Archetype
• Arkhetupos-first molded as a
pattern
• A term from literary criticism
accepting Swiss psychologist Carl
Jung's idea of a recurring pattern of
situation, character, or symbol
existing universally and instinctively
in the collective conscious of the
human race.
Carl Jung
• Psychoanalyst who was a student of
Sigmund Freud
• Believed that human psyche is “by nature
religious”
• Coined term “Collective Unconscious,”
which is the part of the unconscious that
contains memories and ideas from our
ancestors that are shared by all people
Collective Unconscious
• Unconscious psychic activity,
present in all people, that produces
symbolic pictures. These pictures
have similar meanings because of
the structure of the psyche, which
is the same in all people in all
times.
Archetypal
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ar·che·typ·al
Adjective
typical of a certain person or thing
Root “arch” means “chief” or
“first” or “rule”
• “chief type” or “first type”
Characteristics of Archetypes
1. They are not individual, but
the part we share with all
humanity.
2. They are the inherited part of
being human which connects
us to our past and goes
beyond our personal
experience to a common
source.
3. They are not directly
knowable, but instead
express themselves in forms.
4. They grow out of man's social,
psychological, and biological
being.
5. They are universal. From the
Roman gladiator to the
astronaut, they remain the
same.
6. They cannot be explained by
interaction among cultures
because geography and history
often made this impossible.
7. They are recurrent,
appearing in slightly altered
forms to take present day
situations and relate them to the
past in order to find meaning in
a contemporary world.
Three Major Kinds of
Archetypes:
• Character Archetypes
• Plot-Situational Archetypes
• Motif-Symbolic Archetypes
Character Archetypes
• Hero
• Young Man from the
Provinces
• Initiates
• Mentor
• Hunting Group of
Companions
• Loyal Retainers
• Friendly Beast
• Evil Figure w/ Good
Heart
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Scapegoat
Outcast
The Devil Figure
Creatures of a
Nightmare
• The Woman Figure
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Spiritual Earthmother
Temptress
Platonic Ideal
Unfaithful Wife
Damsel in Distress
The Hero
• This archetype is so well defined that
the life of the protagonist can be clearly
divided into a series of well-marked
adventures which strongly suggest a
ritualistic pattern.
Common Traits of an Archetypal
Hero
• 1. Traditionally the hero's mother is a virgin,
the circumstances of his conception are
unusual, and at birth some attempt is made to
kill him.
• 2. He is, however, spirited away and reared
by foster parents.
• 3. Almost nothing of his childhood is known,
but upon reaching manhood he returns to his
future kingdom.
Common Traits of an Archetypal
Hero
• 4. 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.
• 5. He is then driven from the city after which
he meets a mysterious death, often at the top
of a hill.
• 6. His body is not buried, but nevertheless he
has one or more holy sepulchers.
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, prior to 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.
Hunting
Group of Companions
• These loyal companions are willing to
face any number of perils in order to be
together.
Loyal Retainers
• These individuals are somewhat like
servants who are heroic themselves.
Their duty is protect the hero and reflect
the nobility of the hero.
Friendly Beast
• An animal usually on the side of the
hero
Evil Figure with
Ultimately Good Heart
• A redeemable devil figure saved by the
nobility (or love) of the hero
The Scapegoat
• An animal or more usually a human
whose death in a public ceremony
expiates some taint or sin that has been
visited upon a community
The Outcast
• A figure who is banished from a social
group for some crime against his fellow
man. The outcast is usually destined to
become a wanderer from place to place.
The Devil Figure
• Evil incarnate, this character offers
worldly goods, fame, or knowledge to
the protagonist in exchange for
possession of soul
Creature of Nightmare
• A monster usually summoned from the
deepest, darkest part of the human
psyche to threaten the hero and/or
heroine
The Earthmother
• Symbolic of fruition, abundance, and
fertility, this character traditionally offers
spiritual and emotional nourishment to
those with whom she comes in contact
The Temptress
• Characterized by sensuous beauty, this
woman is one to whom the protagonist
is physically attracted and who
ultimately brings about his downfall
The Platonic Ideal
• This woman is a source of inspiration
and a spiritual ideal, for whom the
protagonist or author has an intellectual
rather than a physical attraction
The Unfaithful Wife
• A woman, married to a man she sees
as dull and unimaginative, is physically
attracted to a more virile and desirable
man
The Damsel in Distress
• The vulnerable woman who must be
rescued by the hero. She is often used
as a way to ensnare the hero
Situational (Plot) Archetypes
• The Quest
• The Ritual
• The Task
• The Natural vs.
