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Archetype Handout
Archetype Handout
ARCHETYPE: A recurring plot pattern, image, descriptive detail, or character that expresses itself in
stories, dreams, or religions.
Occurring in literature in the form of recurrent plot patterns, images, or character types, archetypes stir
profound emotions in the reader because they awaken images stored in the collective unconscious,
and thereby produce feelings or emotions over which the reader initially has little control. Carl Gustav
Jung argued that that the human psyche consists of three parts: the conscious, the personal
unconscious, and the collective unconscious. The conscious or waking state is directly affected by the
unconscious. In turn, the unconscious is divided into the personal unconscious and the collective
unconscious.
Collective Unconscious: The part of the mind
that contains the cumulative knowledge,
experiences, and images of the human race.
This knowledge evidences itself as "primordial
images" in humankind's religions, myths,
dreams, and literature and can be tapped
by writers through the use of archetypes.
Personal Unconscious: The part of the mind
that exists below the surface of the
conscious, and contains elements of all
those private affairs that occur daily in each
of our lives. The personal unconscious is
therefore peculiar to one individual and not
shared with any other.
ARCHETYPAL SITUATIONS
Nature vs Mechanistic World: implies that Nature is
good while technology and society are often evil.
The Battle between Good and Evil: Mankind shows
eternal optimism in the continual portrayal of good
triumphing over evil despite great odds.
The Unhealable Wound: physical or psychological.
Also indicates a loss of innocence. The wound always
aches and often drive the sufferer to desperate
measures. (e.g. Harry Potter's scar on his forehead).
The Initiation: The adolescent comes into his maturity
with new awareness and problems along with new
hope for the community. This usually takes the form of
an initiation into adult life.
The Fall: A decent from a higher to a lower state of
being involving a defilement and/or loss of innocence
and bliss.
ARCHETYPAL SYMBOLS
The Garden
Usually a place of refuge or a temporary haven.
Mountains
Wisdom, solitude
Wilderness or Forest
Retreat, Haven, Mystery, Evil
Light vs Darkness
Light usually suggests hope, renewal, or intellectual illumination;
The Desert
darkness implies the unknown, ignorance, or despair.
Sterility, Death
Water
The City
Because water is necessary to life and growth, it commonly
appears as a birth or rebirth symbol. Water is used in baptismal Civilization or Decadent Metropolis (Emerald City or Gotham)
services, which solemnizes spiritual births. Similarly, the
Fire
appearance of rain in a work can suggest a character's
knowledge, light, life, rebirth
spiritual rebirth.
Ice
ignorance, darkness, sterility, death
ARCHETYPAL CHARACTERS
The Hero: Traditionally the hero's mother is a virgin, the
circumstances of this conception are unusual, and at birth some
attempt is made to kill him. He is however, spirited away and reared
by foster parents. We know almost nothing about his childhood, but
upon reaching manhood he returns to his future kingdom. 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. He is
then driven from the city after which he meets a mysterious death,
often at the top of a hill.
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, before 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.
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.
Hunting Group of Companions: Loyal companions willing to face
any number of perils in order to be together.
Loyal Retainers: These individuals usually serve as a sidekick for
the hero. Their duty is to protect the hero and reflect the nobility of
the hero. (e.g. Flounder and Sabastian in Disney's The Little
Mermaid)
Gentle Giant: This character is usually of large physical size but
lacks intelligence.
Devil Figure: This character offers worldly goods, fame, or
knowledge to the protagonist in exchange for possession of the soul.
Usually this character demonstrates many of the same
characteristics as the outcast and creature of nightmare archetypes.
Frequently dark and gloomy imagery is associated with this
character. (e.g. Ursula from Disney's The Little Mermaid)
DEPARTURE
The call to adventure: The hero recognizes that someone from whom something has been taken, or feels there
is something lacking in the normal experiences available or permitted to the members of his society. Often the
hero has reluctance to accept the adventure.
The threshold of adventure:
Protective figure: usually an old man who provides the adventurer with amulets against the dragon
forces he is about to pass.
Threshold guardian: A dangerous power that the hero must face with courage and competence in
order to enter the "belly of the beast/whale".
The hero enters "the mouth of the beast" by defeating the guardian and entering (battle, offering,
charm) or is slain and descends through death (dismemberment, crucifixion). The hero is no longer
visible to the members of his society that have been left behind.
INITIATION
The road of trials: The hero journeys through a world of unfamiliar forces, which threaten him (tests) or give him
magical aid (helpers).
The supreme ordeal: The hero undergoes a supreme ordeal represented by one of the following:
sacred marriage (hero's sexual union with the goddess mother of the world)
father atonement (recognition by the father-creator)
apotheosis (hero's own divinization)
elixir theft (theft of the boon he came to gain)
Reward: The boon is given to the hero (sacred marriage, father atonement, apotheosis) or he steals it (bridetheft, fire-theft).
RETURN
Flight: If the powers have blessed the hero, he now sets forth under their protection (emissary)
If the hero is not blessed, he flees and is pursued (transformation flight, obstacle flight)
Crossing of threshold: At the return threshold the transcendental powers must remain behind.
Sharing of boon: The boon that he brings restores the world (elixir).
The belly of the whale: "The idea that the passage of the magical threshold is a transit into a sphere of
rebirth is symbolized in the worldwide womb image of the belly of the whale. The hero, instead of
conquering or conciliating the power of the threshold, is swallowed into the unknown, and would appear
to have died." This is similar to the metamorphosis one experiences when one enters a temple and
sheds his secular character in order to be able to experience the spiritual god within. "That is why the
approaches and entrances to temples are flanked and defended by colossal gargoyles: dragons, lions,
devil-slayersThese are the threshold guardians to ward away all incapable of encountering the higher
silences within." (Campbell, 91-93)