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KMID : 0385320050160020157
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Journal of Korean Psychoanalytic Society
2005 Volume.16 No. 2 p.157 ~ p.172
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The Conditions of Mental Development of Heros in Myths and Psychoanalytic Meanings of the ‘Myth of Zumong’
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Lee Chang-Jae
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Abstract
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In myths, the hero is an ideal model who overcomes old complexes and difficulties to achieve personal growth as well as grand tasks for the nation. The following are general conditions for the mental development of heroes. I. “Serious events” of others--the ancestors, the parents and the symbolic world which constitute ethnic unconsciousness -- before the hero’s birth. II. Childhood complex：“individual unconsciousness,” deprivation of “primary objects”. III. An arduous rite of passage in youth：confrontation with other’s demands, confrontation with returned ethnic and childhood complex. IV. Support of assistants：the second “primary objects” who complement the insufficient part that the first couldn’t satisfy. V. The great achievement：elimination of both ethnic and childhood complex, wish fulfillment. VI. Ambiguous death：sacrificing oneself for the nation’s prosperity, which gives birth to a total hero. Considering these conditions, we can easily access the underlying unconscious meanings of events and the actions of heroes in myths. In the case of the myth of Zumong, Zumong was the fruit of an illegitimate relationship between others：Haemosue, Juewha and Kumwa. In this situation, he was able to have an intimate “object relation” with his mother only, which was a strong attachment, but he was unable to have a normal object relationship with his father. This failure of affirmative identification with his father prevented him from adapting to the traditional system. He practised archery desperately to reduce persecution anxiety and to keep his self-respect amid the inhospitality of his siblings and the contempt of others. Zumong adopted Cheonzae and Habeck, the god of heaven and the god of the river, as his ideal objects of identification because they were greater than his father. He decided to leave his country to deal with the childhood complex and ethnic complex of his youth, and after a showdown with a powerful man in an alien land he became the king of a new kingdom. He then abdicated from the throne at an early age without a clear reason, then passed away. Zumong overcame his persecution anxiety and power complex against his father by becoming the king of powerful kingdom(Goguryeo). The myth of Zumong contains the ethnic unconsciousness which desires to be free from the threat of China and to show off the power of the Korean people. It is worth noting that in the myth of Zumong there are no women assistants, other than Zumong’s mother. It implies that Zumong and the Korean people could not establish intimate relationships with their wives because they could not separate themselves from attachment to their mothers.
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KEYWORD
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Conditions of Hero’s mental development, Ethnic unconsciousness, Types of others’ demands
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