What does the Joker–the Trickster archetype–symbolise? A Jungian analysis.
The Trickster archetype has been a widespread feature of play and entertainment since antiquity. Trickster manifestations emerge in most mythologies–from clowns to phantoms, shapeshifters and jokers.
Tricksters are characterized by peculiar qualities. They deceive, thieve, shift, play, lie, trick, joke–they bend conventional rules. They’re almost always grotesque. They have provocative features to compliment controversial natures. Why?
The symbolic purpose of the Trickster, Jung claims, is ‘simply the reflection of an earlier, rudimentary stage of consciousness’ (p.166–7, Carl Gustav Jung, ‘Four Archetypes’). More explicitly, ‘In his clearest manifestations, he is a faithful reflection of an absolutely differentiated human consciousness, corresponding to a psyche that has hardly left the animal level’ (p.165–6, Ibid). Essentially, Jung claims that the Trickster represents humans at an earlier stage of evolution: semi-developed, differentiated, partially conscious, human.
This explains the Trickster’s dual nature. It shifts shapes, because it is both hyper-conscious and hyper-animal, each wrestling with the other. It is ugly and funny looking, because it is only somewhat recognisable.
