Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
English
Date of Award
5-2001
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
William Styron Harris Jr.
Committee Members
Edwin W. Williams, Judith B. Slagle
Abstract
This thesis is a Jungian study of John Jasper, the central character in Charles Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Jasper fails to achieve psychological wholeness because he suffers from what Carl G. Jung calls dissociation of consciousness, a malady that prevents Jasper from entering the process of individuation--a process of self-discovery. Jasper's boredom, self-alienation, hypocrisy, and secret double life impede his search for self.
Faced with projections of his anima and shadow self, Jasper has many opportunities for psychological and spiritual growth. But rather than integrate the aspects of his personality that each of the anima and shadow figures represents, he rejects their messages or attempts to mesmerize them into submission to his will.
Throughout the novel, the journey motif constantly surfaces, emphasizing that Jasper is on a quest in search of his self. But it is a failed quest that leads to psychological disintegration.
Document Type
Thesis - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Pridgen, Linda Poland, "The "Jaded Traveller": John Jasper's Failed Psychic Quest in Charles Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood." (2001). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 101. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/101
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.