The Bovaryc Anti-Heroine on the Hero’s Journey. Melancholic Maturing in Ingmar Bergman’s "Summer with Monika"

Authors

  • Claudia NEGREA Faculty of Theatre and Film, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Email: claudia.negrea@ubbcluj.ro

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbdrama.2024.2.03

Keywords:

Ingmar Bergman, melancholy, emotions, Bovarysm, hero, monomyth

Abstract

This paper explores the emotions of one of Ingmar Bergman’s most iconic feminine characters, from his 1953 film, Summer with Monika. While describing the protagonist’s arc, the analytic approach focuses on Monika’s maturing from a narrative perspective, following the stages of the hero’s journey and exploring her descent into melancholy. Starting from the premise that Monika possesses some of the traits of Bovaryc psychology, as developed by Flaubert and Jules de Gaultier, the character’s change from heroine to antiheroine is followed, putting an emphasis on the way her melancholy affects her fate.

References

Bergman, Ingmar. The Magic Lantern. An Autobiography, transl. from Swedish by Joan Tate. London: Penguin Books, 1989.

Câmpean, Noemina. Strindberg și Bergman. Perspective comparatiste asupra durerii inocentului [Strindberg and Bergman. Comparative perspectives on the pain of the innocent]. București: Eikon, Cluj-Napoca: Școala Ardeleană, 2018.

De Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. Trans. Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier. New York: Vintage Books, 2011.

De Gaultier, Jules. Le Bovarysme. Paris: Mercure de France, 1921.

Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004.

Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. Ed. by Dora Knowlton Ranous. New York: Brentanos, 1919.

Freud, Sigmund “Mourning and Melancholia.” In On the History of the Psycho-Analytic Movement. Papers on Metapsychology and Other Works. London: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-Analysis, 1917.

Godard, Jean-Luc. Godard on Godard. Critical writings by Jean-Luc Godard. Translated and edited by Tom Milne, New forewords by Annette Michelson. Boston: Da Capo Press, 1986.

Haskell, Molly. From Reverence to Rape. The Treatment of Women in the Movies. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2016.

Hübner, Lara. “Her defiant stare: dreams of another world in Summer with Monika.” Studies in European Cinema, Volume 2 Number 2 (2014): 103-113.

Kristeva, Julia. “On the melancholic imaginary.” New Formations, no. 3 (1987): 5-18.

Lombardo, Patrizia. Cities, Words and Images. From Poe to Scorsese. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Schiesari, Juliana. The Gendering of Melancholia. Feminism, Psychoanalysis, and the Symbolic of Loss in Renaissance Literature. New York: Cornell University Press, 1992.

Williams, Dan. Klein, Sartre and Imagination in the Films of Ingmar Bergman. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

Wood, Robin. Ingmar Bergman. Ed. Barry Keith Grant. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2012.

Downloads

Published

2024-12-20

How to Cite

NEGREA, C. (2024). The Bovaryc Anti-Heroine on the Hero’s Journey. Melancholic Maturing in Ingmar Bergman’s "Summer with Monika". Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Dramatica, 69(2), 75–93. https://doi.org/10.24193/subbdrama.2024.2.03

Issue

Section

Articles