essay writing

Fajri Kurniawan 1010733020

Academic Writing

Drs. Josefino S M.Si

22 February, 2014

ARCHETYPAL SYMBOL IN JONATHAN SWIFT'S GULLIVER'S TRAVELS

God create human being with all kind of and its meaning. And also with literary works. There are multiform and symbols owning separate meaning in it. In archetypal literary criticism, it could be found that the symbols influence the people and the society. Archetypal symbol and images came from human's collective unconsciousness which means that there would be some mystery behind it. In this research, the writer interested to analyze some archetypal symbols which appears in Jonathan Swift's novel Gulliver's Travels published in 1726.

Gulliver's Travels is about the journey of Lemuel Gulliver, a practical-minded Englishman trained as a surgeon who takes to the seas when his business fails. In his voyage Gulliver visit some strange places such as Liliput island, land of Brobdingnag, the flying island of Laputa and unknown land populated by Houyhnhnms.

First edition of Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Sw...

illustration of Jonathan Swift’s novel Gulliverâ...

Jonathan Swift

In this novel, the writer finds many symbol which later classifiable into archetypal symbols. There are various images and symbol in this novel that are difficult to reveal hard to explain. Consequently the most potent approach to reveals the meaning is archetypal criticism because this approach has covered the scope of images and symbols which is found in the novel.

Referring to A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature by Wilfred L, Earl Labor, Lee Morgan and others, the writer try to compare the archetypal symbols which appears in the novel with the archetypal images which compiled in the book. The symbols are:

Water: The mystery of creation; birth-death-resurrection; purification and redemption; fertility and growth

A. Sea: The mother of all life; spiritual mystery and infinity; death and rebirth; timelessness and eternity; the unconscious

B. Rivers: death and rebirth (baptism); the flowing of time into eternity;...