The Mask and Shadow: Persona and Shadow as Archetypal Energies in Shakespearean Tragedies (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798252723495)

In Shakespeare's tragedies, identity is never private. It is shaped in relation, sustained through recognition and performed before others. This study explores what happens when that identity can no longer change.

Drawing on the archetypal dynamics of persona and shadow, it reveals the tragic figure as one who has come to depend on a form of self that can no longer expand. What once offered coherence begins to restrict it. What is refused gathers beneath the surface until it can no longer remain contained.

Across Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and King Lear, tragedy unfolds as a psychological necessity. The moment arrives when transformation is required, yet experienced as loss of self. The mask remains. The psyche fractures.