Mechanistic World
• The Initiation
• The Fall
• Death & Rebirth
• The Unhealable
Wound
• Father-Son Conflict
• The Battle between
Good and Evil
• The Journey
The Quest
• This describes the search for someone
or some talisman which, when found
and brought back, will restore fertility to
a wasted land, the desolation of which
is mirrored by a leader's illness and
disability .
The Task
• To save the kingdom, to win the fair
lady, to identify himself so that he may
reassume his rightful position, the hero
must perform some nearly superhuman
deed.
The Initiation
• This usually takes the form of an initiation into
life, that is, the depiction of an adolescent
coming into maturity and adulthood with all
the attendant problems and responsibilities
that this process involves. An awakening
awareness, or an increased perception of the
world and the people in it usually form the
climax of this archetypal situation.
The Fall
• This archetype describes a descent
from a higher to a lower state of being.
The experience involves spiritual
defilement and/or a loss of innocence
and bliss. The fall is also usually
accompanied by expulsion from a kind
of paradise as penalty for disobedience
and moral transgression.
Death and Rebirth
• The most common of all situational
archetypes, this motif grows out of the
parallel between the cycle of nature and
the cycle of life. Thus, morning and
springtime represent birth, youth, or
rebirth; evening and winter suggest old
age or death.
The Unhealable Wound
• This wound is either physical or
psychological and cannot be healed
fully. This wound also indicates a loss of
innocence. These wounds always ache
and often drive the sufferer to desperate
measures.
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.
The Ritual
• The actual ceremonies an initiate
experiences that will mark his rite of
passage into another state.
The Journey
• Usually combined with any or all of the
foregoing situational archetypes, the journey
is used to send the hero in search of
information or some intellectual truth.
• The Journey can be broken into stages or
categories
Joseph Campbell’s
Hero’s Journey
1. Departure
a. The call to
adventure
b. Refusal of the call
c. Supernatural Aid
d. Crossing the first
threshold
e. The belly of the
Whale
2. Initiation
a. The road of trials
b. The meeting with the
goddess
c. Temptation away
from the true path
d. Atonement with the
Father
e. Apotheosis
(becoming god-like)
f. The ultimate boon
3. Return
a. Refusal of the
return
b. The magic flight
c. Rescue from
without
d. Crossing the
return threshold
e. Master of two
worlds
f. Freedom to live
Christopher Vogler’s
12 Stages
1. Heroes are introduced in the
Ordinary World, where
2. they receive the Call to Adventure.
3. they are reluctant at first or Refuse
the Call, but
4. are encouraged by a Mentor to
5. Cross the Threshold and enter the
Special World, where
6. they encounter Tests, Allies, and
Enemies.
7. They Approach the Inmost Cave,
crossing a second threshold
8. where they endure the Ordeal.
9. They take possession of their
Reward and
10. are pursued on the Road Back to
the Ordinary World.
11. They cross the third threshold,
experience a Resurrection, and are
transformed by the experience.
12. They Return with the Elixir, a
boon or treasure to benefit the
Ordinary World.
Symbolic (Motif) Archetypes
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Light vs. Darkness
Water vs. Desert
Heaven vs. Hell
Magic Weapon
• Haven vs.
Wilderness
• Supernatural
Intervention
• Innate Wisdom vs.
Educated Stupidity
Light-Darkness
• Light usually suggests hope, renewal, or
intellectual illumination; darkness
implies the unknown, ignorance, or
despair
Water-Desert
• Because water is necessary to life and
growth, it commonly appears as a birth or
rebirth symbol. Water is used in baptismal
services, which solemnize spiritual births.
Similarly, the appearance of rain in a work of
literature can suggest a character's spiritual
birth. Conversely, the aridity of the desert is
often associated with spiritual sterility and
desiccation
Heaven-Hell
• Man has traditionally associated parts of
the universe not accessible to him with
the dwelling places of the primordial
forces that govern his world. The skies
and mountain tops house his gods; the
bowels of the earth contain the diabolic
forces that inhabit his universe.
Innate Wisdom vs. Educated
Stupidity
• Some characters exhibit wisdom and
understanding of situations instinctively
as opposed to those supposedly in
charge. A hero often needs the
guidance of innate wisdom.
