Archetypes:The

Building Blocks of

Stories

Archetypes• People who had no contact with each other at all

formed myths to explain natural phenomena such as great floods and the creation of the world as well as to answer such questions as why we die and why we are born.

• These fantasy images of the primitive mind are so alike for all cultures that Jung calls them the Collective Unconscious.

• They remain part of every human unconscious mind as dreams of fantasy and fear. They are living psychic forces which demand to be taken seriously.

• Jung believes we can never legitimately be cut loose from our archetypal foundations or we will go mad and become suicidal.

• Archetype is a Greek word meaning “original pattern, or model.”

• In literature and art an archetype is a character, an event, a story or an image that recurs in different works, in different cultures and in different periods of time.

• Can you think of any stories or image patterns that have been repeated in movies, books, or even commercials?

Definition of Archetype

How many stories do you encounter daily?

• Think about the number of stories you encounter daily either reading, viewing, or listening. This would include all of the following categories:

• books, short stories, newspaper stories, movies, sitcoms, tv shows, video games, news reports, magazine stories, etc.

• They are the basic building blocks of stories that all writers use to create a world to which readers can escape.

• Without communicating about archetypes, all cultures around the world use them to build their stories. This is called the Collective Unconscious (term coined by Carl Jung).

• Examples of archetypes are: the hero, the damsel in distress, the battle between good and evil, etc.

• To explain natural phenomenon such as great floods and the creation of the world

• To answer such questions such as why we are born and why we die

• To help us escape reality by entering a world where the good guy wins, the forces of evil are defeated, and love conquers all

• To help define the roles of good and evil such as the hero and the villain so that we might recognize them in reality

The movie opens…. the young, beautiful actress is on a tirade about how much she hates, and she means hates, detests, loathes and every other adjective in between, the new guy she works with (who happens to be drop dead good looking and single). He pokes fun at her and frequently stops by her desk. She fumes silently. She yells at him about how she can’t stand the sight of him. He laughs and says he can’t stand her either.

What’s going to happen? How do you know this?

Archetypes are universal.Stereotypes are regional/cultural.

ARCHETYPES :1) are not individual, but the part we share

with all humanity2) are the inherited part of being human

which connects us to our past and goes beyond our personal experience to a common source

3) are not directly knowable, but instead express themselves in forms

ARCHETYPES (continued) :

4) grow out of man’s social, psychological, and biological being

5) are universal. From the Roman gladiator to the astronaut, they remain the same.

6) 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.

3 Categories of Archetypes

1st Type – SITUATIONAL ARCHETYPES

2nd Type – CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

3rd Type – SYMBOLIC ARCHETYPES

Situational Archetypes

These are common situations, or plots, seen in literature, movies, television, etc. over and over throughout history and cultures. Chances are, if you’re watching a movie that follows one of these situational archetypes, you know what’s going to happen in the end when the movie is in the opening five minutes.

Examples include:

SITUATIONAL ARCHETYPES

1) The Quest – 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.

2) 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.

SITUATIONAL ARCHETYPES

3) The Initiation – Usually taking the form of an initiation into life, it may be the depiction of an adolescent coming into maturity and adulthood with all the attendance 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.

SITUATIONAL ARCHETYPES

4) 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, possibly a descent into hell, or a limited number of travelers for the purpose of isolating them and using them as a microcosm of society.

SITUATIONAL ARCHETYPES

5) The Fall – This 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.

SITUATIONAL ARCHETYPES6) Death and Resurrection – 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. Anthropologists believe that fertility rites and vegetative rituals usually took place in the spring because this is the time of physical regeneration of nature, an appropriate time to enact ritualistic statements of spiritual rebirth and resurrection. Poems of death and despondency are usually set at night or in the winter.

SITUATIONAL ARCHETYPES7) Nature vs. the Mechanistic World – Nature is good while

technology and society are often evil.8) Battle between Good & Evil – Obviously, the battle between

2 primal forces. This archetype is easily found in cartoons.9) The Unhealable Wound – This wound is either physical or

psychological and cannot be healed fully. This would also indicate a loss of innocence. These wounds always ache and often drive the sufferer to desperate measures.

10) The Ritual – The actual ceremonies the initiate experiences that will mark his rite of passage into another state, such as a Bar Mitzvah, baptism, becoming a knight or king.

These are the “stereotype” characters that you see over and over again. You’ve seen these characters throughout different cultures and over different eras in history.

