The current article attempts to describe, examine, and analyze the representation of women in the allegory of dream from a mythological perspective, focusing on its evolution from antiquity to the contemporary era. Using comparative analysis, the article explores examples of allegory of dream across different cultures and historical periods. Based on the research corpus, it was found that women in allegories of dream often appear in the form of figures such as the guide-saint, mother, journey goal, villain, and, in rare cases, the female seeker. Historically, there has been an evolution in the portrayal of women in allegory of dream, and in the contemporary era, there is a greater diversity in their roles. The path of the heroine’s journey differs from that of the hero’s journey, and Maureen Murdock’s spiral pattern appears more suitable than Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey for describing the woman’s journey—a pattern emphasizing the significance of women’s self-awareness and alignment with their inner consciousness. The analysis of allegories of dream reveals the transformation of women’s roles throughout history and the influence of various cultural and social factors on this transformation. While myths emphasized traditional roles, the contemporary era has seen a broadening and diversification in this area.
Introduction
This article explores the roles and positions of women in the narratives of the literary genre Allegory of Dream. By posing the question, “What is the contribution of women in these mystagogical journeys?” the author seeks to uncover the diverse roles women play in such narratives, from ancient myths to contemporary works.
By referring to the origins of the Hero’s Journey in the rites of passage and its transmission to the collective unconscious through archetypes and narratives, particularly journeys after death, the article introduces the Le roman initiatiqe and its subgenre, the Allegory of Dream. In this literary genre, the hero, by entering a dreamlike world and overcoming obstacles with the aid of guidance, attains a truth and, upon returning, recounts their journey. The article then emphasizes the central role of the hero in these narratives and raises its main question regarding the contribution of women in these mystagogical journeys.
The problem statement indicates that the heroes of mystagogical narratives are generally male, but it also refers to the Women’s Heroic Journey and the instruction of feminine mysteries. The author points to the scarcity of explicit documents regarding the instruction of feminine religious secrets and the potential reluctance of women to express their spiritual experiences due to severe consequences. Nevertheless, the presence of women in Allegory of Dream narratives has not been overlooked, and their depiction fluctuates across a spectrum from the maternal goddess and guide to transfigured and seductive beings. The article notes the limited number of women’s heroic journeys (such as Ishtar and the Christian Wife) in Allegory of Dream narratives and proposes the research hypothesis.
The research hypothesis initially posited that the pattern of the heroic journey in these narratives aligns with Joseph Campbell’s model, and the dominance of a long-standing patriarchal perspective prevented women from embarking on such heroic journeys. However, the presence of figures such as Sophia, guiding goddesses (the Lady of Wine, Circe, the Lady of the Boat, Daena, Hazrat Fatima (PBUH), Beatrice), and women who are the object of male heroes’ journeys (Eurydice) challenges this hypothesis. Furthermore, the significant presence of women portrayed as infernal or antagonistic figures is also noteworthy. The article concludes that women in these narratives possess multifaceted personas and play different roles, raising the question of whether the form of the women’s heroic journey is different.
Methodology
The research methodology employs library research. The author, by examining scholarly literature, has identified and reviewed numerous Allegory of Dream narratives and categorized the depiction of women across different historical periods. Initially, Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey theory serves as the theoretical foundation, but the perspectives of Maureen Murdock on the woman’s hero journey were also incorporated.
The research background introduces some previous articles and studies in the field of the structure, origin, and functions of the Allegory of Dream literary genre, positioning this article as a subsequent step in examining the depiction of women in this literary form.
