The Psychology of The Trickster

There is perhaps no figure in literature more fascinating than the trickster, appearing in various forms in the folklore of many cultures. Trickster is witty and deceitful. He is the timeless root of all the picaresque creations of world literature, and is not reducible to one single literary entity. Trickster tales have existed since ancient times, and has been said to be at the very foundation of civilisation and culture. They belong to the oldest expressions of mankind. Tricksters are the breakers of rules, agents of mischief, masters of deceit, and boundary crossers. He is an agent of change, and is amoral, not immoral. Trickster is at one and the same time creator and destroyer, giver and negator, he who dupes and who is always duped himself. Psychologically, the trickster is an archetype, part of the collective unconscious. Trickster is everywhere, he is an eternal state of mind. The integration of the trickster archetype allows us to go from being ruled by our own self-centred ego to a