Investigating Projection in Lorca’s Play the House of Bernarda Alba: A Jungian Perspective

Dr. Muhammad Akram; Dr. Shamshad Rasool; Shahbaz Ahmad

doi:10.36902/rjsser-vol2-iss2-2021(171-178)

Dr. Muhammad Akram Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology, Rahim Yar Khan
Dr. Shamshad Rasool Lecturer, Department of English, University of Gujrat
Shahbaz Ahmad Lecturer, Higher Education Department (Azad Jammu and Kashmir)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36902/rjsser-vol2-iss2-2021(171-178)

Keywords: Defense Mechanism, Denying Shadow, Personality Imbalance, Psycho Cases, Social Forces, Suppression of Desires

Abstract

In daily life, the concepts like denial, catharsis, slip of tongue, and neurosis are used to cure psycho cases. The psychoanalytical theories instigate to probe into them. This study aims to explore the issue of denying one’s shadow and its impact on the personality when one fails to understand the dark side of his/her personality. Lorca’s play The House of Bernarda Alba constitutes the sample of the study. The framework comprises ‘Projection’, an aspect of Jung’s theory of personality which human beings use as a defense mechanism to avoid their shadow. Textual Analysis has been used to collect and analyze data. The findings reveal that the characters particularly Alba undergo suppression due to internal and external forces. She suppresses the desires and the instincts of her daughters as a defense mechanism because the social forces and their will to satisfy the aspects of their desires are in direct conflict. Her attempt to overpower shadow brings destruction being unable to understand it and get insight from it. She suppresses shadow strictly and, eventually, the whole family suffers from personality imbalance.