THE TRICKSTER ARCHETYPE
“The figure of the trickster…He is a forerunner of the saviour, and, like him, God,
man, and animal at once. He is both subhuman and superhuman, a bestial and
divine being whose chief and most alarming characteristic is his
unconsciousness.”
- Carl Gustav Jung, from The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
THE TRICKSTER ARCHETYPE
Seeking to define the Trickster is a
treacherous task. He is a slippery figure
who shifts shape, challenging authority
and disrupting order.
The Trickster is a seer of limited sight- part
human and part supernatural. His
prophecies are often riddled with halftruths and lies, falsities that somehow
point toward a higher truth.
The Trickster possesses the keen ability to
see these hidden meanings and uses
these insights to transform himself or to
act as a catalyst in the changing of others.
THE TRICKSTER ARCHETYPE
But the Trickster’s schemes or tricks can
often be self-defeating and harmful to
other individuals. Although he is partially
divine and mortal, the Trickster is also
sub-human.
Due to his oracular insights and his subhuman state, he is often the alienated
outsider.
Functioning on the fringes of society, the
Trickster works his strange medicine to
challenge taboos and crumble the
structures of civilization.
The Outsider by Thomas Homer
THE TRICKSTER ARCHETYPE
Though the Trickster resists
typical classification, he is there
forever blurring realities in order
to reshape the world.
If you try to follow his trail, like
Carroll’s Alice down the rabbit
hole, you may find yourself lost
and bewildered. But the
discoveries you make on your
winding roads will make the
journey worth the effort.
THE TRICKSTER ARCHETYPE
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“In short, the trickster is a boundary crosser.
Every group has its edge, its sense of in and
out, and trickster is always there…He also
attends the internal boundaries by which
groups articulate their social life. We
constantly distinguish – right and wrong,
sacred and profane, clean and dirty, male and
female, young and old, living and dead – and in
every case trickster will cross the line and
confuse the distinction. Trickster is the creative
idiot, therefore, the wise fool, the gray-haired
baby, the cross-dresser, the speaker of sacred
profanities…Trickster is the mythic embodiment
of ambiguity and ambivalence, doubleness and
duplicity, contradiction and paradox.”
(Hyde 7)
THE TRICKSTER ARCHETYPE

“A curious combination of
typical trickster
motifs…[include] his fondness
for sly jokes and malicious
pranks, his powers as a
shape-shifter, his dual nature,
half animal, half divine, his
exposure to all kinds of
tortures, and – last but not
least – his approximation to
the figure of a saviour.”
(Jung 255)
MULTI-CULTURAL
EXAMPLES OF
TRICKSTERS
African American folklore –
the Hare
French folktales – the Fox
Native American mythology –
the Crow and the Coyote
Western African folklore –
Anansi the Spider
East Indian/Asian myths –
The Monkey
Greek/Roman
mythology –
Hermes/Mercury
Norse mythology –
Loki
When exploring possible literary representations of the Trickster, keep
an eye out for characters who use their wits instead of brute strength
to survive and/or live on the edges of society and possess oracular
vision. These characters will usually bring about some form of
significant transformation/reformation within themselves, within
others, or cause some form of change in their surroundings. These
transformations that the Trickster catalyzes usually will involve some
form of inversion of societal norms or the blurring of
cultural/situational/temporal boundaries. The Trickster is also
routinely a salvific figure capable of bringing redemption through his
or her unusual methodologies.
MODERN
REVERBERATIONS OF
THE TRICKSTER
Not quite as ubiquitous as the Shadow, the Trickster figure still rears its head
frequently in our modern culture - bringing strange changes in his wake.
CHARLIE CHAPLIN’S THE TRAMP
The
Tramp is a bumbling but
good-natured character created
and portrayed by Charlie
Chaplin, a well-known silent
movie star. This vagrant
character strains to behave and
radiate the dignity of a
gentleman, but he instead fouls
up unintentionally. The Tramp
habitually uses his cunning to
reach his goals and to escape
looming authority figures who
are intolerant of his antics.
Chaplin, as the Tramp, also
continually uses familiar aspects
of his surroundings in unfamiliar
and novel ways. Whether using
wooden chairs as armor or
potatoes as synchronized
dancing feet, the Tramp takes
the traditional and utilizes it
untraditionally to create
something new.
BRE’R RABBIT AND BUGS BUNNY
Bre’r Rabbit is a reccurring character from African American folktales who uses his wits
and trickery to outsmart Bre’r Fox and Bre’r Bear. Originally a Cherokee Trickster, Bre’r
Rabbit was appropriated into the African American oral tradition.
A more contemporary rabbit, Bugs Bunny, also continually eludes his tormentors through
foolish deceptions, myriad disguises, and verbal trickery. Both of these “rascally rabbits”
highly exemplify the wily nature of the Trickster.
THE ROADRUNNER AND WILE E. COYOTE
Both Wile E. Coyote and the
Roadrunner could be considered
Trickster figures. Whether
constructing or evading various
elaborate traps and tricks, both
the Roadrunner and the Coyote
are forever locked in a tricksterish
dance – each striving to use his
wits to finally emerge victorious.
Though he struggles to use his
cunning to defeat the Roadrunner,
Wile E. Coyote is continually foiled
by fate and his opponent’s speed.
BART SIMPSON AS A TRICKSTER
Bart, from The Simpsons, is an
untraditional Trickster. Through his
various pranks, schemes, and
adventures, this rabble rouser
continually causes his own demise
and often accidentally brings about
positive change in the lives of
others.
Behind the thin veil of existential
apathy and disruption, Bart
possesses true integrity despite his
extreme selfishness and delusions
of grandeur.
FRANK THE RABBIT FROM DONNIE DARKO
In the existential teenage drama Donnie
Darko, a giant rabbit from the recent
future named Frank appears to the
protagonist with advice on how to avert
the impending destruction of the town.
With Frank’s help, Donnie is able to
perform a sacrificial action that saves
the lives of those he loves.
But Frank is not a typical savior; his
cryptic advice is eerie and confusing and
our hero is unsure if Frank’s visits are
merely a troubling side effect of his antidepressant medication. For these
reasons, Frank is a haunting Trickster
figure stepping in to bring about change.
MAJOR RESOURCES
Hyde, Lewis. Trickster Makes This World:
Mischief, Myth, and Art. New York: North
Point Press, 1998. Print.
 Jung, C. G. The Archetypes and the Collective
Unconscious. 2nd ed. New York: Princeton
University Press, 1959. Print.
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