Mythological/Archetypal Theory

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Mythological/Archetypal Theory
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What is a mythological/archetypal approach?

• Looking for common symbols throughout literature,
  cultures, people
• Myths are repeated throughout history in cultures
• Example
• Every culture has a creation story
• A life after death belief
• A reason for human failings

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What is a mythological/archetypal approach?

• When we study different texts across different
  cultures, we see similarities
• Look for general recurring themes, characters,
  situations

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Three main points to study

• Archetypal characters
• Archetypal images
• Archetypal situations

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Archetypal Characters

• The HERO
• The SCAPEGOAT
• The LONER or OUTCAST
• The TEMPTRESS
• The EARTH MOTHER/GODDESS
• The SPIRIT or INTELLECT

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HERO

• Larger than life
• Search for self-identity results in
  self-destruction
• Death of him/her leads toward some ideal
• Modern superheroes (Superman)

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The Trickster

• a god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or
  anthropomorphic animal who plays tricks or
  otherwise disobeys normal rules and norms of
  behavior.
• ex Bugs Bunny, coyote, Bart Simpson

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SCAPEGOAT

• Innocent character
• Situation is blamed on this character
• Character assumes the blame for a situation
• Is punished in place of the truly guilty party
• He/she removes the guilt from the culprit and
  society

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LONER or OUTCAST

• Character separated from society
• Impaired physically, emotionally, physiologically
• Ex. Eagle boy goes into the desert to discern
  his destiny
• Buddha leaves society to come to terms with his
  philosophy
• Victor Frankenstein travels to remote locales to
  avoid people when he realizes he has created a
  monster
• Heroes can be loners or outcasts too

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TEMPTRESS

• Female
• She wants what the male desires
• She uses his desire (intentionally or
  unintentionally) to achieve his destruction
• Ex. Eve, Juliet, Lady Macbeth

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EARTH MOTHER/GODDESS

• Mother Nature
• Mother Earth
• Nurturing, life-giving aspect of femininity

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SPIRIT or INTELLECT

• Often-unidentified
• Can also be in the shape of a human hobgoblin,
  witch, or animal who appears
• Ex. Creation story spirits, the witches or
  wizards in fairytales

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Archetypal Situations

• The QUEST
• RENEWAL OF LIFE
• INITIATION
• The FALL
• REDEMPTIVE SACRIFICE

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The QUEST

• Heros endeavor to establish his/her identity or
• fulfill his/her destiny

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RENEWAL OF LIFE

• Death and rebirth
• Resurrection as seen in the cycle of the seasons
• Phases of the day, sleeping and waking
• Ex. Sleeping Beauty,

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INITIATION

• Coming of age
• Rites of passage
• Ex. First hunt, weddings, teenage angst films

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The FALL

• Any event that marks a loss of innocence
• A devolution from a paradisiacal life and
  viewpoint to a tainted one
• Ex. Garden of Eden fall, World on Turtles Back
  fall,

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REDEMPTIVE SACRIFICE

• Any voluntary loss
• Especially loss of life that results in anothers
  gaining or regaining a desired state
• Ex Frodo sacrificing himself in his quest to
  destroy the ring

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ARCHETYPAL IMAGES

• COLORS
• NUMBERS
• WATER
• GARDENS
• GEOMETRIC SHAPES
• CELESTIAL BODIES
• YIN and YANG

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COLORS

• Red blood, passion, violence
• Goldgreatness, value, wealth
• Green-fertility, luxury, growth
• Blue (the color of the sky)God-like holiness,
  peace, serenity
• Whitepurity

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NUMBERS

• ThreeChristian trinity
• Four four Seasons, ancient elements (earth,
  water, fire, air)
• Twelvemonths of the solar year, etc.

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WATER

• Source of life and sustenance
• Cleansing or purification
• Baptism

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GARDENS

• Natural abundance
• Easy, beautiful life
• New birth, hope
• Eden, the original Paradise from which humankind
  was expelled

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GEOMETRIC SHAPES

• Triangle the trinity
• Circle perfection and eternity, wholeness, union

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CELESTIAL BODIES

• Sun (masculine)the giver and destroyer of life
• Moon (feminine)the passage of time, controls the
  course of human events
• Ex Seedtime, harvest, etc., are all
  determined more by the phases of the moon than
  the phases of the sun

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YIN and YANG

• Any scheme that suggests that each of a pair of
  opposites partakes of the others nature
• Complements each other
• Essentially completes the other
• Without balance, the world would erupt into chaos

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Work Cited

• Grudzina, Douglas. Teaching F. Scott
  Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby from Multiple
  Critical Perspectives. Clayton Prestwick
  House, Inc., 2006.
• Ms. Angelann Stephens, Benjamin E. Mays High
  School, English Department.