Archetypes

For other uses, see Archetype (disambiguation).

An archetype (pronounced: /ˈɑːkɪtaɪp/ (Brit.) or /ˈɑrkɪtaɪp/ (Amer.)) is an original model of a person, object, or concept from which similar instances are derived, copied, patterned, or emulated. In psychology, an archetype is a model of a person, personality, or behavior. This article is about personality as described in literature analysis and the study of the psyche.

In the analysis of personality, the term archetype is often broadly used to refer to

  1. a stereotype—personality type observed multiple times, especially an oversimplification of such a type; or
  2. an epitome—personality type exemplified, especially the "greatest" such example.
  3. a literary term to express details.

Archetype refers to a generic version of a personality. In this sense "mother figure" may be considered an archetype and may be identified in various characters with otherwise distinct (non-generic) personalities.

Archetypes are likewise supposed to have been present in folklore and literature for thousands of years, including prehistoric artwork. The use of archetypes to analyze personality and literature was advanced by Carl Jung early in the 20th century, who suggested the existence of a kind of heritable racial memory comprised of collective human experiences reaching back into prehistory. Thus, in fictional narratives, it is assumed characters with strong archetypal features will automatically and unconsciously resonate with a large audience.

Archetypes are cited as important to both ancient mythology and modern narratives, as argued by Joseph Campbell in works such as The Hero With a Thousand Faces. A number of cinematic and dramatic formulae have been devised based on these notions, including books like Carol S. Pearson's The Hero Within: Six Archetypes We Live By. Such formula typically describe fixed categories into which a work may fall, or narrative stages guided by archetypal figures.

Contents

Etymology

The word archetype appeared in European texts as early as 1545.1 It derives from the Latin noun archetypum and that from the Greek noun αρχέτυπον (archetypon) and adjective αρχέτυπος (archetypos), meaning "first-moulded"2. The Greek roots are arkhe- ("first" or "original") + typos ("model", "type", "blow", "mark of a blow").

Pronunciation note: The "ch" in archetype is a transliteration of the Greek chi (χ) and is most commonly articulated in English as a "k".3

Origins

The origins of the archetypal hypothesis date back as far as Plato. Jung himself compared archetypes to Platonic ideas. Plato's ideas were pure mental forms, that were imprinted in the soul before it was born into the world. They were collective in the sense that they embodied the fundamental characteristics of a thing rather than its specific peculiarities.

Jungian archetypes

Main article: Jungian archetypes

The concept of psychological archetypes was advanced by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, c. 1919. In Jung's psychological framework archetypes are innate, universal prototypes for ideas and may be used to interpret observations. A group of memories and interpretations associated with an archetype is a complex, e.g. a mother complex associated with the mother archetype. Jung treated the archetypes as psychological organs, analogous to physical ones in that both are morphological constructs that arose through evolution. 4

Jung outlined five main archetypes:

  • The Self, the regulating center of the psyche and facilitator of individuation
  • The Shadow, the opposite of the ego image, often containing qualities that the ego does not identify with but possesses nonetheless
  • The Anima, the feminine image in a man's psyche; or:
  • The Animus, the masculine image in a woman's psyche
  • The Persona, how we present to the world, usually protects the Ego from negative images(acts like a mask)

Although the number of archetypes is limitless, there are a few particularly notable, recurring archetypal images:

Archetypes in literature

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Archetypes can be found in nearly all forms of literature, with their motifs being predominantly rooted in folklore.

William Shakespeare is known for creating many archetypal characters that hold great social importance in his native land, such as Hamlet, the self-doubting hero and the initiation archetype with the three stages of separation, transformation, and return; Falstaff, the bawdy, rotund comic knight; Romeo and Juliet, the ill-fated ("star-crossed") lovers; Richard II, the hero who dies with honor; and many others. Although Shakespeare based many of his characters on existing archetypes from fables and myths (e.g., Romeo and Juliet on Pyramus and Thisbe), Shakespeare's characters stand out as original by their contrast against a complex, social literary landscape. For instance, in The Tempest, Shakespeare borrowed from a manuscript by William Strachey that detailed an actual shipwreck of the Virginia-bound 17th-century English sailing vessel Sea Venture in 1609 on the islands of Bermuda. Shakespeare also borrowed heavily from a speech by Medea in Ovid's Metamorphoses in writing Prospero's renunciative speech; nevertheless, the unique combination of these elements in the character of Prospero created a new interpretation of the sage magician as that of a carefully plotting hero, quite distinct from the wizard-as-advisor archetype of Merlin or Gandalf. Both of these are likely derived from priesthood authority archetypes, such as Celtic Druids, or perhaps Biblical figures like Abraham, Moses, etc.; or in the case of Gandalf, the Norse figure Odin.

Certain common methods of character depiction employed in dramatic performance rely on the pre-existence of literary archetypes. Stock characters used in theatre or film are based on highly generic literary archetypes. A pastiche is an imitation of an archetype or prototype in order to pay homage to the original creator.

Sheri Tepper's novel Plague of Angels contains archetypical villages, essentially human zoos where a wide variety of archetypal people are kept, including heroes, orphans, oracles, ingénues, bastards, young lovers, poets, princesses, martyrs, and fools.

The superhero genre is also frequently cited as emblematic of archetypal literature.

The young, flawed, and brooding antihero [Spider-Man] became the most widely imitated archetype in the superhero genre since the appearance of Superman.
—Bradford W. Wright, Comic Book Nation: The transformation of Youth Culture in America 212
—Superman on the Couch by Danny Fingeroth 151

Criticism

It's unsurprising that Jungian analysis is able to identify supposed archetypes in every form of art and literature, considering archetypes are supposed to be infinitely various.citation needed The basic idea is that strong archetypal features will resonate with audience, thus relying on affect, (cf affective fallacy), and tends to suffer from other weaknesses of idealistic or Platonic criticism.citation needed The most basic criticism of archetypes, especially as described by Jung, regards the supposed nature of the archetypes, independent from individual thought, and conveyed through non-textual means.citation needed

See also

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper. "Online Etymology Dictionary - Archetype".
  2. ^ Archetypos, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus
  3. ^ "Pronunciation Challenges: Confusions and Controversy".
  4. ^ Boeree, C. George. "Carl Jung". Retrieved on 2006-03-09.

Sources

  • Campbell, Joseph, The Masks of God: Vol. I, Premitive Mythology. (1991 reprint revised ed.), New York: Penguin Group Inc.
  • Jung, C. G., (1934–1954). The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious. (1981 2nd ed. Collected Works Vol.9 Part 1), Princeton, N.J.: Bollingen. ISBN 0-691-01833-2
  • Arrien, Angeles (1992). Signs Of Life: The Five Universal Shapes And How To Use Them. Sonoma, CA, USA: Arcus Publishing Company. ISBN 0-916955-10-9
  • Pearson, Carol (1989). The hero within: six archetypes we live by. San Francisco: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-254862-x. 
  • Stephen Palmquist, Dreams of Wholeness: A course of introductory lectures on religion, psychology and personal growth, Hong Kong: Philopsychy Press, 1997/2008. ISBN 962-7770-50-7

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