Hermione as Harry's Anima (Was: Clues for SHIPS)

[sienna291973]

No: HPFGUIDX 98779

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jim Ferer" <jferer at y...> 
wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, squeakinby <squeakinby at t...> 
wrote:
> .
> Jem: 
> The argument for Hermione being Harry's anima is incredibly astute 
and 
> she probably is but do we marry ourselves or do we marry "the 
other"?

Jim:
> I've often said that the differences between Hermione and Harry
> compliment each other - I used the words yin and yang.

Hi guys! I thought I would post the essay I had written here about 
this very issue.  It is easier than outlining why I believe that the 
symbolism of Hermione as Harry's anima does point to H/Hr. I 
apologise because it is *very* long. :)


THE ANIMA: JUNGIAN ARCHETYPES AND H/HR

What follows is not a discussion on the totality of the
archetypal imagery within Harry Potter (of which there is a lot).
This essay focuses solely on the archetypal imagery surrounding
Hermione and her place within the Harry Potter universe.

Within this essay, I will refer to existing literature on archetypes
and to some existing analyses of archetypes in the Harry Potter
books. You will find the links to these throughout the essay.

Let me just clarify that I am not an expert on Jung nor on
archetypes per se. I am a past student of psychology and an amateur
(at best) mythologist. I say this in order to present the following
within the proper context. I would not wish anybody to attribute to
me more expertise than I have.

This is also not an exhaustive analysis and I am sure that there is
much more to say. I offer this as an introduction therefore and hope
that the responses and ensuing debate will assist in rewriting a
more thorough analysis in the fullness of time.

ARCHETYPES: WHAT ARE THEY?

Any essay on archetypal imagery in literature must of course come
with a definition of what an archetype is.

The concept of archetypes was developed by the psychologist Carl
Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961). Initially a student of Sigmund Freud,
Jung was a Swiss-German psychoanalyst who developed one of several
theories of the unconscious.

Jung theorised that there were two sorts of unconscious – the
personal and the collective. Within the collective unconscious, Jung
discerned the existence of archetypes (C.G. Jung, `The Archetypes of
the Collective Unconscious'):

`The collective unconscious, being the repository of man's
experience and at the same time the prior condition of this
experience, is an image of the world which has taken aeons to form.
In this image certain features, the archetypes, have crystallized
out in the course of time. They are the ruling powers, the gods,
images of the dominant laws and principles, and of typical,
regularly occurring events in the soul's cycle of experience.'

These archetypes occur repeatedly as images within the mythology of
the world – the wise old man, the shadow and the anima are just a
few.

Jung postulated that myths are narrative elaborations of archetypal
images (ie. conscious representations of unconscious instincts).

The anima in particular, is the archetype that interests me here.

THE ANIMA

The anima is the female soul image of a man (as the animus is the
masculine soul image of a woman). The anima therefore is the
feminine archetype of the male psyche. In other words, the `inner
woman'.

Anima literally means `soul' in Latin. The form the anima takes
depends on the state and needs of the man's soul at the time.

S.F. Walker, Jung and the Jungians on Myth, pg 48:

'Representations of the anima are legion in art, folklore,
literature, mythology, and popular culture. Every female figure who
enters the tale to cast a spell on a hero, or to lead him into and
then perhaps out of the labyrinthine perils of life, is the figure
of the anima in another mythological incarnation: Ariadne, Melusine,
Circe
'

The anima can cause delusions and negativity, but positively
expressed, is the man's companion in the exploration of the psyche.
It is the anima who sends the figure on the exploration of the
unknown:

'If one is on good terms with one's Anima
 she can prove a valuable
messenger between the unconscious and the conscious, a connecting
link - a veritable Hermes.'
(http://www.wynja.com/personality/jungarchf.html)

The anima can take many forms, (one of the most popular images is
that of a bird) but as a man matures, so too does the form of the
anima become increasingly focused within one figure (S.F.Walker,
Jung and the Jungians on Myth):

'To realize one's anima is to begin to integrate the power of eros
into one's life and to gain some glimpse of the secret of "the love
that moves the sun and other stars".'

