¹Latha Murugusu,²Manonmani Devi M.A.R Annamalai

^1,2Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris

DOI : https://doi.org/10.47191/ijsshr/v6-i5-17

Google Scholar Download Pdf
ABSTRACT

The existence of religion and its practices or beliefs do rely greatly on myths. This study attempts to analyse the subconscious of myth through the archetypal and mythical approach by studying the woman characters in the text “The Return” by K.S.Maniam. The women characters in the text represent the image of Hindu Goddesses such as Parvathi and Durga. For the purpose of this article, I have used mythical and archetypal approaches in classifying the characters. I have used Guerin’s (1999) classification of archetypal images of women such as the good mother, the terrible mother and the soul mate. This analysis reveals the representation of the mother as the good mother, the grandmother as the soulmate and the stepmother as the terrible mother. The mother and grandmother represent the image of Goddess Parvathi and the stepmother who is the terrible mother however does also carries the positive aspects of mother, therefore she represents both the Goddess Parvathi and Durga.

KEYWORDS:

archetypal, female characters, myth, the Goddess, Devi, Parvathi

REFERENCES

1) Amelia, Y. (2000). An analysis of the archetypal features in selected prose. Bangi: UKM.

2) Barthes, R. (1972). Mythologies. Great Britain:

3) Eliade, M. (1969). The laws of Manu. New York: Dover Publication.

4) Ferguson, M.A. (1977). Images of women in literature. US: Houghton Mifflin.

5) Ions, V. (1967). Indian mythology. London: Paul Hamlyn Ltd.

6) Jung, C.G. (1972). Four archetypes: Mother rebirth, spirit and trickster. US: Routledge.

7) Kinsley, D. R. (1993). Hinduism is a cultural perspective. USA: McMaster University.

8) Lewis, J. (1958). The religion of the world. New York: Doubleday and Company.

9) Maniam, K.S. (1993). The return. Kuala Lumpur: Scoop Books (M) Sdn. Bhd.

10) Pillai, T. (1973). An archetypal study of K.S. Maniam’s ‘The Pelanduk’. Bangi: UKM.

11) Thomas, P. (1973). Epics, myths, and legends of India. New Delhi: D.B. Taraporevala and Sons Pvt. Ltd.

12) Uma Malar, M. (2000). Indian myths and archetypes: An exploration of Githa Hariharan’s the thousand faces of night. Bangi: UKM.

13) Wilfred L. G. (1992). A handbook of critical approaches to literature. New Year: Oxford University Press.

VOlUME 06 ISSUE 05 MAY 2023