Practical analysis has shown us that unconscious contents are invariably projected at first upon concrete persons and situations.
C. G. Jung (CW16, par.357)
This is not a new phenomenon. We know that Shakespeare was aware of it because many of his plays feature characters who project onto others their unacknowledged psychic contents.
We will discuss four of Shakespeare’s plays:
Week 1 Coriolanus. A brilliant primer on the grooming of a candidate for high public office, complete with handlers, coaches, strategists, and the stage mother to end all stage mothers, the magnificent Volumnia, who projects onto her son her own need for power. Take note of Coriolanus’ love/hate relationship with his enemy/partner Aufidius and his attitude toward the common people.
Week 2 Cymbeline. Part history, part romance, part revenge tragedy, and part satire. The King opposes his daughter Imogen’s marriage and banishes her virtuous husband. His Queen (second wife) has a son, whom she wants Imogen to marry, thus making him heir to the throne. This is a play that tackles an intriguing set of problems about the relationship between political stories and psychological stories, between the state and the subject, and between political fiction and fact.
Week 3 The Winter’s Tale. An ageless story of how one man’s suspicious nature and unchecked power poisons the lives of everyone around him.
Week 4 The Tempest. Is this a beautiful story of magic and love, or is it a colonialist allegory? There is something troubling about this idealized picture of a man possessing arts and crafts, dominance and power, living on a small island with his daughter. We could see Prospero as a colonizer of territory not his own, who displaces the native ruler and enslaves its indigenous population. The play’s structural design mirrors the human psyche: Caliban is dark and ugly but must be acknowledged. Ariel is the spirit of imagination, who cannot be possessed forever.