This concept of the integration of the two dual aspects of a
person's nature (ie. integration of the feminine `anima' for men and
the masculine `animus' for woman), corresponds very closely to
concepts such as yin and yang – the integration of the masculine and
feminine to form a whole.

My assertion is that within the Harry Potter series, the archetypal
figure of the anima has become increasingly expressed in the form of
Hermione.

HERMIONE AS ANIMA

As a character, Hermione has come to increasingly embody Harry's
anima. In her essay, The Secrets of Harry Potter
(http://www.cgjungpage.org/content/view/145/28/), Jungian analyst
Gail Grynbaum refers to Hermione as a soror mystica:

'At school, Harry goes through his Training with two new friends,
Hermione Granger, a soror mystica who is also a lively, challenging
presence, and Ron Weasley, a good brother figure.'

The term soror mystica literally means `mystical sister' – the
female half of the male-female partnership. In alchemical
literature, these two together seek the philosopher's stone.
Hermione's and Harry's shared muggle experience is an important
foundation for this mirroring. They both enter as outsiders into the
magical world.

'The alchemical partnership seeks, in essence, to find each person's
own divinity through the conscious assistance of another who, in
intimate relationship, mirrors back all the aspects of the other's
soul which lay hidden.'
(http://www.iconoclastpress.com/sorormystica.html)

Gail Grynbaum analyses Hermione's increasing role of the anima in
Goblet of Fire:

'Hermione, ever an anima
 wisely guides Harry while confidently
grappling with powerful energies of her own. She, too, is learning
compassion: she actively imagines ways of helping Harry as well as
the House Elves, the slaves traditionally assigned to wizards
. Her
social consciousness stems from a mixture of exquisite sensitivity
to unfair treatment and identification with a group that mirrors her
own outcast status, as a witch in a Muggle family. Her special
psychic gifts feed a thinking that is becoming a trusted road map
for Harry.'

Within the texts themselves, we see Hermione increasingly taking on
the role of anima. Hermione is the one who points Harry in the right
direction and guides him through the `labyrinthine perils' of his
quest. It is Hermione who acts as a messenger, reflected in her name
which is a feminine form of `Hermes'.

In PS/ SS, it is Hermione who solves the riddle that enables Harry
to pass through into the last room and obtain the philosopher's
stone. In CoS, it is Hermione who provides Harry with the necessary
information to solve the riddle of the Chamber of Secrets. In PoA,
Hermione literally acts as a guide with the help of the timeturner
and helps Harry to save his Godfather (archetypal guardian of
Harry's psychic underworld).

In GoF, it is the summoning charm that Hermione teaches Harry which
allows him to get past the Dragon and grab the golden egg and which
allows him to call to him the Triwizard Cup (archetypal chalice) and
escape Voldemort (the archetypal shadow).

In OotP, it is Hermione who leads Harry into forming the DA,
provides him with the means to a voice in the Rita Skeeter article
and leads him out of his self-imposed solitude at Christmas time.
Here she clearly acts as messenger between Harry and the outside
world. This is developed further when Hermione
appears in Harry's dream and when Harry begins to hear Hermione's
voice in his head, representing the 'messenger' between his
conscious and unconscious self.

Hermione also acts as Harry's equal opposite. When Harry is at his
wildest, it is Hermione who attempts to restore equlibrium:

`Harry,' said Hermione in a rather frightened voice, `er
 how
 how
did Voldemort get into the Ministry of Magic without anybody
realizing he was there?'
'How do I know?' bellowed Harry. `The question is how we're going
to get in there!'
'But
 Harry, think about this,' said Hermione, taking a step towards
him, `it's five o'clock in the afternoon
'
OotP, pg 645

Hermione's role as anima is clear even in the beginning of the
series in PS/SS, where she represents the overlogical reaction to
Harry's unsure anxiety, providing him with an overload of
information.

