a. Its appearance and development
As he stated in the introduction, it appears from the ancient myths as with that of King Lycaon. Bloodthirsty, the king receives Zeus disguise as a human and who, after being received into the king's house, said to be the king of gods. Wanting to test this assertion serves food Lycaon god in human flesh. Enraged, Zeus transforms the outcast of humanity in transforming into a wolf, just as bloodthirsty animal that is decimating the herds. But the curse does not stop there. Lycaon is also ordered to keep the memory of his human condition. From ancient times the symbol of metamorphosis appears as a representation of exile in relation to men while maintaining a link with them. A person who is transformed into the margins of society. Far from focusing on the shores of the Mediterranean, the myth of the werewolf also finds its place in Iceland where a text of the XIII century tells the story of a werebear . Similarly in the fifth century in China becomes an official tiger. In the Middle Ages, the fear is only obliged to increase the morbid belief in witchcraft and the devil. The werewolf is then someone who had a curse or must expiate his sins. Moreover, it is often said that the curse lasted seven years (the number 7 has great symbolic value in most cultures and religions, it is often the perfect ) or that werewolves are "every night and go seven parishes a tour of seven towers.
Luis Royo
b. Attributes werewolf
Under his human form, the werewolf was supposed to have eyebrows that meet, palms of hands with hairy short thumbs and ears further back than normal. All pretenses of abnormality were good to take. Similarly some births are more likely to give a werewolf. The seventh child in a family for example would be a (return the number seven), children born of marriages forbidden, priests for example would turn every seven years or those born "capped" with the placenta head. When he does not run the forests, the werewolf would have hidden his fur between the skin and flesh, he would simply turn his skin to become a wolf.
The transformation itself is multiple beliefs. Sometimes he would roll in the sand or mud, or even jump over a tree trunk several times intoning an incantation. Several texts also mention a glove or a wolf skin belt with which to strike in order to metamorphose. A legend is more common to wear a wolf skin. While the person is in his animal form, many beliefs said that if the werewolf can not find his clothes when he returned to resume human form, he is condemned to remain a wolf.
Killed a werewolf is not easy, the silver bullet blessed is the most widespread and that seems safer. In the nineteenth century Picardy and in Gascony for example, it is enough to bleed the werewolf that the person be released from his curse.
The legend of the transformation to the full moon only occurs very rarely in ancient texts, often become werewolves at will or all seven days of the Sabbath following the curses received.
c. Its image in the collective mind
As for physical descriptions, the image of the werewolf in the collective psyche is in the same direction.
The werewolf has a reputation very similar to the wolf, plus a more human dimension. Associated with violence, brutality, the werewolf pulls down the barriers of human morality and yields to all the basic instincts that man has turned away. If the Middle Ages, the werewolf is seen as a creature of the devil, his image has evolved over time particularly. While we believed the real existence of these beings fear was complete, since the werewolf is passed to the rank of legendary creature, its perception by humans is different. From a psychological point of view with Freud's terms, the werewolf would be the representation of the domination of this on me whereas in humans it is called normal me overlooking the it. So there is a domination of the instinctive field (the id), with the werewolf as we have already seen, the social and moral censures are exceeded. The phenomenon of transformation can also be seen as a duplication of self.
In today's society, the vision of the werewolf is much more fantastical and less tinged with fear before. If the idea of carnivorous predator is still present, as well as violence, the idea of virility and fantasy outperforms. The werewolf is also predominantly male and have been introduced. There are certainly women werewolf but are much less present, moreover, the werewolf has its female counterpart is the nightmare.
In novels such as the current series Anita Blake from Laurell K. Hamilton, werewolves are haloed by brute force, the laws of the "pack" does not fit to human laws. In this type of novel, the werewolf is often associated with sexual desire and the play of domination. The reader finds all that the man usually censorship. The werewolf would be a sort of way to externalize the frustrations related to prohibitions imposed by society.
This theory is not only for our modern society but at the onset of the werewolf. The psychological challenge is very present in our time, but then that belief in the werewolf was real, it was conducted studies to explain this metamorphosis.
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