Archetypes of women in Philippine fictions
University of Cebu, Philippines
ABSTRACT
This study analyzed four female characters from selected Philippine fictions according to the tenets of Feminist and Archetypal criticisms. It intended to contribute to the development of the said fields and to serve as a future document for feminist scholars and advocates of women empowerment in the country. This research employed the qualitative approach and the descriptive thematic content analysis design. The main female characters from the short stories and a novel sourced from an array of Philippine fictions (Kerima Polotan-Tuvera’s The Virgin, Austrgelina Espina-Moore’s Mila’s Mother, Edilberto Tiempo’s The Witch and Leoncio Deriada’s The Dog Eaters) were examined individually. It was then revealed that the four female characters of the four representative works of Philippine fictions personify the archetypes of women as espoused by Carl Jung’s Archetypal Theory: Virgin, Mother, Witch and Queen. It was concluded that Feminism has been practiced by Filipino writers since then and that male authors can be feminist also through their depictions of the female characters in their works. Certainly, no matter how women characters are treated in society, they still exuded the inherent drive to survive if not transcend in a patriarchal space and time. Keywords: archetypal criticism, women in literature, Philippine fictions, feminist studies, Philippine literature