'Are you really?' said Hermione. 'I know all about you, of course -
I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern
Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great
Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century.
'Am I?' said Harry, feeling dazed.
PS: 6 (UK Edition), pg 79

Hermione, as Harry's anima, is the one who is in the best position
to point out Harry's weaknesses:

`You
 this isn't a criticism, Harry! But you do
 sort of
 I mean –
don't you think you've got a bit of a – a – saving-people thing?'
she said.
OotP, pg 646

The imagery of the two coming together to form a whole is repeated
often within the book and is reflected in the circular imagery that
surrounds the two in OotP and in previous books (e.g. Pig flying
over their heads). Within this context of integration of the
feminine, the following scene is particularly interesting:

'He and Ron both tapped the teacups they were supposed to be
charming with their wands. Harry's sprouted four very short legs
that could not reach the desk and wriggled pointlessly in midair.
Ron's grew four very thin spindly legs that hoisted the cup off the
desk with great difficulty, trembled for a few seconds, then folded,
causing the cup to crack into two


<snip>

`Well, yes, that occurred to me, too,' said Hermione, allowing her
teacup to jog in neat little circles around Harry's, whose stubby
little legs were still unable to touch the desktop
'

OotP pg 598-9

The above imagery is very important. Firstly, I would draw your
attention to the length of the legs on the cups. Ron's are thin and
spindly, reflecting both his height and his insecurity (his legs are
not stable). Harry's legs in contrast are short. This reflects his
shorter stature but can also be said to represent his current
emotional state (his has not quite found his legs yet).

That said, the imagery takes on new connotations as Hermione's cup
circles Harry's. We can compare this imagery to Leonardo Da Vinci's
Vitruvian Man. The Vitruvian Man is the anatomical drawing of a man
surrounded by a circle. The symbolism of Da Vinci's drawing is
discussed below:

'The circle around the man's body is a feminine symbol of
protection. The feminine circle with a naked man represents the
balance between male and female
'
Design in the Da Vinci Code
(http://web.syr.edu/~adhanson/words/page7e.html)

This feminine circle (Hermione's cup) around the masculine centre
(Harry's cup) is therefore particularly striking. Particularly when
the following quote is also considered:

`I mis-translated ehwaz,' said Hermione furiously. `It means
partnership, not defence
'
OotP, pg 631

The above symbolises in my opinion what will ultimately be the
integration of the hero with his feminine aspect and the marriage
between the masculine and feminine.

Hermione's progression to saying the name `Voldemort' in OotP is
therefore particularly important. She is the only one of Harry's
peers to say the name, which has significant meaning for her
ultimate role as Harry's partner. As one analyst points out:

'Only when we don't deny the existence of our own Jungian shadow and
recognize our private dark side, we can [sic] hope to know ourselves
completely
'
http://theliterarylink.com/potterrr.html

This progression is an important one for Harry and Hermione's
increasing integration as it represents their increasingly equal
development. Hermione has progressed to recognizing and identifying
the shadow and can now fully stand as equal by Harry's side.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR H/HR

As Harry's anima and his soror mystica, Hermione has an important
role to play within the progression of the plot. Gail Grynbaum
alludes to this when she states the following about Voldemort's
rebirth in GoF:

'Unlike the royal marriage of the King and Queen in the Rosarium
Philosophorum "where love plays the decisive part," here power
rules: the egomaniacal Voldemort uses only himself and three
dismembered parts to transform into a red-eyed, murderous
bridegroom. There is no feminine partner, no bride.'

Unlike Harry, Voldemort (as shadow) is the epitome of the
unintegrated psyche. He has no feminine partner - no bride. It is my
assertion therefore, that Hermione's role as Harry's feminine
counterpart (his equal opposite) will be of primary importance to
Harry's hero quest and to the ultimate defeat of Voldemort.

Furthermore, JKR has developed Hermione in such a way that her role
as anima is clear. All of the clues point to the role of female
companion being fulfilled by Hermione.

For this reason, I believe that H/Hr is the ship that will sail the
HP seas.

Sienna