The essay focuses on the psychological processes staged in Zsigmond Kemény’s The Widow and the Daughter: on the one hand, the personality changing aspects of the archetypal framework, on the other hand, the psychological representation of the mother-daughter relationship. The events that take place in the novel can be integrated into a more or less seamless psychological narrative. The archetype materialized in one of the protagonists of the novel, Madame Tarnóczi, overlaps with the psychological phenomenon that Shinoda Bolen called the Hera-archetype. The loss of balance in her marriage leads to serious mental problems: Madame Tarnóczi’s emotional-mental state of being offended and resentful becomes permanent, and that results in the suspension of her maternal instincts. Her thirst for revenge – due to her archetypical compulsion – is transferred to her daughter, who commits suicide to escape the unbearable psychological pressure. The representation of the deformed mother-daughter relationship seems exemplary in the novel, and in this respect the novel appears more responsive than it used to be in its own age.

The essay focuses on the psychological processes staged in Zsigmond Kemény’s The Widow and the Daughter: on the one hand, the personality changing aspects of the archetypal framework, on the other hand, the psychological representation of the mother-daughter relationship. The events that take place in the novel can be integrated into a more or less seamless psychological narrative. The archetype materialized in one of the protagonists of the novel, Madame Tarnóczi, overlaps with the psychological phenomenon that Shinoda Bolen called the Hera-archetype. The loss of balance in her marriage leads to serious mental problems: Madame Tarnóczi’s emotional-mental state of being offended and resentful becomes permanent, and that results in the suspension of her maternal instincts. Her thirst for revenge – due to her archetypical compulsion – is transferred to her daughter, who commits suicide to escape the unbearable psychological pressure. The representation of the deformed mother-daughter relationship seems exemplary in the novel, and in this respect the novel appears more responsive than it used to be in its own age.