Haven vs. Wilderness
• Places of safety contrast sharply
against the dangerous wilderness,
heroes are often found in unexpected
places. Wilderness threatens civilization
Supernatural Intervention
• The gods, as a symbol of religion,
intervene on the side of the hero or
sometimes against him.
Magic Weapon
• This symbolizes the extraordinary
quality of the hero because no one else
can wield the weapon or use it to its full
potential. It is usually given by a mentor
figure.
Nature vs. Mechanistic World
• Nature is good while technology and
society are often evil
Battle between Good and Evil
• Obviously the battle between two primal
forces
Common Mythic Elements
• Two Worlds
• Prophecy
• Wearing the Enemy’s
Skin
• Oracle
• Failed Hero
• Trickster
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Enchanted Forest
Sacred Grove
Lone Animal
Masks
Reforging of the
Sword
Two Worlds
• Ordinary World (Mundane) vs. Special
World
Prophecy
• the inspired declaration of divine will and
purpose or a prediction of something to
come
Wearing the Enemy’s Skin
• The hero must disguise himself as the
enemy.
Oracle
• A person (as a priestess of ancient Greece)
through whom a deity is believed to speak
Trickster/Shapeshifter/Holy Fool
• The hero isn’t sure if he can trust this
character
Enchanted Forest
• Forest inhabited by creatures who can both
harm and help the hero, often time magic is
needed in order to evoke help
Sacred Grove/One Tree
• Symbolizes mystery and transformation,
represents an enclosure where the hero is
changed
Lone Animal
• Chasing a lone animal into the enchanted
forest (and the animal gets away)
Masks
• Part of mythic rituals used to strike fear into
the hearts of enemies, summon ancestors, or
invoke supernatural beings
Reforging of the Sword
• The sword has been broken and must be
reforged.
• This symbolizes the initial defeat and loss
of honor of its wielder. Victory and the
restoration of honor is achieved by
reforging the weapon, either at the wielder's
hand or that of his heir.
Nature Archetypes
• Unconscious Mind
• Conscious Mind
• Miscellaneous
Unconscious Mind
Cave-a dark place that
contains mystery or monster
Forest-confusion, darkness,
loss of control, nightmares.
The hero meets both the
guide and the monster here
Monster-chaos, nightmare,
opposition to society
Moon-darkness, coolness
Stars-illumination and
mystery
Lake-peaceful or standing,
abode of monsters
Swamp-sinking, descent into
trouble, entrapment
Fish-thoughts and dreams
Conscious Mind
Desert-sterility
Sand- instability, treachery
Home-stability and safety, lack of growth
Garden-controlled nature, paradise
Sun- light, warmth, fire,
Miscellaneous
Fire-Sacrifice
Wind-Holy Spirit, change, inspiration
Mountain-Knowledge, enlightenment,
truth
One Tree-Immortality
Water-purification
a. waterfall-turbulent change
b. river-journey, change,
transformation
c. rain-fertility, blessing
d. ocean-infinity
Serpent/snake- evil
Birds
a. One Bird-positive
i. owl-wisdom, freedom,
ascent, transcendence,
ii. dove-peace
b. Flock-negative, disintegration
Number Archetypes
One-unity, divinity, loneliness
Two-duality: body and spirit, yin and yang
Three-Trinity: body, spirit, and divinity;
energy
Seven-Perfect order: seven wonders, seven
days of creation, completeness, union of
earth and Trinity, power
Eight-Eternity, man and divine
Nine-Magic, impossible to get rid of
Four-Earth: seasons, hemispheres,
directions, winds
Ten-Wholeness, commandments
Five-five fingers and toes, humanity (four
limbs plus one head)
Twelve-Disciples; signs of Zodiac, numbers
on a clock
Six-man: not seven so not quite perfect,
incomplete
Forty-days of flood, days of Christ in
wilderness
Color Archetypes
Gold/Yellow- the conscious
mind, rational thought, fire, sun,
masculinity
White- innocence, purity,
eternity; death in some cultures
Green- fertility; jealousy
Silver- the moon, intuition,
femininity, unconscious mind,
cycle of life
Purple- royalty
Red- blood, sacrifice, passion,
fire
Black- mystery, death,
unconscious, night
Blue- Virgin Mary, heavenly,
sky, spiritual truth
Brown- neutrality, stability, earth
Pink- the innocent sacrifice
(white/red)
The End