Archetypes: The Building Blocks of Literature

English II

Essential Questions:

1.What is an archetype, and why do writers use them in their works?

2.What are the various kinds of archetypes, and how do they contribute to the meaning of a text?

3.How do archetypes affect a text and the reader/observer?

What Does Archetype Mean?

Archetype is from the Greek word archetypon.

arche “beginning; original”

typon “model; pattern; mold”

In literature, an archetype is a character, symbol, setting, plot element, or conflict that is repeated throughout various works from various cultures.

From Where Does This Idea of Archetypes Come?

Carl Jung

• Observed that many cultures across the world and in many time periods have similar symbols, characters, conflicts, etc. in their literature and myths.

• The collective unconscious: humanity keeps a memory of its shared experiences throughout time, which appears in archetypes.

Archetypes: Essential Understandings

1. In literature, an archetype is a character, symbol, setting, situation, or conflict that is repeated throughout various works.

2. Archetypes are building blocks for stories.

3. Archetypes exist for many reasons:

A.To explain natural phenomenon and religious experiences

B.To answer questions about the meaning of life and what it means to be human

C.To entertain

D.To teach cultural roles, morality, and wise living

Archetype Main Groups

• Plot

• Character

• Symbolic

• Setting

Plot Archetypes

The Journey

• A hero must leave his kingdom to search for truth or acquire an object that will save the kingdom.

• The journey includes the numerous characters encountered, experiences had, and life lessons learned.

The Quest

• What the hero must accomplish to restore order to his kingdom.

• The quest often includes attaining an important object.

The Task

• The nearly superhuman feat the hero must perform to complete the quest.

Battle Between Good and Evil

• Despite all obstacles, good triumphs over evil.

Death and Rebirth

• Reflects the natural cycle of life and death.

• Sometimes, characters experience a physical—literal—death, or they can experience a more symbolic decay.

• Sometimes, characters experience a physical—literal—rebirth or resurrection, or they can experience a more symbolic return to life.

The Unhealable Wound

• Either a physical or psychological wound that cannot be fully healed. This wound often symbolizes a loss of innocence.

Character Archetypes

The Hero• The protagonist of the story

• Circumstances of his birth are sometimes unusual; often raised by a guardian, not his biological parents

• Leaves his kingdom to return only when he matures

• Often characterized by courage, strength, and honor; the hero will sacrifice himself for the good of all

• He leaves what is familiar for a new, challenging world

Mentor (Wise Old Man)

• Wise teacher of the hero

• Often a father figure

• Serves as a role model or the hero’s conscience

• Sometimes gives the hero gifts: weapons, food, magic, information.

Hunting Group of Companions

• Loyal companions of the hero who are willing to face conflicts and stay together

The Devil Figure

• Person who represents evil incarnate

• Sometimes offers worldly goods, fortune, or knowledge in exchange for control of the hero and/or other good characters

The Outcast

• A character banished from a social group for a real or imagined crime

• Destined to wander from place to place

Damsel in Distress

• Vulnerable woman whom the hero must rescue

• She is sometimes used as a trap to capture the hero

Other Important Character Archetypes

• Star-crossed lovers – two characters engaged in a love affair fated to end tragically for one or both due to the disapproval of society, friends, family, etc.

• Father-son conflict – tension occurs between a son and his father, often due to psychological and/or emotional tension

• Christ figure – a person sacrifices his own life for the good of others or sacrifices himself so that others do not die

Symbolic Archetypes

Light versus Darkness

Light

• suggests hope, renewal, or knowledge, or goodness

Darkness

• implies the unknown, ignorance, despair, or evil

Heaven versus HellHeaven

• Realm of gods, forces of good, and life; often associated with the sky or mountain tops

Hell

• Realm of evil and/or death; often associated with the bowels of the earth

Water

• Life, growth, birth (or re-birth), spiritual birth, cleansing, purity

Fire

Positive

• light, knowledge, life, purity, rebirth

Negative

• destruction, suffering, death

Circle

• the life cycle, completion, order, power, strength, unity, security

Colors

• Black – darkness, chaos, mystery, death, evil, wisdom

• White – light, order, knowledge, life, goodness, purity

• Red – blood, sacrifice, passion, disorder, evil, warning

• Green – growth, hope, life, vegetation

• Blue – peace, order, security

Numbers

• 1 – unity; wholeness; power

• 3 – sacredness; Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit); mind, body, spirit; birth, life, death

• 4 – circle (life cycle); seasons; earth, nature, natural elements (earth, fire, air, water)

• 6 – humanity; evil; devil

• 7 – completion; perfection; order

Setting Archetypes

Underworld

• place under the earth where the hero encounters fear and where his courage is tested; may contain a maze or labyrinth, which can symbolize the hero’s difficult decisions; often associated with death

Forest

• normal rules do not seem to apply; people and things run wild; associated with the unknown

Tower

• strong place often where evil resides; sometimes where a person is locked away, which represents isolation and the need for rescue

River

• the journey of life; change; metaphor for the passage of time; stages of human life; decision that cannot be taken back

Mountain

• obstacle; goal of a spiritual or emotional journey; mystery; power