These Shadows of Imagination: A Psychoanalytical Approach to S.T. Coleridge's "Christabel"

Abstract

<p>Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "Christabel" is one of the many unfinished works that has intrigued critics since it was first published in 1816. Due to its incomplete nature the poem readily lends itself to a variety of interpretations, such as the theme of Christian redemption or, more popularly, the belief that the poem was one of the first tales in England of the vampire. Many of the interpretations to date, however, do not adequately explain Coleridge's failure to finish this haunting work, nor do they satisfy the emotional attachment that is formed between the reader and the characters of this poem.</p> <p>The major emphasis of this thesis will be to penetrate the literal level of the poem in order to explore the symbolic material which "covers but not hides" the intense amount of psychological material in the work. By following the thoughts and ideas of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, the ultimate desires, or wish fulfilment. of the narrator of the poem, will be explored as they are represented by the relationship between the poem's eponymous heroine, and the mysterious and Perilous visitor, Geraldine. This relationship and the many conflicts it arouses in the narrator will reveal a potent reason for Coleridge's abandonment not only of this particular work, but of poetic creation in general.</p>