Archetype• Arkhetupos-first molded as a pattern• A term from literary criticism

accepting Swiss psychologist Carl Jung's idea of a recurring pattern of situation, character, or symbol existing universally and instinctively in the collective conscious of the human race.

Carl Jung

• Psychoanalyst who was a student of Sigmund Freud

• Believed that human psyche is “by nature religious”

• Coined term “Collective Unconscious,” which is the part of the unconscious that contains memories and ideas from our ancestors that are shared by all people

Collective Unconscious

• Unconscious psychic activity, present in all people, that produces symbolic pictures. These pictures have similar meanings because of the structure of the psyche, which is the same in all people in all times.

Archetypal• ar·che·typ·al

• Adjective

• typical of a certain person or thing

• Root “arch” means “chief” or “first” or “rule”

• “chief type” or “first type”

Characteristics of Archetypes1. They are not individual, but

the part we share with all humanity.

2. They are the inherited part of being human which connects us to our past and goes beyond our personal experience to a common source.

3. They are not directly knowable, but instead express themselves in forms.

4. They grow out of man's social, psychological, and biological being.

5. They are universal. From the Roman gladiator to the astronaut, they remain the same.

6. They cannot be explained by interaction among cultures because geography and history often made this impossible.

7. They are recurrent, appearing in slightly altered forms to take present day situations and relate them to the past in order to find meaning in a contemporary world.

Three Major Kinds of Archetypes:

• Character Archetypes

• Plot-Situational Archetypes• Motif-Symbolic Archetypes

Character Archetypes • Hero• Young Man from the

Provinces• Initiates• Mentor• Hunting Group of

Companions• Loyal Retainers• Friendly Beast• Evil Figure w/ Good

Heart

• Scapegoat• Outcast• The Devil Figure• Creatures of a

Nightmare• The Woman Figure

– Spiritual Earthmother– Temptress– Platonic Ideal– Unfaithful Wife– Damsel in Distress

The Hero

• This archetype is so well defined that the life of the protagonist can be clearly divided into a series of well-marked adventures which strongly suggest a ritualistic pattern.

Common Traits of an Archetypal Hero

• 1. Traditionally the hero's mother is a virgin, the circumstances of his conception are unusual, and at birth some attempt is made to kill him.

• 2. He is, however, spirited away and reared by foster parents.

• 3. Almost nothing of his childhood is known, but upon reaching manhood he returns to his future kingdom.

Common Traits of an Archetypal Hero

• 4. After a victory over the king or a wild beast, he marries a princess, becomes king, reigns uneventfully, but later loses favor with the gods.

• 5. He is then driven from the city after which he meets a mysterious death, often at the top of a hill.

• 6. His body is not buried, but nevertheless he has one or more holy sepulchers.

The Young Man from the Provinces

• This hero is spirited away as a young man and raised by strangers. He later returns to his home and heritage where he is a stranger who can see new problems and new solutions.

The Initiates

• These are young heroes or heroines who, prior to their quest, must endure some training and ceremony. They are usually innocent and often wear white.

Mentors

• These individuals serve as teachers or counselors to the initiates. Sometimes they work as role models and often serve as a father (or mother) figure.

                                  

           

Hunting Group of Companions

• These loyal companions are willing to face any number of perils in order to be together.

Loyal Retainers

• These individuals are somewhat like servants who are heroic themselves. Their duty is protect the hero and reflect the nobility of the hero.

Friendly Beast

• An animal usually on the side of the hero

Evil Figure with Ultimately Good Heart

• A redeemable devil figure saved by the nobility (or love) of the hero

The Scapegoat

• An animal or more usually a human whose death in a public ceremony expiates some taint or sin that has been visited upon a community

The Outcast

• A figure who is banished from a social group for some crime against his fellow man. The outcast is usually destined to become a wanderer from place to place.

The Devil Figure

• Evil incarnate, this character offers worldly goods, fame, or knowledge to the protagonist in exchange for possession of soul

Creature of Nightmare

• A monster usually summoned from the deepest, darkest part of the human psyche to threaten the hero and/or heroine

The Earthmother

• Symbolic of fruition, abundance, and fertility, this character traditionally offers spiritual and emotional nourishment to those with whom she comes in contact

The Temptress

• Characterized by sensuous beauty, this woman is one to whom the protagonist is physically attracted and who ultimately brings about his downfall

The Platonic Ideal

• This woman is a source of inspiration and a spiritual ideal, for whom the protagonist or author has an intellectual rather than a physical attraction

The Unfaithful Wife

• A woman, married to a man she sees as dull and unimaginative, is physically attracted to a more virile and desirable man

The Damsel in Distress

• The vulnerable woman who must be rescued by the hero. She is often used as a way to ensnare the hero

Situational (Plot) Archetypes

• The Quest

• The Task • The Initiation • The Fall

• Death & Rebirth• The Unhealable

Wound • Father-Son Conflict

• The Ritual • The Natural vs.

