Individuation (Philosophy)

Despite disparities of strategy and style, the fundamental concerns of Emerson's Representative Men and Novalis's Die Lehrlinge zu Sais (The Apprentices at Sais) are almost identical. Both works describe and promote ideals of personal development that are essentially the same, and can be understood in terms of C. G. Jung's concept of individuation. The model of expansion which is celebrated in these two works goes beyond what is usually meant by "self-culture" or "Bildung," in that its principle is a dialectic of the conscious and the unconscious psyche, the aim of which is the restoration of equilibrium and a widened sense of personality. A comparison of the programs of Emerson and Novalis underscores the compatibility of their thinking, and enables us to appreciate German and American Romanticism in the context of the evolution of the concept of the unconscious.

The characterizations in The Tempest resemble the archetypes of the
collective unconscious and appear to gather their momentum from
Shakespeare's understanding of the individuation process. In depicting
the unfolding dynamics of psychic change, the playwright anticipates
Jung's theory of individuation by showing the compensatory influence
these numinous figures have on the characters' conscious orientations
as they move from separation to subsequent union. The characters'
agitated and irrational responses to the archetypal manifestations
are a reflection of the psychic division characteristic of the individuating
mind. Harmony and reason are achieved as the characters
heal their division by integrating the conscious contents of their
projections. This enlarging of the personality and broadening of
collective relationships transform The Tempest into a variation on the
quest for individuation offering a psychic stage for the Jungian notions
of process and renewal.