The Trickster
Karl Jung's explanation for the archetypes that surface in cultural and religious
literature is that they are the product of what he calls the collective unconsciousness.
That thread of consciousness that connects all human beings and cultures around the
world. Yet it is not visible to the naked eye, one must look for the signs of it by
researching cultures who are long gone and comparing them to each other and our own.
Studying it reminds us that all humans are bound together by a common source.
The "Trickster" is an archetype that surfaces in many cultural and religious stories.
Each trickster is unique to it's own culture, but all tricksters are bound by certain
characteristics no matter what religion they show up in. Anthropologists would argue that
each trickster should be evaluated in it's own cultural setting, but in order to see
their archetypal value they must be and can be evaluated as a group.
Jung would say he is a manifestation of our own collective unconscious. Evidence to
support such a claim was found by psychologist John Laynard. In his research on
schizophrenia he found the qualities of the trickster surfacing in the disorder (p.54
Euba). This suggests that the Trickster is within all of us just sitting on the
borderline of conscious and unconscious though.
So who is this Trickster? He has many forms both human and animal. His physical form
seems to be particular to each religion. The best way to view a trickster is by his
personality. "[He is] Admired, Loved, venerated for his merits and virtues, he is
represented as thievish, deceitful, parricidal, incestuous, and cannibalistic. The
malicious practical joker is deceived by just about anybody; the inventor of ingenious
stratagems is presented as an idiot; the master of magical power is sometimes powerless
to extricate himself from quandaries." (p.67 Hynes and Doty). The trickster seems to be a
comedy of opposites. For every good aspect of his persona there is an equal and opposite
aspect. In religious stories his role is very diverse. He is the breaker if taboos. He
provides comic relief to a religious myth. And he will pull off elaborate schemes to
teach a moral lesson or expose the folly of men.
The Trickster shares many attributes with man. In Native American stories he takes the
form of the coyote. He is earthbound, like man, but is constantly trying to transcend
this fate. He is always attempting to fly (which is the sign of a god to the Native
Americans) with disastrous consequences. No matter how hard he tries he cannot escape the
human condition. Perhaps these stories are meant to teach Native Americans not to aspire
to be anything more than human.
The Trickster can be seen as a parody of the Shaman, or the spiritual leader of the
tribe. The Shaman looks to the supernatural for his strength while the coyote relies on
his own wits. The coyote is always looking for the short cut. Through meditation the
Shaman is said to be able to fly. This is a sign of his divinity. The coyote always has
an elaborate scheme for flight, like hitching a ride with a buzzard, but the end is
always the same.( p.87 Hynes and Doty)
Does this character sound familiar? Millions of kids grew up with this very same
character, but we knew him as Wile Coyote. The Looney Toons character that was always
after the Road Runner. The creators of him were interested in the comedic value they saw
in Native American stories and adapted him into a cartoon. Wile would come up with some
elaborate schemes, but in the end the result was always the same. The long fall from the
cliff to the ground.
The Trickster of Greek mythology was a God by the name of Hermes. Once again we see a
sort of bridge between the average man and the gods. Hermes is the only God in Greek
mythology that is born to a nymph (a mortal) . Also with Hermes we see the recurring
theme of flight. Hermes is said to have wings on either side of his head.
In Greek culture Hermes is seen as a patron of facilitating roles as oppose to
commanding roles (p.48 Hynes and Doty). Icons of Hermes were displayed in front of houses
and where roads intersect. He is seen as guiding people in transition. Stories about him
also provide comic relief and make him one of the Greeks favorite Gods.
In Africa the Trickster we encounter goes by the name of Esu. Esu is a great satirist
and is always blamed when life plays a trick on the African people. Esu is also great at
exposing mans follies. In one story two farmers who live next to each other decide to
make a pact that they will never argue with each other again since they are such good
friends. One day Esu put on a hat that is black on one side and white on the other. He
then walks between the two farmers. The farmers then proceed to argue about the color of
the hat that Esu is wearing. After the have fought for a while Esu returns and shows them
that they are both wrong about the hat. He turns the hat inside out and shows them that
it is red.(p.54 Euba) Esu, both symbolically and through ridicule shows the farmers their
error. Once again we see the trickster (either by example or by tricking humans) telling
people not to become too full of themselves or think that they are somehow invulnerable
in one way or another.
After reading about these three tricksters I wondered if modern culture had any of it's
own original tricksters. Then I found one in one of my favorite TV shows; Star Trek the
next generation. The character by the name of 'Q' played by John DeLancey is a classic
trickster and a good specimen for the archetype. In Star Trek man is a constant voyage to
better himself through knowledge, using science and reason as their Gods (like Freud,
they are a product of the enlightenment philosophy). Q is as close as one can get to a
God in the eyes of the 24th century human. He is a being that exists in a different
continuum than man, but in the human continuum Q's powers are nearly omnipotent. Here
once again we see the not quite God, not quite human nature of the trickster.
Q, as you would expect from a trickster, loves putting the arrogance of humans in it's
place. In one episode he does just that. Seeing what he thinks is too much arrogance from
the starship Enterprise, Q decides to take the big fish in the little pond (the
Enterprise) and put it in a massive pond. Q teleports the ship to the other end of the
universe to meet some of the enemies they can look forward to meeting. This is when they
meet the Borg. The Borg are much stronger than the humans and just when it seems that the
Borg will destroy the Enterprise he teleports them back to their end of the universe.
Here we see again how the trickster reminds humans that there are many greater powers
than them in the universe.
Now that we have seen several examples of the trickster and his ways we have a good way
to identify him and understand him. In many ways he is a reflection of the human desire
to become more than human. He is also a reminder that humans are just that, humans. The
trickster's satire and ridicule serve as both comic relief and reminders of our own
obvious limitations as humans. He represents all those parts of our psyche from wishing
to fly like a bird to those that wish to rule like a God. It is fascinating to study his
attributes with in a collective and within ourselves.
Bibliography
1. "Mythical Trickster Figures", William J. Hynes and William G. Doty
? 1993 The University of Alabama Press ; Tuscaloosa, Alabama
2. "Archetypes, Imprecators, and Victims of Fate", Femi Euba
? 1989 Greenwood Press ; New York, New York
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