Archetypes

An image, story pattern, or character type which occurs frequently and evokes strong, often unconscious associations in the reader (Ex: fairy godmother, wicked witch, enchanted prince)

Most often divided into the following categories: situational archetype, symbolic archetype, character archetype, and thematic archetype

Archetype:

Sigmund Freud’s beliefs were that personal experiences have been forgotten or repressed, yet linger in the unconcious mind and motivate, shape, or control much of our experiences.

Carl Jung believed that somehow the experiences of ancestors are embedded into the minds of unaware men and women; he called this “shared memory.”

What do experts say?

A situation that occurs in many cultures and stories

Situational archetype:

This motif describes the search for someone of some talisman, which when found and brought back, will restore fertility to a wasted land.

Lion King?

Excalibur?

The Quest

To save the kingdom, to win the fair lady, or to identify himself so that he may resume his rightful position, the hero must perform some nearly superhuman deed. NOT the same as the Quest, the Task is merely a function of the ultimate goal.

The Task

This usually takes the form of an initiation into adult life; the adolescent comes into maturity with new awareness and problems along with a new hope for the community.

The Initiation

This sends the hero in search of some truth or information necessary to restore fertility to the kingdom. Usually, the hero is forced into a real or psychological hell and is forced to uncover the worst truths, quite often concerning his own faults. Once the hero is at his lowest point, he must accept personal responsibility to return to the world of the living.

The Journey

This describes the descent from a higher to a lower state of being. The experience involves a defilement and/or loss of innocence and bliss. It is often accompanied by expulsion from a kind of paradise or homeland as penalty for disobedience.

The Fall

Nature is good, while technology and society are often evil.

Nature vs. the Mechanistic World

This is the battle between two primal forces. Mankind shows eternal optimism in the continual triumph of good over evil despite great odds.

Battle of Good and Evil

This is the actual ceremony the initiate must experience that will mark his rite of passage into another state.

The Ritual

This symbolizes the extraordinary quality of the hero because only the hero can wield the weapon or use it to its full potential. It is usually given to the hero by a mentor figure.

The Magic Weapon

This wound is either physical or psychological and cannot be fully healed. The wound always aches and often drives the sufferer to desperate measures.

The Unhealable Wound

An object or place that has a universal symbolism

Symbolic archetype:

Light usually suggests goodness, renewal, or intellectual illumination; darkness implies the unknown, evil, or despair.

Light vs. Darkness

Because water is necessary for growth, it commonly appears as a birth or rebirth symbol. Desert would imply infertility.

Water vs. Desert

The dwelling places of primordial forces that control the world, either physical or psychological.

Heaven vs. Hell

Places of safety contrast sharply with dangerous places of wilderness.

Haven vs. Wilderness

Fire represents knowledge, light, life, and rebirth. Ice represents ignorance, darkness, and death.

Fire vs. Ice

Some characters exhibit wisdom and understanding of situations instinctively as opposed to those supposedly in charge.

Innate Wisdom vs. Educated Stupidity

The gods intervene on the side of the hero or sometimes against him.

Supernatural Intervention

Includes common familiar individuals

Character archetype:

The main character, the hero’s mother is a virgin, the circumstances around his birth are mysterious, or some attempt was made to kill him. He is spirited away and raised by foster parents. We learn little about his childhood, but upon reaching manhood, he returns to his kingdom. He eventually becomes a leader after triumphing over some other man or beast, but then he loses favor with the gods. He meets an untimely death, usually at the top of a hill, and isn’t buried, but has at least one holy sepulcher.

The Hero

These are young heroes who, prior to their quests, must endure some training ceremony. They are usually innocent and often wear white.

The Initiates

This individual serves as a teacher or counselor to the initiates.

Mentor

The mentor teaches by example the skills needed to survive the quest.

Mentor-Pupil Relationship

Tension often results from separation during childhood or from an external source when the individuals meet as men.

Father-Son Conflict

This is a group of loyal companions willing to face any number of perils in order to be together.

Hunting Group of Companions

These individuals are somewhat like servants who are heroes, themselves. Their duty is to protect the hero and reflect the nobility of the hero.

Loyal Retainers

This shows that nature is on the side of the hero.

Friendly Beast

Satan, incarnate, this character offers worldly goods, fame, or knowledge in exchange for the soul.

The Devil Figure

This is a redeemable devil figure who is saved by the nobility or love of the hero.

The Evil Figure with the Ultimately Good Heart

This is an animal or human whose death in a public ceremony expiates some taint or sin that has been visited on the community. This death often makes the scapegoat a more powerful force.

The Scapegoat

This is a figure who is banished from a social group or place for some crime against his fellow man.

The Outcast

This character, often dressed in earth tones, offers spiritual and emotional nourishment and is symbolic to fruition and purity.

The Earthmother

Characterized by sensuous beauty, this woman is one to whom the protagonist is physically attracted.

The Temptress

This woman is a source of strength and a spiritual ideal for whom the protagonist has an emotional or spiritual rather than a physical attraction.

The Platonic Ideal

The lost or endangered woman who must be rescued by the hero.

The Damsel in Distress

These two characters are engaged in a love affair that is fated to end tragically due to the disapproval of society, friends, or family.

The Star-crossed Lovers

This is a monster usually summoned from the deepest, darkest part of the human psyche to threaten the life of the hero.

The Creature of Nightmare

A recurring theme: good can overcome evil, people can redeem themselves, or the dead can communicate from “beyond”

Thematic archetype:

What type of archetype is…

1. The Quest

Situational

2. The White Robe

Symbolic

3. The Battle between Good and Evil

Situational

4. The Hero

Character

5. The Wild Youth learns life lessons from the Wise Elder

Situational

6. The Friendly Beast

Character

7. The Outcast

Character

8. The Cross

Symbolic

9. Light vs. Darkness

Symbolic

10. Supernatural Intervention will always Save the Day

Thematic

11. The Apparently Evil Figure with the Ultimately Good Heart

Character

12. The Dove

Symbolic

13. The Fall from Grace

Situational