Literary Archetypes

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Literary Archetypes

• Archetypes are repeated patterns that recur in
  the literature of every age (Sloan 48).

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What is an archetype?

• An archetype is a term used to describe universal
  symbols that evoke deep and sometimes unconscious
  responses in a reader
• In literature, characters, images, and themes
  that symbolically embody universal meanings and
  basic human experiences, regardless of when or
  where they live, are considered archetypes.
• Common literary archetypes include stories of
  quests, initiations, scapegoats, descents to the
  underworld, and ascents to heaven.

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Archetypes are

• Primordial That is, we, as individuals, have
  these archetypal images ingrained in our
  understanding even before we are born.
• Universal These archetypes can be found all over
  the world and throughout history. The
  manifestation of the idea may be different, but
  the idea itself is the same.

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Carl Jung

• Swiss psychologist/psychiatrist whose study of
  the nature of the human mind resulted in two
  basic concepts that are important in examining
  and analyzing literature.
• Collective unconsciousness unconscious/subconsciou
  s mental record of all common human experiences
  (examples love, passion, birth, death, anger,
  peace, evil, spirituality, etc)
• archetypes symbols which express our
  collective unconscious, which are our common
  human experiences

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Common Character Archetypes

• The Star-Crossed Lovers
• This is the young couple joined by love but
  unexpectedly parted by fate.
• example - Romeo and Juliet
• Unfaithful wife
• married to a man she sees as dull and
  unimaginative physically attracted to a more
  virile or desirable man
• example - Guinevere

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• Hero
• The main character leaves his or her community to
  go on an adventure, performing deeds that bring
  honor to the community
• examples Beowulf
• Devil figureoffers worldly goods, fame, offers
  knowledge to the protagonist in exchange for
  possession of his soul
• examples - Lucifer, Satan
• Villain
• a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or
  devoted to wickedness or crime

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• ScapegoatThe scapegoat figure is one who gets
  blamed for everything, regardless of whether
  he/she is actually at fault.
• Example Tom Robinson
• Outcast
• a figure who is banished from a social group for
  some crime against his fellow man
• he/she is usually destined to become a wanderer
• example - Gollum

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• Trickster
• crosses both physical and social boundaries-- the
  trickster is often a traveler, and he often
  breaks societal rules. Tricksters cross lines,
  breaking or blurring connections and distinctions
  between "right and wrong, sacred and profane,
  clean and dirty, male and female, young and old,
  living and dead
• Anansi
• The innocent
• Child/Youth
• Inexperienced adult
• Jem and Scout

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• The great teacher/mentor
• wise old man
• represents knowledge,
• wisdom, spirituality of soul, insight
• protects or helps main character when he or she
  faces challenges.
• example -, Merlin
• Earth mothersymbolic of fruition and abundance
  as well as fertility
• example - Mother Nature

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• The Shrew
• This is that nagging, bothersome wife always
  battering her husband with verbal abuse.
• example - Katherine
• Enchantress-Temptress
• characterized by sensuous beauty usually involved
  in downfall of the hero or protagonist
• examples - the Sirens, Calypso, and Cleopatra

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Situational Archetypes

• The Loss of Innocence This is, as the name
  implies, a loss of innocence through sexual
  experience, violence, or any other means.
• The Initiation
• This is the process by which a character is
  brought into another sphere of influence, usually
  (in literature) into adulthood.
• Ex. Jem and Scott in To Kill a Mockingbird

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• Quest
• are searching for something, whether consciously
  or unconsciously. Their actions, thoughts, and
  feelings center around the goal of completing the
  quest.
• example - Ahabs quest for the albino whale
• Task
• A situation in which a character, or group of
  characters, is driven to complete some duty often
  of monstrous proportion.
• example --Frodos task to keep the ring safe in
  The Lord of the Rings

13

• Fall
• describes a descent, usually of a hero, from a
  higher to a lower state of being
• usually involves spiritual defilement and/or
  loss of innocence
• also involves an expulsion from some kind
  paradise
• example - Adam and Eve
• Night journey
• descent into earth followed by a return to light
• usually, knowledge has been gained through the
  experience
• example - Orpheus

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Common Image Archetypes

• Certain images that recur in myths and other
  genres of literature often have a common meaning
  or tend to elicit comparable psychological
  responses and to serve similar cultural
  functions.
• Water
• Sun
• Colors
• Shapes, Numbers, Other objects

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Water

• a symbol of life, cleansing, and
  rebirthrepresents the mystery of creation
• Examples
• Seaspiritual mystery and infinity timelessness
  and eternity
• Riverdeath / rebirth (baptism), flowing of time
  into eternity, transitional phases of the life
  cycle

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Sun

• Represents energy, creativity, thinking,
  enlightenment, wisdom, spiritual vision, the
  passing of time, and life
• Examples
• Rising SunBirth and Creation
• Setting Sundeath

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Colors

• Redlove, sacrifice, hate, evil, anger, violent
  passion, sin, blood, disorder
• Greenbirth / death, fertility, luck, hope,
  jealousy, decay, greed
• Bluesadness, spiritual purity, truth, religious
  feelings of security
• Blackpower, doom, death, darkness, mystery,
  primal wisdom, unconscious evil
• Whitepurity, innocence, death, terror,
  supernatural, blinding truth

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Shapes
Circle (Sphere) wholeness, unity
Egg (Oval)the mystery of life and the forces of
regeneration
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Animals

• Dark-colored bird (raven, hawk)death, hate,
  corruption

• Snake (serpent, worm)evil, corruption,
  sensuality, destruction, wisdom, temptation

• Light-colored bird (dove)peace, love, life

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Numbers

• Three (3)represents unity, spiritual awareness,
  and light
• Four (4)cycle of life, (earth, water, fire, air)
  nature
• Seven (7)unity between 3 and 4, completion and
  perfect order

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• garden
• paradise, innocence, unspoiled feminine beauty,
  fertility
• desert
• lack of spirituality, death, hopelessness

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• Mountains and peaks
• Highest peak is place to see far
• Place to gain great insight
• Caves and tunnels
• Deep down where character delves into self
• Place that character goes when invisible or
  inactive
• At the extreme may signify death

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Forest

• Habitat of the Great Mother (Mother Nature),
  Fertility. The vegetation and animals flourish
  in this green world because of the sustaining
  power of the Great Mother. Symbolically the
  primitive levels of the feminine psyche,
  protective and sheltering. Those who enter often
  lose their direction or rational outlook and thus
  tap into their collective unconscious.

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Tree

• proliferation, life, immortality growth,
• road or train
• journey through life

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Character Archetypes

• The great teacher/mentor
• Hero
• Outcast
• Villain
• Earth mother
• Circle
• The innocent

• Ring
• Galadriel
• Sauron
• Aragorn
• Gollum
• Gandalf
• Frodo

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Summer Reading

• Think about the books you read over the summer,
  (The Life of Pi, Girl with a Pearl Earring, A
  Northern Light, Peace, Like a River, Like Water
  for Elephants, The Kite Runner, and To Kill a
  Mockingbird). What archetypes did you notice in
  those books? For example, water in the Life of
  Pi.

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http//www.slideshare.net/RachalJames/the-psycholo
gy-of-color-presentation

• Orange
• vibrant
• combination of red and yellow
• denotes energy, warmth, and the sun
• less intensity or aggression than red
• calmed by the cheerfulness of yellow

• Brown
• wholesomeness and earthiness
• represents steadfastness, simplicity,
  friendliness, dependability, and health
• warm neutral color that can stimulate the
  appetite