The Golden Bough
The Golden Bough is James George Frazer's comparative study of magic, religion and ritual. First published in two volumes in 1890, it expanded through later editions; Frazer's one-volume abridgement appeared in 1922. It is useful here as a historical collection of comparisons and interpretations, rather than a universal dictionary of symbols. Cambridge scholarly introduction; text of the abridgement.
Frazer and the starting point at Nemi
Frazer (1854-1941) was a classical scholar and fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. His comparative project brought together reports of customs and beliefs from many places and periods. The categories he proposed should be understood as his interpretation of that material.
The book opens with the priesthood associated with Diana's sacred grove at Nemi, near Rome, and the figure called the King of the Wood. Frazer uses the account of a priest whose office depends on killing his predecessor as the starting problem for a much wider inquiry into kingship, ritual, succession and sacrifice. This framing is more specific than beginning with a general claim that every myth concerns death and rebirth. See chapter I of Frazer's abridgement.
Sympathetic magic
Frazer groups two proposed principles under sympathetic magic:
- Similarity: an action or representation is believed to influence something it resembles. Frazer calls this homeopathic or imitative magic.
- Contact: things once in contact are believed to remain connected after separation. Frazer calls this contagious magic.
These are descriptions of beliefs in Frazer's scheme. They do not establish that the claimed influence occurs. The term homeopathic in this classification refers to similarity; its use here should not be read as medical advice. Chapter III, Sympathetic Magic.
For the study of metaphor, the comparison is useful because resemblance, contact and association are different relationships. An image may resemble something without being identical to it, and a shared feature does not establish that two traditions assign it the same significance.
The bough in Virgil's Aeneid
The golden bough also appears in book VI of Virgil's Aeneid. The Sibyl tells Aeneas that he must obtain it for Proserpina before entering the underworld. Doves guide him towards it; the bough later helps establish his right to pass Charon. It is subsequently offered at the entrance to the blessed regions.
The narrative does not describe Aeneas using the bough as a return ticket. At the end of the visit, Anchises sends Aeneas and the Sibyl out through the ivory gate. Keeping these events distinct avoids adding a function to the object that the story does not give it. Virgil, Aeneid, book VI, J. W. Mackail translation.
Frazer's argument about Nemi and Virgil's literary narrative can be compared, but the poem, the historical reports and Frazer's reconstruction are different kinds of evidence. A symbolic interpretation should not be presented as if it were simply another event in the story.
Reading the comparisons critically
Frazer's project is organised around large comparisons and an evolutionary account of human thought. Readers can examine both the examples and the assumptions used to connect them. Useful distinctions include:
- A report and an explanation: what a source says happened, and what Frazer proposes it means.
- Similarity and identity: two practices sharing a feature, and the stronger claim that they express the same belief.
- A local context and a general pattern: what a practice means in its own setting, and the category into which a comparative author places it.
- A story and a prescription: a narrative about ritual or sacrifice, and advice about how a person should act.
These distinctions make the book a subject for critical reading rather than a shortcut to interpreting every culture or every personal metaphor. Its historical categories should remain visible as categories, not become unquestioned facts about the people it describes.
Texts and further reading
- The Golden Bough, 1922 abridgement, Project Gutenberg.
- The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, volume I, from the third edition, including Frazer's preface.
- "James George Frazer" in Defining Magic, a scholarly introduction to his classification.
- Virgil's Aeneid, book VI, for the golden bough in its narrative setting.
Related pages
- Archetypes
- The Hero's Journey
- Scapegoat
- Metaphor Across Languages and Cultures
- Stories and literature