1. Literary Archetypes
“Archetypes are repeated patterns that recur in the literature of every age” (Sloan 48).

2. What is an archetype?
An archetype is a term used to describe universal symbols that evoke deep and sometimes unconscious responses in a reader
In literature, characters, images, and themes that symbolically embody universal meanings and basic human experiences, regardless of when or where they live, are considered archetypes.
Common literary archetypes include stories of quests, initiations, scapegoats, descents to the underworld, and ascents to heaven.

3. Archetypes are…
Primordial: That is, we, as individuals, have these archetypal images ingrained in our understanding even before we are born.
Universal: These archetypes can be found all over the world and throughout history. The manifestation of the idea may be different, but the idea itself is the same.

4. Carl Jung
Swiss psychologist/psychiatrist whose study of the nature of the human mind resulted in two basic concepts that are important in examining and analyzing literature.
Collective unconsciousness unconscious/subconscious mental record of all common human experiences (examples –love, passion, birth, death, anger, peace, evil, spirituality, etc)
archetypes – symbols which express our “collective unconscious,” which are our common human experiences

5. Common Character Archetypes
The Star-Crossed Lovers
This is the young couple joined by love but unexpectedly parted by fate.
example - Romeo and Juliet
Unfaithful wife
married to a man she sees as dull and unimaginative physically attracted to a more virile or desirable man
example - Guinevere

6. Hero
The main character leaves his or her community to go on an adventure, performing deeds that bring honor to the community
examples – Beowulf
Devil figure offers worldly goods, fame, offers knowledge to the protagonist in exchange for possession of his soul
examples - Lucifer, Satan
Villain
a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime

7. Scapegoat The scapegoat figure is one who gets blamed for everything, regardless of whether he/she is actually at fault.
Example – Tom Robinson
Outcast
a figure who is banished from a social group for some crime against his fellow man
he/she is usually destined to become a wanderer
example - Gollum

8. Trickster
crosses both physical and social boundaries-- the trickster is often a traveler, and he often breaks societal rules. Tricksters cross lines, breaking or blurring connections and distinctions between "right and wrong, sacred and profane, clean and dirty, male and female, young and old, living and dead“
Anansi
The innocent
Child/Youth
Inexperienced adult
Jem and Scout

9. The great teacher/mentor
wise old man
represents knowledge,
wisdom, spirituality of soul, insight
protects or helps main character when he or she faces challenges.
example -, Merlin
Earth mother symbolic of fruition and abundance as well as fertility
example - Mother Nature

10. The Shrew
This is that nagging, bothersome wife always battering her husband with verbal abuse.
example - Katherine
Enchantress-Temptress
characterized by sensuous beauty usually involved in downfall of the hero or protagonist
examples - the Sirens, Calypso, and Cleopatra

11. Situational Archetypes
The Loss of Innocence This is, as the name implies, a loss of innocence through sexual experience, violence, or any other means.
The Initiation
This is the process by which a character is brought into another sphere of influence, usually (in literature) into adulthood.
Ex. Jem and Scott in To Kill a Mockingbird

12. Quest
are searching for something, whether consciously or unconsciously. Their actions, thoughts, and feelings center around the goal of completing the quest.
example - Ahab’s quest for the albino whale
Task
A situation in which a character, or group of characters, is driven to complete some duty often of monstrous proportion.
example --Frodo’s task to keep the ring safe in The Lord of the Rings

13. Fall
describes a descent, usually of a hero, from a higher to a lower state of being
usually involves spiritual defilement and/or loss of innocence
also involves an expulsion from some kind paradise
example - Adam and Eve
Night journey
descent into earth followed by a return to light
usually, knowledge has been gained through the experience
example - Orpheus

14. Common Image Archetypes
Certain images that recur in myths and other genres of literature often have a common meaning or tend to elicit comparable psychological responses and to serve similar cultural functions.
Water
Sun
Colors
Shapes, Numbers, & Other objects

15. Water
a symbol of life, cleansing, and rebirth—represents the mystery of creation
Examples:
Sea—spiritual mystery and infinity; timelessness and eternity
River—death / rebirth (baptism), flowing of time into eternity, transitional phases of the life cycle

16. Sun
Represents energy, creativity, thinking, enlightenment, wisdom, spiritual vision, the passing of time, and life
Examples:
Rising Sun—Birth and Creation
Setting Sun—death

17. Colors
Red—love, sacrifice, hate, evil, anger, violent passion, sin, blood, disorder
Green—birth / death, fertility, luck, hope, jealousy, decay, greed
Blue—sadness, spiritual purity, truth, religious feelings of security
Black—power, doom, death, darkness, mystery, primal wisdom, unconscious evil
White—purity, innocence, death, terror, supernatural, blinding truth

18. Shapes Circle (Sphere) wholeness, unity
Egg (Oval)—the mystery of life and the forces of regeneration

19. Animals Dark-colored bird (raven, hawk)—death, hate, corruption
Snake (serpent, worm)—evil, corruption, sensuality, destruction, wisdom, temptation
Light-colored bird (dove)—peace, love, life

20. Numbers Three (3)—represents unity, spiritual awareness, and light
Four (4)—cycle of life, (earth, water, fire, air) nature
Seven (7)—unity between 3 and 4, completion and perfect order

21. garden
paradise, innocence, unspoiled feminine beauty, fertility
desert
lack of spirituality, death, hopelessness

22. Mountains and peaks
Highest peak is place to “see” far
Place to gain great insight
Caves and tunnels
Deep down where character delves into self
Place that character goes when “invisible” or inactive
At the extreme may signify death

23. Forest
Habitat of the Great Mother (Mother Nature), Fertility. The vegetation and animals flourish in this “green world” because of the sustaining power of the Great Mother. Symbolically the primitive levels of the feminine psyche, protective and sheltering. Those who enter often lose their direction or rational outlook and thus tap into their collective unconscious.

24. Tree proliferation, life, immortality growth, road or train
journey through life

25. Character Archetypes The great teacher/mentor Hero Outcast Villain
Earth mother
Circle
The innocent
Ring
Galadriel
Sauron
Aragorn
Gollum
Gandalf
Frodo

26. Summer Reading
Think about the books you read over the summer, (The Life of Pi, Girl with a Pearl Earring, A Northern Light, Peace, Like a River, Like Water for Elephants, The Kite Runner, and To Kill a Mockingbird). What archetypes did you notice in those books? For example, water in the Life of Pi.

27. Orange Brown vibrant combination of red and yellow
Orange
vibrant
combination of red and yellow
denotes energy, warmth, and the sun
less intensity or aggression than red
calmed by the cheerfulness of yellow
Brown
wholesomeness and earthiness
represents steadfastness, simplicity, friendliness, dependability, and health
warm neutral color that can stimulate the appetite