SOURCE: "Archetypal Structures in Scandinavian Mythology," in Facets of Scandinavian Literature, edited by A. Wayne Wonderley, APRAP Press, 1974, pp. 53-67.

In this essay, Sehmsdorf analyzes the Icelandic mythological tradition in terms of Jungian psychology.

The title of my paper is "Archetypal Structures in Scandinavian Mythology." In the few minutes allotted to me, I want to give a rough sketch of an interpretation of the nordic mythological system along the lines of Jungian psychology. As source material I will rely almost exclusively on the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda of Snorre Sturluson.

According to C. G. Jung, the archetypes are universal forms of the unconscious manifesting themselves in dreams, fantasies, art, fairytales, myths, and other expressions. As the archetypal images are received by the conscious mind, they initiate a process of reaction and assimilation. In the gradual development of psychological maturation, a person thus experiences and re-experiences the...