1. Archetypes: Booker’s 7 Plot Archetypes

2. Archetypes Archetype: a concept that recurs in literature, art, mythology, and even life In this course, we will be focusing on plot, character and colour archetypes that appear throughout literary history

3. Booker’s 7 Basic Plots Many different views on which plot archetypes exist Literary critics even dispute how many plot archetypes exist Journalist/author Christopher Booker developed concept of 7 plot archetypes that most stories follow Viewed by many as the best breakdown of basic plots in traditional literature

4. 1: The Quest main character must journey away from home to achieve some sort of goal usually accompanied by companions and usually faces obstacles that must be overcome e.g. the Lord of the Rings series

5. 2: Voyage and Return main character leaves home (often involuntarily or by accident) and encounters an alien world, and must find way back usually learns something about self during journey e.g. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

6. 3: Rebirth main character is “reborn” or transformed in some way, often due to magic may return to original self after learning a lesson, or may remain transformed because the transformation was actually an improvement e.g. Beauty and the Beast

7. 4: Comedy story becomes increasingly ridiculous until chaos reigns characters are shown to be exaggerations of the worst aspects of humanity e.g. Twelfth Night

8. 5: Tragedy main character comes from a place of power and/or fortune, but loses everything, usually because of a character flaw he or she has main character may die, but not necessarily characters shown to be better than humans actually are e.g. Scarface

9. 6: Overcoming the Monster powerful force emerges and causes fear within the setting or actually destroys the setting main character must overcome this “monster” e.g. Godzilla

10. 7: Rags to Riches main character comes from nothing to a place of wealth and/or power may lose the power/wealth, but then regains it e.g. Aladdin