Examples of these popular archetypes are:

Character Archetypes

CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

1) The Hero – this one 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. 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. He is, however, spirited away and reared by foster parents. We know almost nothing of his childhood, but upon reaching manhood he returns to his future kingdom.

CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

1) The Hero – this one 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. 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. He is, however, spirited away and reared by foster parents. We know almost nothing of his childhood, but upon reaching manhood he returns to his future kingdom.

CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

1) The Hero continued – 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 receives a mysterious death, often at the top of a hill. His body is not buried, but nevertheless he has one or more holy sepulchers. The hero may not fulfill ALL of these circumstances, but will fulfill at least part.

CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

2) 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.

3) The Initiates – These are young heroes or heroines who, prior to their quest, must endure some training and ceremony.

4) Mentors - These individuals serve as teachers or counselors to the initiates. Sometimes they work as role models and often serve as a father/mother figure.

CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

5) Mentor / Pupil Relationship – The mentor teaches, often by example, the initiate the skills necessary to survive the quest and rule successfully.

6) 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.

CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

7) Hunting Group of Companions – Loyal companions willing to face any number of perils in order to be together.

8) Loyal Retainers – These individuals are somewhat like servants who are heroic themselves. Their duty is to protect the hero and reflect the nobility of the hero.

9) The Friendly Beast – An animal that befriends man.

10) Evil Figure with an Ultimately Good Heart – Redeemable devil figure who is saved by the nobility (or love) of the hero.

CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

11) 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 the community.

12) 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.

13) The Devil Figure – Evil incarnate, this character offers worldly goods, fame, or knowledge in exchange for possession of soul

CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

14) The Woman Figure –

a. The Earth Mother – Symbolic of fruition, abundance, and fertility, this character traditionally offers spiritual and emotional nourishment to those with whom she comes in contact.

b. The Temptress – characterized by sensuous beauty, this woman is one to whom the protagonist is physically attracted and who ultimately brings about his downfall

CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

14) The Woman Figure continued –

c. 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.

d. The Unfaithful Wife – Woman, married to a man she sees as full and unimaginative, is physically attracted to a more virile and desirable man.

CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

14) The Woman Figure –

e. 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.

15) The Creature of Nightmare – A monster, usually summoned from the deepest, darkest part of the human psyche, threatens the hero and/or heroine.

These are symbols (something which represents something else) that have occurred over and over again throughout time and in various different cultures. These symbols have always represented the same things; that is what makes them an archetype and what makes us recognize them as symbols when we see them.

These can also be settings that are seen over and over throughout literature. Although the settings may vary a little over time or as cultures change, the basic premise of the setting is the same.

Symbolic Archetypes:

SYMBOLIC ARCHETYPES

The collective unconsciousness makes certain associations between the outside world and psychic experiences. These associations become enduring and are passed on from one generation to the next. Some of the more common archetypal associations are as follows:

1) Light / Darkness – Light usually suggests hope, renewal, or intellectual illumination; darkness implies the unknown, ignorance, or despair.

SYMBOLIC ARCHETYPES

2) Water / Desert – Because water is necessary to life and growth, it commonly appears as a birth or rebirth symbol. It is archetypically significant, anthropologists believe. 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.

SYMBOLIC ARCHETYPES3) 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 mountaintops house his gods; the bowels of the earth contain the diabolic forces that inhabit his universe.

4) 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.

SYMBOLIC ARCHETYPES5) Haven vs. Wilderness – Places of safety

contrast sharply against the dangerous wilderness. Heroes are often found in unexpected places. Wilderness threatens civilization

6) Supernatural Intervention – The gods intervene on the side of the hero or sometimes against him.

7) 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.

Now, take what you know about archetypes and apply them to everyone’s favorite Ogre….

Hero ShrekLiterally doing superhuman deeds

Quest Find/Rescue Princess Fiona

Task Get his swamp back from the fairy creatures

Light v Darkness The castle is dark to represent evil; Fiona is first seen in a ray

of light; as soon as they escape, they emerge into daytime since they have

escaped evilDeath and Rebirth when they escape the dragon,

morning is dawning suggesting hope and rebirth

Star Crossed Lovers Dragons and Donkeys aren’t supposed to be together, neither are ogres and princesses

Evil Figure with a Good Heart Dragon appears at first as an Evil Figure, especially with the remains of the knights, but Donkey saves her and converts her to good

The Journey Shrek and Donkey face their fears and conquer the dragon, finding Fiona to accomplish their task