The Archetype in Peter Shaffer's Drama

The book presents an archetypal analysis of the plays of Peter Shaffer (1926- ) according to the theories of the Swiss psychologist Carl Gustave Jung (1875-1961) and the theoretician Northrop Frye (1912-1991). Character types and themes in the selected plays, The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1964), Equus (1973) and Amadeus (1979) are analysed in the light of Jung’s “Theory of the Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious”. The book also focuses on the different types of archetypal symbols and their patterns of thought and action in Frye’s Anatomy of Criticism (1957). Through this archetypal study, Shaffer’s plays reflect his attempt to reveal the individual’s endeavors to reach reconciliation with both himself and with other individuals in his social milieu.