The Condition of Women in Light of Jung's Collective Unconscious in Two Poems by Luiza Amélia de Queiroz

Abstract

This study aims to carry out a psychoanalytic (re)reading in light of Jung’s collective unconscious in two poems by the 19th-century poet from Piauí, Luiza Amélia de Queiroz. Accordingly, based on the position assumed by the lyrical self in the poems “Lira Dormente” and “Conselhos,” we seek to analyze aspects of her personality and archetypal images from the perspective of a woman who alternates between transgression and submission. We aim to identify the female condition through psychoanalytic concepts by (re)interpreting the poetry of Luiza Amélia in accordance with the stance adopted by the lyrical self. Furthermore, we investigate personality traits and archetypal images by drawing a comparison between Jungian psychoanalytic theory and Freudian theory, analyzing how the author transposes a reivindicative stance onto the lyrical self in relation to the rigid moral pillars of the patriarchal model. Methodologically, this research is bibliographic in nature, with a qualitative- interpretative approach, focusing on a psychoanalytic analysis of the two aforementioned poems, selected from the work Flores Incultas (2015). For the theoretical foundation, we rely on the concepts of Freud (1900); Jung (2014); Freitas (2012); Bourdieu (2012); Rocha (2015), among others. The results of this research indicate that sociocultural conditions influenced the way Queiroz positioned herself in her poetry — at times as a transgressor of traditional customs shaped by patriarchy, advocating for women's education and a space for authorship that embraced her gender; at other times, as a submissive woman confined to the domestic sphere. Through this, we were able to highlight the nuances of archetypal images constructed around the woman of her time.