The definitions section outlines Allegory of Dream as a traditional form of storytelling, particularly popular in the Middle Ages, in which the hero falls asleep in a dreamlike setting and encounters anthropomorphic characters or abstract concepts. The presence of a “guide” is introduced as a constant element in these works. The article also notes the decline in the popularity of this literary genre after the Middle Ages and the emergence of its modern examples. While “The Romance of the Rose” is usually considered the origin of this literary form, the author, by referring to numerous accounts of spiritual journeys in various civilizations, considers its origin to be older and links it to the mechanism of the human mind and its perception of the afterlife. Subsequently, the constant elements and conventions in narratives of dream journeys after death are enumerated, and using a structuralist approach and Propp’s model, the relatively fixed structure of this type of narration is described. Finally, Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey” model, along with its stages, is depicted, and its influence on subsequent narrations, especially in cinema, is mentioned. The author, noting the linear path of Campbell’s hero’s journey, considers its goal to be the hero’s attainment of individuality and maturity and their return to guide others. Additionally, the types of heroes in allegory of dream, from the mystery seekers of primitive tribes to prophets and mystics, are mentioned, and the four initial states of allegory of dream narratives are delineated. The reasons for the hero’s journey to the otherworld are also listed, and the role of dreamlike states and the uncanny atmosphere in these narratives is emphasized. At the end of this section, by examining statistical examples, the dominance of male heroes (except for Ishtar and the Christian Wife) is noted, and it is stated that women appear in these narratives in other forms.
Results and Discussion
The depiction of women in Allegory of Dream examines the different roles of women in these narratives:
1. The Guide: The feminine element (Anima in Jungian psychology) as a mediator between the self and the unconscious serves as a guide for male protagonists. Examples of female guides in myths (e.g. the Lady of Wine, Circe, the Lady of the Boat), Zoroastrian narratives (Daena), religious texts (Hazrat Fatima (PBUH) in Risalat al-Ghufran), and contemporary Persian literature (Khosrow Dokht in The Black Shroud, the Lady of Qal’e-ye Soqrim in Nima Yushij’s poetry) are analyzed. Beatrice’s luminous figure in Dante’s Divine Comedy is described in detail as a comprehensive example of a guide on a spiritual journey.
2. The Mother: The maternal aspect of the feminine element in Allegory of Dream is examined. The image of the “Earth” as a wet nurse in Persian mystical allegories is cited as an example, although it lacks a glorious persona. Beatrice’s stern behavior in the Divine Comedy is also considered to stem from maternal compassion.
3. Beloved Women as the Object of the Lover’s Journey: The hero’s attempt to bring the dead beloved back to the world of the living is examined as one of the goals of the journey to the afterlife. The myth of Orpheus’s journey to bring back Eurydice is described as a classic example, and the recurrence of this theme in contemporary narratives (the film What Dreams May Come and the animation Hercules) is mentioned.
4. The Dark Aspect of Women’s Depiction: The negative figures of women in allegory of dreams, from the dark queen Ereshkigal and Ishtar in myths to the foul-smelling Daena in Zoroastrian narratives and sinful women in religious allegories (the hell of the Arda Viraf Nameh and Dante’s Inferno with the presence of Eve, Zuleikha, Semiramis, and witches) are examined. In the narratives of the Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) ascension (Mi’raj), numerous depictions of women’s torment in hell are also portrayed. These images in religious allegories are presented with the aim of admonishing and informing the audience of the consequences of their actions in the afterlife. Women in these narratives are often introduced as types and rarely have specific human names.
5. Women as Seekers: Among the two poles of saintly and villainous female figures, two examples of women who are called to the hero’s journey, Ishtar and the Christian Wife in The Pilgrim’s Progress, are examined. Ishtar’s journey to the underworld and her return in exchange for her beloved Dumuzi is analyzed as a woman’s heroic journey with different characteristics from the male journey. Referring to Maureen Murdock’s perspective, the author describes the female journey as spiral and more internal than the linear path of Campbell’s male journey. The journey of the Christian Wife is also examined as an adventurous passage but with more support from male guides and relative ease compared to her husband’s journey in the first part of the story.
Conclusion
The article concludes that the depiction of women in Allegory of Dream can be categorized into five groups: guide-saint, mother, object of the journey, villain, and female seeker, with the guide-saint figure generally prevailing. Although villainous women are the dark aspect of female guides and saints, the prominent presence of female guides, especially a figure like Beatrice, overshadows the depiction of infernal women. However, in Islamic narratives after Risalat al-Ghufran, the role of the female guide diminishes, and the figure of the spiritual old man replaces her, indicating a decline in the status of women. In the contemporary era, the figure of the female guide reappears in literature. The small number of female seekers suggests that the women’s heroic journey is different from the male journey; its goal is not to achieve individuality and guide others, but rather a return to the self, reconciliation with the inner being, and respect for nature and the female path. The female hero reaches a fulfilling resolution when she can accept her inner contradictions and attain deep awareness and peace.