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Archetypes

Archetypes defined

• Archetypes are often represented in literature and in art by SYMBOLS.

• Some common archetypes include the following:

ARCHETYPES

Water Sun Colors Circle Women Wind /

Breath

Ship Garden Desert

WATER

• Water represents several ideas: the mystery of creation; birth-death-resurrection; purification and/or redemption; fertility and growth.

– The SEA = the Mother of Life; spiritual mystery and infinity; death and rebirth; timelessness; eternity; the unconscious.

– RIVERS = death and rebirth; baptism; the flowing of time; transitional phases in the life cycle; incarnation of deities.

Water – What do these images represent? What emotions/connotations do they evoke?

SUN (Fire and sky are closely

related)

• The sun represents creative energy; law in

nature; consciousness (thinking,

enlightenment, wisdom, spiritual vision);

father principle; passage of time and life.

– Rising Sun = birth, creation, enlightenment.

– Setting Sun = death

SUN – What do these images represent? What emotions/connotations do they evoke?

COLORS

• Black = darkness, chaos, mystery, the unknown, death, the unconscious, melancholy (sadness)

• Red = blood, sacrifice, violent passion, disorder, beauty

• Green = growth, sensations, hope, nature

• Blue = calm, the sea, water, peace, cold

• Purple = royalty

• Yellow = light, the sun, hope

• White = good, peace, spiritualness

Colors – What do these images represent? What emotions/connotations do they evoke?

Circle

• Circle represents wholeness; unity; God

as infinite; life in primitive form; union of

conscious and unconscious.

• The circle is also a form associated with

the female.

Archetypical WOMEN

• The Great Mother, Good Mother, or Earth Mother = associated with birth, protection, warmth, fertility, growth, abundance, the unconscious.

• The Terrible Mother = the witch, the sorceress, the siren; associated with fear, danger, death, evil power.

• The Soul Mate = the princess or beautiful lady, incarnation of inspiration (the muse) and spiritual fulfillment.

• The Temptress = alluring woman who impedes the hero; distraction, diversion, evil power.

Women – What do these images represent? What emotions/connotations do they evoke?

Wind and Breath

• Wind and breath = inspiration, conception,

soul or spirit.

Ship

• Ship = a microcosm of mankind’s voyage

through space and time.

Garden

• Garden = paradise, Eden, innocence,

unspoiled beauty, fertility.

Desert

• Desert = lack of spirituality, death,

hopelessness.

Archetypal Motifs: Patterns of

symbols

1. Creation

2. Immortality

3. Hero Archetype

4. Seasons / Life Cycles

1. Creation

• Perhaps the most fundamental of all

archetypal patterns. Almost every

mythology is built on some account of how

the Cosmos, Nature, and Man were

brought into existence by some

supernatural Being/Beings.

• Example: Ancient Babylonian Myth –

Marduk OR Creation story from Genesis.

2. Immortality

• Another fundamental archetype, generally taking

one or two narrative forms.

– A. Escape from time: the return to Paradise (state of

perfect timeless bliss enjoyed by man before his

tragic flaw into corruption/mortality)

– B. Endless Death and Regeneration: man achieves a

kind of immortality by submitting to the vast,

mysterious rhythm of Nature’s eternal cycle,

particularly the cycle of the seasons.

3. The Hero Archetype

• The Quest – The hero (savior or deliverer)

undertakes some long journey during

which he must perform impossible tasks,

battle with monsters, solve unanswerable

riddles, and overcome insurmountable

obstacles in order to save the kingdom

and, perhaps, marry the princess.

3. The Hero Archetype cont’d.

• Initiation – The hero undergoes a series of

excruciating ordeals in passing from ignorance

and immaturity to social and spiritual adulthood

(achieving maturity and becoming a full-fledged

member of his social group). The initiation most

commonly consists of three stages:

– Separation

– Transformation

– Return – Like the Quest, the transformation is a

variation of the Death and Rebirth archetype.

3. The Hero Archetype cont’d.

• The Sacrificial Scapegoat: The hero, with

whom the welfare of the tribe or nation is

identified, must die to atone for the

people’s sins and to restore the land to

fruitfulness.

4. Seasons (Cycles/phases of life)

1. The Dawn, Spring, and Birth Phase

2. The Zenith, Summer, and Marriage or

Triumph Phase

3. The Sunset, Autumn, and Death Phase

4. The Darkness, Winter, and Dissolution

Phase

4-1. The Dawn, Spring, and Birth

Phase

• Myths of the birth of the hero, of revival

and resurrection, of creation and of the

defeat of the posers of darkness, winter,

and death. Subordinate characters

include the mother and father.

4-2. The Zenith, Summer, and

Marriage or Triumph Phase

• Myths of the second marriage, of entering

into paradise. Subordinate characters

include the companion and the bride. This

is the archetypal pattern connected with

the comedy, the pastoral, and the idyll.

4-3. The Sunset, Autumn, and

Death Phase

Myths of fall, of dying God, of violent death

and sacrifice, and of the isolation of the

hero. Subordinate characters include the

traitor and the siren. This is the

archetypal pattern of tragedy and elegy.

4-4. The Darkness, Winter, and

Dissolution Phase

• Myths of the triumph, of these power

myths, of floods and the return of chaos,

and of the defeat of the hero. Subordinate

characters include the ogre and the witch.

This pattern is associated with satire.