Archetypes Learning Targets: Students will be able to list common archetypes. Students will be able to define archetype and write about its impact on a work of literature.

What are the similarities of these characters?

What are the similarities of these characters?

What are the similarities between these stories?

Group Discussion Questions Why do so many stories share a similar plot? Why do so many different characters in stories fit into a type like ‘sidekick’ or ‘hero’ or ‘evil villain’? How does culture shape this?

Archetypes Theory Definition Archetypes are universal (1) motifs, (2) character types, and (3) plots that appear in literature, movies, oral tradition, myths, etc. across all time and all* cultures.

Plot (Situation) Archetypes The Quest The Fall (from high to low standing) The Rebellion Loss of Innocence The Creation Story The Initiation The Task Nature vs. the Mechanical World Good vs. Evil Coming-of-Age The Unhealable Wound Death and Rebirth The Ritual Cinderella (Rags-to-Riches)

Example: Cinderella (Rags to Riches)

Cinderella (Rags to Riches)

Cinderella (Rags to Riches) and Syncretism

Character Archetypes The Hero The Temptress The Mentor The Reluctant Hero The Sage The Warrior The Sidekick The Star-Crossed Lovers The Friendly Beast The Bully Evil Incarnate (The Dark Lord) The Mad-Scientist The Outcast The Trickster The Fallen Hero The Initiates The Damsel in Distress The Scapegoat The Betrayer The Wanderer The Unfaithful Lover The Innocent One (pure soul) The Earth Mother

Archetypal Motifs Water: purification, cleansing, source of life and sustenance Fire Desert Sunrise Darkness Being Dirty Sun/ Stars/ Moon Dreams “Donning” of Armor Colors: Red: blood, anger, passion, violence Gold: greatness, value, wealth Green: fertility, luxury, growth Blue: peace, serenity

Archetypes… So what? Why might archetypes matter? Talk with a neighbor and be ready to share: Why might archetypes matter? How can archetypes help us understand literature?

Archetypes… So what? Archetypes appear in stories from all cultures across all of recorded history. Psychologist Carl Jung suggested that this means that there are certain universal thinking patterns and understandings that are common among all peoples. Jung hypothesized that part of the human mind contained a collective unconscious shared by all members of the human species, a sort of universal, primal memory. This posits that the stories we tell and characters who inhabit them are biologically predetermined? It is the universal part of the definition that is important

Task With a partner create a poster for your assigned archetype(s) that: Label the archetype Can be read from 10 feet away Provide a description List 3 common examples Has a colorful drawing

The Mentor The Fall B. These individuals serve as teachers or counselors to the initiate archetype. Serve as role-models or motherly figures often. They teach by example the skills necessary to survive the journey or quest archetypes. C. Dumbledore, Gandalf the Grey, Ultima B. This describes a descent from a higher to lower state of being, an experience which might involve defilement, moral corruption, or loss of innocence. This fall is often accompanied by a punishment, such as an expulsion from paradise. C. Adam & Eve, Oedipus in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, Lear in Shakespeare’s King Lear

Symbolizes: loss of innocence, poverty, loss Motif: Being Dirty Symbolizes: loss of innocence, poverty, loss