ERIGON AND HERMES: A COMPARATIVE JUNGIAN AND LACANIAN PSYCHOANALYSIS OF IDENTITY, SPIRITUALITY, GUIDANCE, AND TRANSFORMATION

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative psychoanalytic study of Jordan Plevnesh’s avant-garde drama Erigon (1982) and the figure of Hermes from Greek mythology, focusing on themes of identity, spirituality, guidance, and transformation. Using Jungian and Lacanian frameworks, the analysis interprets Erigon’s protagonist, Isidor Solunski, and his canine alter ego as manifestations of archetypal and unconscious dynamics, including the shadow, the Self, individuation, and the mirror stage. The study highlights how Erigon functions as a modernized psychopomp and trickster, paralleling Hermes’s role as messenger, guide of souls, and liminal boundary-crosser. Jungian theory reveals Erigon’s journey as a paradoxical individuation culminating in death-as-transcendence, while Lacanian theory elucidates the fragmentation of identity across the Imaginary, Symbolic, and Real registers, and the perpetual pursuit of desire. The comparison demonstrates that both Erigon and Hermes embody transformational processes that dissolve boundaries between life and death, human and animal, and individual and collective identity. By merging mythic archetypes with postmodern dramaturgy, Plevnesh reimagines the Hermes figure as a vehicle for cultural and spiritual renewal in a fractured European landscape.