Mechanistic World

• The Battle between Good and Evil

• The Journey

The Quest

• This describes the search for someone or some talisman which, when found and brought back, will restore fertility to a wasted land, the desolation of which is mirrored by a leader's illness and disability .

The Task

• To save the kingdom, to win the fair lady, to identify himself so that he may reassume his rightful position, the hero must perform some nearly superhuman deed.

The Initiation

• This usually takes the form of an initiation into life, that is, the depiction of an adolescent coming into maturity and adulthood with all the attendant problems and responsibilities that this process involves. An awakening awareness, or an increased perception of the world and the people in it usually form the climax of this archetypal situation.

The Fall

• This archetype describes a descent from a higher to a lower state of being. The experience involves spiritual defilement and/or a loss of innocence and bliss. The fall is also usually accompanied by expulsion from a kind of paradise as penalty for disobedience and moral transgression.

Death and Rebirth

• The most common of all situational archetypes, this motif grows out of the parallel between the cycle of nature and the cycle of life. Thus, morning and springtime represent birth, youth, or rebirth; evening and winter suggest old age or death.

The Unhealable Wound

• This wound is either physical or psychological and cannot be healed fully. This wound also indicates a loss of innocence. These wounds always ache and often drive the sufferer to desperate measures.

Father-Son Conflict

• Tension often results from separation during childhood or from an external source when the individuals meet as men and where the mentor often has a higher place in the affections of the hero than the natural parent.

The Ritual

• The actual ceremonies an initiate experiences that will mark his rite of passage into another state.

The Journey

• Usually combined with any or all of the foregoing situational archetypes, the journey is used to send the hero in search of information or some intellectual truth.

• The Journey can be broken into stages or categories

Joseph Campbell’sHero’s Journey

1. Departure

a. The call to adventure

b. Refusal of the call

c. Supernatural Aid

d. Crossing the first threshold

e. The belly of the Whale

2. Initiation

a. The road of trials

b. The meeting with the goddess

c. Temptation away from the true path

d. Atonement with the Father

e. Apotheosis (becoming god-like)

f. The ultimate boon

3. Return

a. Refusal of the return

b. The magic flight

c. Rescue from without

d. Crossing the return threshold

e. Master of two worlds

f. Freedom to live

Christopher Vogler’s 12 Stages

1. Heroes are introduced in the Ordinary World, where

2. they receive the Call to Adventure.

3. they are reluctant at first or Refuse the Call, but

4. are encouraged by a Mentor to

5. Cross the Threshold and enter the Special World, where

6. they encounter Tests, Allies, and Enemies.

7. They Approach the Inmost Cave, crossing a second threshold

8. where they endure the Ordeal.

9. They take possession of their Reward and

10. are pursued on the Road Back to the Ordinary World.

11. They cross the third threshold, experience a Resurrection, and are transformed by the experience.

12. They Return with the Elixir, a boon or treasure to benefit the Ordinary World.

Symbolic (Motif) Archetypes

• Light vs. Darkness

• Water vs. Desert

• Heaven vs. Hell

• Magic Weapon

• Haven vs. Wilderness

• Supernatural Intervention

• Innate Wisdom vs. Educated Stupidity

Light-Darkness

• Light usually suggests hope, renewal, or intellectual illumination; darkness implies the unknown, ignorance, or despair

Water-Desert

• Because water is necessary to life and growth, it commonly appears as a birth or rebirth symbol. Water is used in baptismal services, which solemnize spiritual births. Similarly, the appearance of rain in a work of literature can suggest a character's spiritual birth. Conversely, the aridity of the desert is often associated with spiritual sterility and desiccation

Heaven-Hell

• Man has traditionally associated parts of the universe not accessible to him with the dwelling places of the primordial forces that govern his world. The skies and mountain tops house his gods; the bowels of the earth contain the diabolic forces that inhabit his universe.

