Seeing double: the transforming personalities of Alan Moore's Promethea and the Ulster Cycle's Cuchulain

Abstract

This article explores the physical and psychic transformation of Sophie-Promethea®, of Alan Moore's Promethea, and Cuchulain, of the Irish Ulster Cycle, into dual heroic identities, illustrating the psychological concerns present in the texts. This heroic process of establishing a dual identity dramatizes the creation of a balance between the conscious ego and the unconscious psyche, a pattern of individuation put forward by theorist Carl Jung and subsequently explored by Erich Neumann and James Hillman. The plot structure of the texts, as well as elements of visual/descriptive detail concerning transformation support this comparative examination and confirm a concern for an attempted resolution between conflicting psychological aspects of the heroic individual. This study highlights both the heroic failure of Cuchulain to attain this desired resolution and Moore's creation of a new paradigm for potential synthesis between the worlds of the ego and the psyche as illustrated through his character, Promethea®.

Keywords:

• transformation
• heroic process
• dual identity
• individuation
• ego
• psyche