In The Silence of the Lambs, Ardelia Mapp represents Clarice Starling's Jungian Self.
According to Carl Jung's Man and His Symbols, "If an individual has wrestled seriously enough and long enough with the anima (or animus) problem so that he, or she, is no longer partially identified with it, the unconscious...changes its dominant character and appears in a new symbolic form, representing the Self, the innermost nucleus of the psyche. In the dreams of a woman this center is usually personified as a superior female figure - a priestess, sorceress, earth mother, or goddess of nature or love..."[a] (emphasis not in original).
The name Ardelia is related to the name Delia, which is of Greek origin and means "from Delos." The island of Delos was Artemis's birthplace.[b] Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. She was the Hellenic goddess of the hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth, virginity and young girls, bringing and relieving disease in women. She is considered to be one of the nature goddesses.[c] Ardelia represents Artemis, a goddess of nature, and therefore, she represents Clarice Starling's Self.
a. Man and His Symbols. Ed. with introduction Carl G. Jung. London: Aldus Books, 1964. pp. 207-208.
b. Wikipedia, 'Delia'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delia.
c. Wikipedia, 'Artemis'. Web, n.d. URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis.
