Summarize Relevant Aspects Of Jungian Psychology And Demonstrate Their Influence On Either A Child Of Our Time Or A Midsummer Marriage

Summarize relevant aspects of Jungian psychology and demonstrate their influence on either A Child of Our Time or A Midsummer Marriage.The relevance of Jungian Psychology, when studying Tippet, is unquestionable, almost perfunctory. The psychological theories of Jung were greatly admired by Tippet who was undoubtedly influenced a great deal by Jung’s observations of the psyche. Tippett not only clearly understood and supported the validity of Jung’s theories, but also fully incorporated them into his life; using the theories as an almost spiritual base from which he could ascertain a clear understanding of his ‘self’ (i.e. analysing his own dreams in a Jungian fashio ...view middle of the document...

Tippett was also able to further his understanding of the human race by acknowledging the connecting aspect of each individuals’ psyche; the ‘collective-unconscious’. To Tippett, Jung’s theories were so convincing that he not only used them to rationalize his own psyche, but also realised the empathetic bond between humans, seeking not only epistemological answers, but an answer to the connections that exist between them. ‘Some of us are driven by other agonies to a deeper analysis, until we meet on the labyrinthine paths of the collective unconscious those events, age-old predilections of the mind, which Jung calls the Archetypes’ . It is perhaps through Jung’s idea of archetypal knowledge that Tippett connects most to Jung’s psychology; seeing the potential of an innate knowledge of things – which somewhat resonates with the ideology of Platonic philosophy – to act as a means through which he could communicate in his music.A Child of Our Time was Tippett’s attempt at communicating to a large audience ‘a complex of ill-defined but essentially compassionate emotions deriving from his reactions to the 1914-1918 war [First World War]’ . More specifically, Tippett felt that he needed to address injustice, ‘his feelings towards the socially deprived or exploited’ . Tippett indubitably found latent in his feelings for the exploited, Jung’s ideology of projection and its pertinence to ‘the figure of the outcast or scapegoat upon whom such rejection is projected and through whom it ostensibly is justified’ . In composing A Child of Our Time, Tippett was not only to ask why such rejection is projected, but also, uncover the ostensible justifications for such behaviour by examining and eliciting concepts of Jungian psychology.It is the intention of this essay to examine those aspects of A Child of Our Time which are inextricable, or can be perceived to be linked to Jungian psychology. Not only will the event upon which the work was based be considered, but also the actual libretto and Tippett’s choice of language. Tippett’s intentions for and interactions between characters in the oratorio will also be discussed, as will the presence of Jung in the actual diegesis of the work. It is, however, important that relevant aspects of Jungian psychology are summarized in order to understand the ways in which the materials of Tippett’s work behave.To understand the Jungian influence on Tippett’s choice of title and concept for the work, we must first understand Jung’s concept of archetypes. In breaking down the psyche into three parts: the conscious mind, the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious, Jung was further able to rationalize that:‘from the unconscious there emanate determining influences which, independently of tradition, guarantee in every single individual a similarity and even a sameness of experience, and also of...