Archetypes and Heroes: An Introduction

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Archetypes and Heroes An Introduction

• Feraco
• Myth to Science Fiction
• 14 September 2009

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Archetype (n)

• 1 the original pattern or model of which all
  things of the same type are representations or
  copies prototype also a perfect example
• 2 an inherited idea or mode of thought in the
  psychology of C. G. Jung that is derived from the
  experience of the race and is present in the
  unconscious of the individual

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Locating the Treasure

• If I ask you about archetypes, look at
• Images
• Themes/Ideas
• Symbols
• Character Types
• Plot Patterns
• You can find them in
• Myths/Folklore/Fantasies
• Literature
• Dreams
• Religion

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Seven Stories (Booker and Haig)

• Tragedy
• Hero with a fatal flaw meets tragic end (Macbeth)
• Comedy
• Not necessary laugh-out-loud, but always with a
  happy ending, typically of romantic fulfillment
  (Jane Austen)
• Overcoming the Monster
• Its psychological appeal is obvious and eternal
  (Jaws)
• Voyage and Return
• The archetypal structure of personal development
  through leaving, then returning home (The
  Odyssey, Alice in Wonderland)
• Quest
• It is the plot that links a lot of the most
  popular fiction (The Lord of the Rings)
• Rags to Riches
• The riches in question can be literal or
  metaphoric (Cinderella)
• Rebirth
• A central character suddenly finds a new reason
  for living (A Christmas Carol)

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Haigs View

• Every story has been told...Authors are, if
  you excuse the analogy, like fashion designers
  dressing and re-dressing a body that will always
  have two arms and two legs and a head.
• Shakespeare, for instance, never bothered
  himself with inventing plots. The story of Hamlet
  had already been told several times before. Same
  with King Lear and Macbeth and every other
  Shakespeare work you can think of.
• That does not mean a novel or a play or a film
  can't be truly original. Of course it can. It's
  just originality doesn't come through plot. It
  comes from style and voice and the imagination
  that brings language and characters and settings
  to life.
• Personally, I don't get too bothered about
  whether or not a plot is considered 'original' or
  'unoriginal'. All stories are, to some degree,
  cover versions. It's how you carry these
  universal plots into the present age that's the
  challenge for every writer.

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Jungs Archetypal Studies

• Recognized that there were universal patterns in
  all stories and mythologies, regardless of
  culture or historical period
• Hypothesized that part of the human mind
  contained a collective unconscious shared by all
  members of the human species a sort of
  universal, primal memory
• Jung gave rise to Joseph Campbell, whose A Hero
  With a Thousand Faces refined the original
  hypotheses, highlighted the patterns we either
  respond to or seek out (even unconsciously), and
  helped define the concept of heroism in the
  modern age

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Heroic Archetypes Twelve to Know

• Hero as Warrior
• A god-like or impressive individual faces
  physical challenges and external enemies
• Hero as Lover
• A pure love motivates the individual to complete
  the quest
• Hero as Scapegoat/Martyr
• Hero suffers for the sake of others
• Transcendent Hero
• Common to tragedy a fatal flaw brings about
  his/her downfall, but not before he/she reaches a
  transforming realization (wisdom)

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Heroic Archetypes Twelve to Know

• Romantic/Gothic Hero
• Hero with a decidedly darker side
• Proto-Feminist Hero
• Self-explanatory
• Apocalyptic Hero
• Faces either the end of society or the end of the
  world
• Anti-hero
• Typically prone to failure, blindness, or
  alienation sometimes humorous

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Heroic Archetypes Twelve to Know

• Defiant Anti-Hero
• Opposes societal values, particularly concepts of
  heroism/goodness/virtue
• Unbalanced Hero
• Protagonist who has (or pretends to have) mental
  or emotional deficiencies
• The Denied Hero/The Other
• A protagonist whose status as an outsider makes
  heroic action possible
• The Superhero
• Exaggerates the normal possibilities of man
  frequently of divine or supernatural origin
  someone who does not quite belong, yet is needed
  by society