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  • The Archetypes of Literature: Northrop Frye

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    Manu James
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    The document discusses archetypal criticism, which analyzes texts by focusing on recurring myths and archetypes. It explains that archetypes are common patterns and ideas that are found across different communities and cultures, such as concepts of life, death, and gender roles. The document then provides background on how the idea of archetypes was developed by thinkers like Carl Jung and Northrop Frye. It states that archetypal criticism aims to uncover mythological patterns in texts by focusing on their collective meanings rather than individual interpretations.

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    The document discusses archetypal criticism, which analyzes texts by focusing on recurring myths and archetypes. It explains that archetypes are common patterns and ideas that are found across different communities and cultures, such as concepts of life, death, and gender roles. The document then provides background on how the idea of archetypes was developed by thinkers like Carl Jung and Northrop Frye. It states that archetypal criticism aims to uncover mythological patterns in texts by focusing on their collective meanings rather than individual interpretations.

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    3K views3 pages

    The Archetypes of Literature: Northrop Frye

    Uploaded by

    Manu James
    The document discusses archetypal criticism, which analyzes texts by focusing on recurring myths and archetypes. It explains that archetypes are common patterns and ideas that are found across different communities and cultures, such as concepts of life, death, and gender roles. The document then provides background on how the idea of archetypes was developed by thinkers like Carl Jung and Northrop Frye. It states that archetypal criticism aims to uncover mythological patterns in texts by focusing on their collective meanings rather than individual interpretations.

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    of 3

    Archetypal criticism.

    Archetypal criticism: a certain kind of analytical theory that interprets a text

    by focusing on recurring myths and archetypes. While using it,audience can

    connect certain part of themselves with the characters.Certain symbols ideas

    reoccur not only in certain community, but in many community are known as

    archetype. Life ,death,marriage, are common in all religion countries etc . Sita

    ,archetype of ideal woman, ravan archetype of evilness.lakshman, perfect brother.

    Cross, crucification of jesus , night dark; insecurity, fear,,day- newlife are.

    Common in all countries. Blue color common for men. Pink- ladies.

    Archetypes are hidden in literature. Concept of archetype is by carl jung in the

    archetype and collective unconscious, collection of ideas are feed in certain group

    of people is. Archetype is taken from a greek word which means pattern or model.

    First these archetypes are seen in the writings of plato and Sophocles. Then it is

    popularized by carl jung .

    The Archetypes of literature : Northrop frye

    Northrop frye was actually a student of theology and later he was switched

    over to literature . His first published book was the fearful symmetry, a study of

    blake which was published in 1947.


     The first part deals with the concept of archetypal criticism.

     The second part deals with the inductive method of analysis of a text.

     The third part focuses on the deductive method of analysis.

    Part 1.

    The concept of archetype means the original idea or pattern of something in

    which others are copies. It is actually the interpretation of a text based on the

    cultural patterns involved in it.,based on myths rituals of race or any social group.

    James frazer and carl jung are the two authorities who have greatly contributed

    to the development of archetypal approach. The social anthropologist frazer’s

    famous book , The golden bough makes a study of magic, religion and myths of

    different races. Carl jung was a psychologist associated with Sigmund freud. The

    collective unconscious is a major theory of jung. According to jung, civilized man

    unconsciously preserves the ideas ,concepts and vaues of life cherished by his

    distant forefathers and such ideas are expressed in a society’s myths and rituals.

    Writers and poets have employed myths in their works and critics analyse texts

    to unearth traces of “mythological patterns.” Critical analysis of this kind of a text

    is called archetypal criticism. An example could be T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”

    that abounds in mythical patterns. In the present essay, Northrop Frye expounds an

    analysis of “mythical patterns”, which writers have used.


    The Two Types of Criticism and the Humanities.

    There are two types of literary criticism

    1. A significant and meaningful criticism

    Archetypal criticism is a meaningful criticism. It identifies and analyzes the

    recognizable archetypes in the work of literature., in a collective aspectof

    human psyche and not on the individual level.

    2. A meaningless criticism.

    A meaningless criticism would provide only a background information of a

    work rather than develop a systematic structure of knowledge about a work

    of literature and hence distract the reader from literature.

    Formalistic criticism and historical criticism

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