CHAPTER II Archetypal criticism
The roots of archetypal criticism
Archetypal criticism is a type of literary criticism that focuses on particular narrative patterns, archetypes, motifs, themes or characters that recur in a particular literary work or in literature in general.
Archetypal criticism has its basis in the application of concepts developed in psychoanalysis and in mythology to the study of literature. The main tendency of this approach to criticism resembles to the early conception of form in Western thought.
Collective unconscious lays beneath the personal conscious and personal unconscious. As Jung said, the collective unconscious is ‘‘a storehouse of knowledge, experiences, and images of the human race. It is a racial memory,
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As Joseph Campbell says in his popular book The Power of Myth: “Myths deal with great human problems. I know what to do when I come to a threshold in my life now. A myth can tell me about it, how to respond to certain crises of disappointment or delight or failure or success. Myths tell me where I am.” (1988, 15) An archetype can be defined as an original type or model after which similar things are patterned, a prototype, an ideal example. An archetype, as used in literature, is a recurrent, universal pattern that evokes a deep, emotional response invirtually all readers as it strikes a chord in their unconscious memory.The archetype has no form of its own, but it acts as an organizing principle on the things we see or do. It works the way that instincts work in Freud's theory.
“For Jung the archetypes taken as a whole represent the sum of the latent potentialities of the human psyche - a vast store of ancestral knowledge about the profound relations between God, man, and cosmos. ” Jacobi
This paper aims at using Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung’s collective unconscious and archetypal theories to interpret the archetypes of characters, natural scenes and themes.
Archetypes are expected examples of a person, action, or thing. In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, there are two archetypes I will discuss. The first archetype is the hero archetype, best portrayed by Christopher, the main character in the book. The second archetype is the evil figure with a good heart, best portrayed by Christopher’s dad, Ed Boone.
According to the dictionary, an archetype is “the original pattern or model from which all things are the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form; prototype.” Archetypes are the basic building blocks of any story that is told whether it’s an epic fantasy novel or an intense autobiography about some white guy from 100 years ago. An archetype can be any type of character such as a jester, hero, or a princess. However, archetypes can also be experiences like coming of age. Feelings are also a type of archetype like fear or joy. In the books The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and The Odyssey by Homer some of these archetypes are shown through Fatima, the Princess (damsel in distress), Calypso, the Temptress, the Alchemist, the Sage, and Odysseus and Santiago, the Flawed Heroes.
In Homers epic poem “The Odyssey” there are many archetypes, many of which were the origin of the archetype. An archetype is a character type, place, or symbol, every culture shares. In “The Odyssey” Homer uses archetypes to evoke meaning to the story. Some examples of archetypes in “The Odyssey” are the temptress, and the father-son conflict.
This emphasizes the idea of Jung’s persona and the fact that it is a compromise between an individual and the society in which one wants
With every corner we turn in today’s culture, we become more and more aware of the archetypes that surround us. Archetypes are the works of a typical character, situation, setting, or symbol that can be found in fantasy and reality. An example would be the renowned medieval story Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Pearl Poet. The author permeates the story with situational, symbolic, and character archetypes that illustrate the profound life of Sir Gawain. Sir Gawain was apprehensive of his journey at first, but as time passes, he began to make choices that unveils to the audience the true flawed knight that he was.
An archetype is a universal symbol. It is also a term from the criticism that accepts Jung’s idea of recurring patterns of situation, character, or symbol existing universally and instinctively in the collective unconscious of man.
Jung’s standard way of thinking of how an individual is able to choose what impression and image that they desire to impose to the outside world, which is the “persona” and when we encounter a feeling we don’t feel comfortable expressing to the world we and to shelter it deep down, which is the “shadow.” The “persona” of the ship is the physical exterior image of what the ship looks like as well as what the ship
An archetype is a model or ideal example in which other things are patterned. There are many archetypes that could represent many characters; but for my character, Haley Kincain, the caregiver archetype represents her the best. Haley represents a caregiver due to constantly caring for her father and his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, along with helping her friends with problems like divorce and bullying. I found her to be pragmatic, considerate and patient throughout the book.
Archetypes are in every movie, book, tv show, and so on. An Archetype is a typical character, an action, or a situation that seems to represent universal patterns of human nature. There are many different archetypes in the movie The Princess Bride. Westley is a great example of the chief archetype. The chief archetype is known and born to be a leader.
An archetype is defined as an image, story-pattern, character, setting, symbol, or situation that recurs frequently in literature and in life. It demonstrates universal human experiences and associates strongly with readers through a subconscious understanding. In the Epic of Gilgamesh the main character, Gilgamesh, is an example of a superheroic archetypal hero. He took on an epic quest for everlasting life by following the archetypal steps of a hero’s journey. Through suffering due to tragedy, realizing the nature of his quest, seeking help from a mentor, experiencing failure, and returning home with a companion, Gilgamesh’s story followed the situational archetype of a hero’s journey.
Archetype refers to a generic version of a personality. Archetypes are continually present in folklore and literature for thousands of years, including prehistoric artwork. The identification of archetypes in literature is to primarily find the behaviors and characteristics of the main protagonist, it is important to discover the ambiguity of how the traits change and develop throughout the rising
Archetypes and Social (Analytical Essay of archetypes and Social properties) In both of these texts, both archetypal and social properties can be explored. Socially these texts were in reference to the issues of the times.
The traditions of storytelling have long been used as a means to impart wisdom and life lessons to others. One of the most effective ways in which this is done is through the use of archetypes. While it is possible to look at these images in a general way, one may also focus an analysis on a single tale. In this way it is possible to explore the particular images used and their significance in a given situation, (often a coming of age rite of
Archetypes are used in literature to portray a certain meaning, that helps create a better and more meaningful story. The archetypes used can be embedded in the characters, symbols, or even rituals involved in a story. These archetypes can help give deeper meaning to the story by giving a underlying reference to concepts that are used over and over again in literature throughout history. When an author uses an archetype in his or her writing, they link it to many other stories that use that same archetype. Some do this for a reason, to give an underlying meaning, to symbolized something of importance, or even just to make their story more interesting. Many readers may not notice the underlying archetype, but sometimes the author uses them because he or she knows that the reader will.