The interpretation of gender norms in the rewrittings of epics in the context of archetypal criticism

Contrary to popular belief, literary works have had an inevitable connection with the ideologies of the period in which they were written throughout history. Especially myths and epics, which are ancient narratives, are of great importance in this context. The most effective elements that function as carriers of ideologies in these narratives are archetypes. Archetypal literary criticism is an approach that analyzes literary works through universal, symbolic motifs and character types, that is, archetypes. In this study, the archetypes that reinforce the gender norms existing in ancient narratives were examined and how these archetypes were transformed in rewritten works was discussed. In this context, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Aeneid epic and the Odyssey epic, which are considered canon works, were examined within the framework of archetypal literary criticism. In these epics, mother archetypes that form femininity stereotypes and romantic love archetypes that reveal masculinity stereotypes and the hierarchy between men and women are common themes and have similar features. It has been determined that all three of these works depict women positively as long as they are in secondary roles serving men, otherwise they are dehumanized. Similarly, in all three works, masculinity norms glorified by masculine ideology were frequently included and a hierarchy was created between men and women that subordinated and marginalized women. Also, in this study, Ayla Kutlu's Women's Epic, Ursula K. Le Guin's novel Lavinia and Margaret Atwood's novel Penelope, which are considered rewritings of the canonical works mentioned above, were examined and how these texts transformed the archetypes in ancient narratives were analyzed. It has been determined that in all three works, the archetypes contained in the original texts and constituting gender norms were turned inside out and transformed by the authors. All three authors created a more egalitarian fiction between the genders by destroying the archetypes that constitute gender norms.