Innate Wisdom vs. Educated Stupidity

• Some characters exhibit wisdom andunderstanding of situations instinctively as opposed to those supposedly in charge. A hero often needs the guidance of innate wisdom.

Haven vs. Wilderness

• Places of safety contrast sharply against the dangerous wilderness, heroes are often found in unexpected places. Wilderness threatens civilization

Supernatural Intervention

• The gods, as a symbol of religion, intervene on the side of the hero or sometimes against him.

Magic Weapon

• This symbolizes the extraordinary quality of the hero because no one else can wield the weapon or use it to its full potential. It is usually given by a mentor figure.

Nature vs. Mechanistic World

• Nature is good while technology and society are often evil

Battle between Good and Evil

• Obviously the battle between two primal forces

Common Mythic Elements

• Two Worlds• Prophecy• Wearing the Enemy’s

Skin• Oracle• Failed Hero• Trickster

• Enchanted Forest• Sacred Grove• Lone Animal• Masks• Reforging of the

Sword

Two Worlds

• Ordinary World (Mundane) vs. Special World

Prophecy

• the inspired declaration of divine will and purpose or a prediction of something to come

Wearing the Enemy’s Skin

• The hero must disguise himself as the enemy.

Oracle

• A person (as a priestess of ancient Greece) through whom a deity is believed to speak

Trickster/Shapeshifter/Holy Fool

• The hero isn’t sure if he can trust this character

Enchanted Forest

• Forest inhabited by creatures who can both harm and help the hero, often time magic is needed in order to evoke help

Sacred Grove/One Tree

• Symbolizes mystery and transformation, represents an enclosure where the hero is changed

Lone Animal

• Chasing a lone animal into the enchanted forest (and the animal gets away)

Masks

• Part of mythic rituals used to strike fear into the hearts of enemies, summon ancestors, or invoke supernatural beings

Reforging of the Sword

• The sword has been broken and must be reforged.

• This symbolizes the initial defeat and loss of honor of its wielder. Victory and the restoration of honor is achieved by reforging the weapon, either at the wielder's hand or that of his heir.

Nature Archetypes

• Unconscious Mind

• Conscious Mind

• Miscellaneous

Unconscious Mind

Cave-a dark place that contains mystery or monster

Forest-confusion, darkness, loss of control, nightmares. The hero meets both the guide and the monster here

Monster-chaos, nightmare, opposition to society

Moon-darkness, coolness

Stars-illumination and mystery

Lake-peaceful or standing, abode of monsters

Swamp-sinking, descent into trouble, entrapment

Fish-thoughts and dreams

Conscious Mind

Desert-sterility

Sand- instability, treachery

Home-stability and safety, lack of growth

Garden-controlled nature, paradise

Sun- light, warmth, fire,

Miscellaneous

Fire-Sacrifice

Wind-Holy Spirit, change, inspiration

Mountain-Knowledge, enlightenment, truth

One Tree-Immortality

Water-purification

a. waterfall-turbulent change

b. river-journey, change, transformation

c. rain-fertility, blessing

d. ocean-infinity

Serpent/snake- evil

Birds

a. One Bird-positive

i. owl-wisdom, freedom, ascent, transcendence,

ii. dove-peace

b. Flock-negative, disintegration

Number ArchetypesOne-unity, divinity, loneliness

Two-duality: body and spirit, yin and yang

Three-Trinity: body, spirit, and divinity; energy

Four-Earth: seasons, hemispheres, directions, winds

Five-five fingers and toes, humanity (four limbs plus one head)

Six-man: not seven so not quite perfect, incomplete

Seven-Perfect order: seven wonders, seven days of creation, completeness, union of earth and Trinity, power

Eight-Eternity, man and divine

Nine-Magic, impossible to get rid of

Ten-Wholeness, commandments

Twelve-Disciples; signs of Zodiac, numbers on a clock

Forty-days of flood, days of Christ in wilderness

Color ArchetypesGold/Yellow- the conscious mind, rational thought, fire, sun, masculinity

Silver- the moon, intuition, femininity, unconscious mind, cycle of life

Red- blood, sacrifice, passion, fire

Blue- Virgin Mary, heavenly, sky, spiritual truth

White- innocence, purity, eternity; death in some cultures

Green- fertility; jealousy

Purple- royalty

Black- mystery, death, unconscious, night

Brown- neutrality, stability, earth

Pink- the innocent sacrifice (white/red)

The End