Robert Johnson, among others, cite the Grail myths - particularly Parzifal - are the myths of the modern, Western psyche. The Grail myths tell of a journey somewhere far away to find the boon of the Self. I call these masculine myths, any myth that sends the hero on a major quest to find his boon. The question I ask myself is: What is the feminine myth? My answer is that a feminine myth is one in which the hero either defends homebase (Harry Potter) or - more applicable to modern psyche - establishes and maintains roots. This means that she must marry, start a family, establish a living, etc. So what myth drives modern women? I believe it is Pride and Prejudice. Through the characters of Darcy and Elizabeth, Jane Austen shows us to be discriminating about whom we marry, encourages us to marry for love - bonus if he’s rich - and then to establish a living. Most of the women I can think of are searching for a Mr. Darcy, an engaging gentleman, and often wind up with Mr. Collins, a real doofus. So when the time comes, after years of wallowing in unhappiness, they leave and try again. What they fail to distinguish is that their Mr. Collins is really Mr. Darcy, but the power of animus projection always gets in the way.
Another way to regard P&P is that it is a feminine version of Beauty and the Beast. The masculine version is the one we all know - the Beast brings Beauty into his castle and must convince her to fall in love with him. He rips her from her family and places strict conditions upon her seeing them, swearing that his life depends upon it. P&P shows us something else: Elizabeth is at the age to marry and must find a suitable husband to secure her happiness. She does not kidnap him, but expects them to love each other based on their natural traits. Like Beauty and the Beast, Elizabeth has to learn to see beyond Darcy’s initially snobbish exterior to get at his good-intentioned interior. He affords her the room to make that conclusion on her own, rather than forcing it upon her.
In the other direction on the literary timeline, the last few years have brought us another version of Beauty and the Beast: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight, both involving a romance between a girl and her vampire. Instead of the vampire wearing his external bad-behavior like a fir coat (Beast) or a stiff-collared suit (Darcy), the vampire wears his mythology and known habits for bloodsucking. Both Angel and Edward refrain from feeding on humans - Angel robs the blood bank and Edward feeds on animal blood - and both fight against their natures. The girls fall deeply and madly in love and the ensuing drama is about protecting their lives. Both girls are high school age and are about to graduate as of right now where I stand in their stories (Season 3 of Buffy and early into the third book of Twilight).
Apparently this falls under the archetype of the demon lover, something I will be exploring further in the coming weeks.