, Sc. V
  
• Thursday, Day 5 Act V, Sc. I Act V, middle of
  Sc. III
• Friday, Day 6 - Act V, middle to end of Act V,
  Sc. III

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Initial Stages of Love as Projection

• It is easier to gain insight into the shadow
  than the anima or animuseveryone immediately
  understands what is meant by shadowWith the
  anima and animus, however, things are by no means
  so simpleIt is much more difficult to become
  conscious of ones own anima/animus projections
  than to acknowledge ones shadow side (Jung 174).

In this photo, the idea of blissfully unaware
projecting lovers is encapsulated. Although the
diagonal lines indicate this is a stock photo,
they can be additionally viewed as indicators
that we should try to lessen the amount/ duration
of anima/animus projection within the stages of
love.
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Initial Stages of Love as Projection

• The integration of the shadow, or the
  realization of the personal unconscious, marks
  the first stagewithout it a recognition of anima
  and animus is impossibleThe shadow can be
  realized only through a relation to a partner,
  and anima and animus only through relation to a
  partner of the opposite sex (Jung 179).

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Literary Application Anima/Animus

• In Ursula LeGuins fantasy novel The Tombs of
  Atuan, Tenar has lost her name and sense of
  identity serving as the high priestess to the
  powers of darkness. But when an intruder breaks
  into the sacred labrynth and sheds his forbidden
  light, Tenar does not kill the interloper.
  Instead she feels an instant connection between
  them, This faint blooming light where no light
  had ever been, in the inmost grave of
  darknessThe light burned at the end of a staff
  of woodThe staff was held by a human handWhat
  was hardest for her to think, perhaps, was that
  she was looking at a stranger (LeGuin 69-70).
  The contrast between Tenar and Sparrowhawk is
  paramount her darkness against his light, her
  sense of infallible touch versus his intense
  sight, his intelligence juxtaposed with her
  intuition. But it is the underlying current of
  understanding that flows between them that
  becomes ultimately important. As Tenar decides
  to spare Sparrowhawks life, he in turn gives
  back Tenars sense of individuality, You told
  me to show you something worth seeing, I show you
  yourselfTake care, TenarI have my name
  back. I am Tenar! (LeGuin 107, 115, 118).
  

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Works Cited

• Jung, C. G.. Aspects of the Masculine Aspects
  of the Feminine. New York MJF Books, 1989.
  Print.