Finding the goddess within : the goddess archetype in Margaret Atwood's Surfacing, The Handmaid's Tale, and The Robber Bride.

Jean Shinoda Bolen offers a psychoanalytic theory suggesting that Greek goddesses can act as archetypal bridges between modern woman and the primordial feminine. An examination of Margaret Atwood's novels using Bolen's theory reveals the development of women's search for unification with the Goddess archetype. In Surfacing, Atwood's narrator attempts to return to a pre-patriarchal period when the Goddess was a unified whole, but discovers that the ancient archetype is silent. The Handmaid's Tale details the dangers inherent in women's succumbing completely to socially-imposed stereotypes. The three heroines of The Robber Bride recognize their individual dominant archetypal patterns and join those patterns together, making it possible to balance their internal forces with those of society. Atwood's novels offer women a guide for healing the fragmentation of the inner forces of their psyches with those of their external society.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Grantor

Baylor University.

Year dc:date.issued

1997

Author dc:creator

• Doss, Michelle M.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Thomas, Ron E. (Ronald Edward)

• Atwood, Margaret, 1939- -- Criticism and interpretation.
• Women and literature.
• Archetype (Psychology)

Statement dc:rights

• Baylor University works are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2104/14813

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:baylor-ir.tdl.org:2104/14813