Mythological Theory

8/10/2019 Mythological Theory

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Mythological/Archetypal

TheoryMs. Angelann Stephens

Benjamin E. Mays High SchoolEnglish Department


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What is a mythological/archetypal

approach?

Looking for common symbols throughout

literature, cultures, people

Myths are repeated throughout history in

cultures

Example

Every culture has a creation story

A life after death belief

A reason for human failings


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What is a mythological/archetypal

approach?

When we study different texts across

different cultures, we see similarities

Look for general recurringthemes,

characters, situations


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Three main points to study

Archetypal characters

Archetypal images

Archetypal situations


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Archetypal Characters

The HERO

The SCAPEGOAT

The LONER or OUTCAST The TEMPTRESS

The EARTH MOTHER/GODDESS

The SPIRIT or INTELLECT


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HERO

Larger than life

Search for self-identity results in self-

destruction

Death of him/her leads toward some ideal

Modern superheroes (Superman)


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SCAPEGOAT

Innocent character

Situation is blamed on this character

Character assumes the blame for asituation

Is punished in place of the truly guilty party

He/she removes the guilt from the culpritand society


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LONER or OUTCAST

Character separated from society

Impaired physically, emotionally, physiologically

Ex.Jesus goes into the desert to discern his

destiny Buddha leaves society to come to terms with his

philosophy

Victor Frankenstein travels to remote locales to avoid

people when he realizes he has created a monster

Heroes can be loners or outcasts too


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TEMPTRESS

Female

She wants what the male desires

She uses his desire (intentionally orunintentionally) to achieve his destruction

Ex. Eve, Juliet, Lady Macbeth


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EARTH MOTHER/GODDESS

Mother Nature

Mother Earth

Nurturing, life-giving aspect of femininity


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SPIRIT or INTELLECT

Often-unidentified

Feminine inspiration

Ex. Dantes Beatrice (Dantes Inferno) Shakespeares Dark Lady


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Archetypal Situations

The QUEST

RENEWAL OF LIFE

INITIATION The FALL

REDEMPTIVE SACRIFICE


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The QUEST

Heros endeavor to establish his/her

identity or

fulfill his/her destiny


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RENEWAL OF LIFE

Death and rebirth

Resurrection as seen in the cycle of the

seasons

Phases of the day, sleeping and waking

Ex. Sleeping Beauty, The Secret

Garden


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INITIATION

Coming of age

Rites of passage

Ex. First hunt, weddings, teenage angstfilms


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The FALL

Any event that marks a loss of innocence

A devolution from a paradisiacal life and

viewpoint to a tainted one

Ex. Gatsbys realization that he will never

have Daisy in Chapter 8


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REDEMPTIVE SACRIFICE

Any voluntary loss

Especially loss of life that results in

anothers gaining or regaining a desired

state


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ARCHETYPAL IMAGES

COLORS

NUMBERS

WATER GARDENS

GEOMETRIC SHAPES

CELESTIAL BODIES YIN and YANG


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COLORS

Red= blood, passion, violence

Gold=greatness, value, wealth

Green-fertility, luxury, growthBlue(the color of the sky)=God-like

holiness, peace, serenity

White=purity


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NUMBERS

Three=Christian trinity

Four= four Seasons, ancient elements

(earth, water, fire, air)

Twelve=months of the solar year, etc.


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WATER

Source of life and sustenance

Cleansing or purification

Baptism


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GARDENS

Natural abundance

Easy, beautiful life

New birth, hope Eden, the original Paradise from which

humankind was expelled


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GEOMETRIC SHAPES

Triangle= the trinity

Circle = perfection and eternity,

wholeness, union


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CELESTIAL BODIES

Sun (masculine)=the giver and destroyer

of life

Moon (feminine)=the passage of time,

controls the course of human events

Ex. Seedtime, harvest, etc., are all

determined more by the phases of the

moon than the phases of the sun


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YIN and YANG

Any scheme that suggests that each of a

pair of opposites partakes of the others

nature

Complements each other

Essentially completes the other

Without balance, the world would erupt

into chaos


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Work Cited

Grudzina, Douglas. Teaching F. Scott

Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsbyfrom

Multiple Critical Perspectives. Clayton:

Prestwick House, Inc., 2006.

Documents

Mythological Theory