Interpreting Mary's Attraction Toward Moses By Carl Jung

Mary’s attraction toward Moses can be looked at from the perspective of Carl Jung concept of shadow. Jungian readings interpret the relationship of Mary and Moses as aspects of one person; those aspects are the archetype of the shadow and the individual. These interpretations are derived from Jung's distinction between the collective unconscious and the personal unconscious. The collective unconscious is inherited, impersonal, and universal. The content of the collective unconscious is mainly archetypes; some archetypes occur in a particular society or time period, others are the same in all societies and times. The archetypes may find expression in myth and fairy tales. The most common and influential archetypes are the shadow, the animus,
which are unacceptable, for moral reasons. The shadow is generally equated with the dark side of human nature. The shadow is emotional, seems autonomous because uncontrollable, and hence becomes obsessive or possessive. Moses, then, can be seen as Mary's shadow–he represents the darkest side of her, with his vindictiveness, his sullenness, his wildness, and his detachment from social connections. She rejects this part of herself: First by bullying Moses, treating him inhumanly, considering him the scum of the earth; and second by retreating to Tony Marston for her “salvation”. Once again she falls prey to the expectation from Patriarchy that she could be saved by conforming to the dictates of the society. Her attempt to hold false hopes, once again, from patriarchy can be seen when she retreats to Tony Marston in the hope of salvation claiming that “he can save me”(Lessing 198). This shows, once again, her complacent subjugation, even at the end of the novel, to the Patriarchal power. But Moses, the shadow, refuses to be suppressed permanently; and she knows this fact, therefore, she waits for him to bring her to the ultimate consequence of her