Jack the Ripper and Bluebeard: Psychic Dissociation, Collective Shadow, and Violence in Modernity

Abstract

This article proposes a symbolic interpretation of the figure of Jack the Ripper, understood as an archetypal representation of the collective shadow in the context of Victorian modernity. Drawing on Carl Gustav Jung's analytical psychology, the concepts of shadow, anima, and persona are articulated within the analysis of the fairy tale "Bluebeard," understood as a symbolic matrix of a psychic dynamic marked by the dissociation between consciousness and the unconscious and by violence directed against the repressed feminine. The study adopted a qualitative, theoretical-interpretative approach, grounded in symbolic hermeneutics, using Jung's works as its main corpus, in dialogue with Erich Neumann's developments on the archetype of the feminine and with Marie-Louise von Franz's contributions regarding the interpretation of fairy tales. In conjunction with historiographical studies on Victorian London, it is argued that Jack's cultural persistence as a modern myth stems not only from the police mystery, but also from his symbolic function as a condenser of collective projections related to moral repression, psychic dissociation, and violence against women. It is concluded that analytical psychology offers a perspective for examining the symbolic meanings associated with extreme violence in the cultural imaginary, without establishing a causal explanation for the crimes.