The Tyranny of Type in Shakespeare and Jung Tragedy and One-Sidedness

Introduction

PART I. CONTEXT AND THEORY
1. Jung’s Typology
2. Shakespeare and Personality Imbalance

PART II. THE INFERIOR FUNCTION IN SHAKESPEARE’S ‘JUDGEMENT’ PLAYS
Preface to the Rational (Evaluative) Function Chapters
3. Coriolanus and Timon of Athens; Introverted Thinking and Extraverted Feeling
4. Richard II and King Lear; Introverted Feeling and Extraverted Thinking

PART III. THE INFERIOR FUNCTION IN SHAKESPEARE’S ‘PERCEPTION’ PLAYS
Preface to the irrational (perceptual) function chapters
5. Othello and Much Ado About Nothing: Introverted Sensation and Extraverted Intuition
6. Julius Caesar and Macbeth; Introverted Intuition and Extraverted Sensation

Conclusion

Appendices

Biography

Sofie Qwarnström is an interdisciplinary researcher and theatre director with a PhD in analytical psychology, an MSc in health psychology, and an MA in literature and philosophy. She is the founder of Hoops of Iron, an English-language theatre company in the Greater Geneva Franco-Swiss region. Her desire to move beyond ideological deadlock through genuine recognition of the experiential world of the other feeds into her work both in research and theatre.

'Sofie Qwarnstrom has drunken deeply at the fountain of Jung’s theory of psychological type. This is an outstanding guide to the understanding of the application of type theory using the plays and characters of Shakespeare as case studies. What is incredible is that the Bard was able to depict so many different instances of one-sidedness and the consequent psychological dynamics. Jung would be delighted to read Sofie’s brilliant exposition.'
Murray Stein, Analyst, Lecturer and Author of Jung’s Map of the Soul and The Principle of Individuation

'A careful, fascinating exploration of how typological one-sidedness was entirely recognized by Shakespeare in a way that anticipates Jung and expands the Greek dramatists’ notion of hubris in psychological and more humanly recognizable ways. This is a beautifully written, clearly argued book.'
John Beebe, Analyst and Author of Energies and Patterns in Psychological Type: The Reservoir of Consciousness

'In an ever more dangerously polarised world, few things are more needful, or more difficult, than an ability to see beyond our individual certainties. With her masterful study anatomising the hubris in Shakespeare’s plays in light of Jung’s notion of psychological one-sidedness, Sofie Qwarnström vividly but carefully works her way through this problem towards the possibility of its wise and consequential resolution. Elegantly written and teeming with insights, this important book makes a timely contribution to both literary and psychological understanding.'
Roderick Main, Professor and Author of Breaking The Spell Of Disenchantment: Mystery, Meaning, And Metaphysics In The Work Of C. G. Jung

'This is a fascinating and highly original book that revitalises Jungian typology by reading it through the lens of Shakespearian drama. In lesser hands this is a project could easily have become highly reductive. It is to Qwarnström’s enormous credit that her sensitive and poetic approach succeeds in unveiling profound and original insights not only into Jung’s typology but into the plays themselves. At no point does the reader feel that Shakespeare is being short-changed by Qwarnström’s psychological reading. All in all, she succeeds triumphantly in doing full justice to Jung’s ideas on typology, a subject that can be, and often is, presented in dry and schematic terms but that is here refined, enriched, and generally brought to life by being seen through a Shakespearean lens.'
Mark Saban, Analyst, Lecturer, Actor and Author of Two Souls, Alas

'Surveying Shakespeare’s plays, Sofie Qwarnström employs Jung’s psychological typology, not (as Jung feared we would) to type-cast and pigeon-hole the dramatic personae, but (as Jung recommended) to pose the psycho-geographical questions, where are we now and in what direction is this moving? Her explorations (with her type-compass in hand) are rigorously methodical, sometimes surprising, and always playfully inventive.'
Craig E. Stephenson, Analyst and Author of Possession, Anteros, and Ages of Anxiety

'Qwarnström’s book is compelling analysis of how Shakespeare and Jung both explored the dangers of one-sidedness and failing to integrate opposites. By examining how the potential for enantiodromia is present at the start of eight plays—and the different ways it unfolds, for good or ill—she not only deepens our understanding of both psychology and literature but also shows how we can each play our part in mitigating the issues facing our increasingly polarised world. This is a profound and timeless work.'
Steve Myers, Visiting Fellow at the University of Essex and Author of Myers-Briggs Typology vs Jungian Individuation

'For some decades now psychoanalytic writing on Shakespeare by literary critics has been overwhelmingly Freudian. Sofie Qwarnström’s more analytically oriented book adopts the character theory of Freud’s contemporary, Jung, and his view on underdeveloped and thus “inferior” psychological attributes. If this sounds like Freudian “repression” it is not: what is being repressed is not a drive or passion but an enduring aspect of our psychological being. Effectively Qwarnström reframes the ancient tragic notions of hubris and hamartia in a psychoanalytic language. Specifically, she shows how the dynamic of dominant vs. inferior functions manifests itself in Shakespeare’s tragic protagonists, in whom the imbalance is extreme. Jung’s categories might almost have been designed for Coriolanus and Timon, who are presented in precise counterpoint. With the aid of Jung, Qwarnström puts Shakespeare’s plays together in surprising and illuminating ways.'
John Gillies, Professor and Author of Shakespeare and the Geography of Difference