Archetypal criticism examines literature through the lens of universal symbols, images, and story patterns known as archetypes. This approach originated from Jung's theory of a collective unconscious containing archetypes inherited from a remote past. Key proponents like Frye applied the theory to literature by identifying common archetypes like the hero's journey. Archetypal critics believe these archetypes reveal literature's power by tapping into shared human experiences, fears, and desires. Readers can recognize archetypes and find meaning by connecting works to basic patterns in mythology and the human condition. However, some critics argue it ignores individual authors and historical/cultural influences.

1. ARCHETYPAL/MYTH
CRITICISM

2. Archetype from the Greek archē,
or beginning, and typos, or
imprint

3. ar·che·type - a constantly recurring
symbol, theme, or motif in literature; a
pattern from which other, similar things
can develop
Archetypes often appear in various
cultural traditions and myths

4. Has roots in anthropological and
psychological studies
Late 19th and early 20th centuries

5. Though some important mythic and archetypal
criticism was done in the early twentieth century,
its great flowering was in the 1950s and 1960s.
Since then the prestige of mythic and archetypal
approaches still have great popular appeal and
continue to exercise fascination over each new
generation of students exposed to them. The
vogue of Joseph Campbell and his theories of
myth in the 1980s is an example of this
continuing appeal.

6. It is closely related to a psychological
approach and the work of Carl Jung,
mythological and archetypal criticism
looks at commonalities among dreams,
myths, legends, religions, visual arts,
and literature.

7. Archetypal critics account for a
universality in literature by pointing to
recurring patterns and images that
appear so deeply embedded in the
human mind and culture that they strike
a responsive chord in everyone.

8. According to Carl Jung, these patterns
are embedded deep in the "collective
unconscious" and involve "racial
memories" of situations, events,
relationships from time immemorial

9. The archetypal patterns will help clarify
the individual text by connecting it to
more universal patterns that often
transcend/go beyond literature itself

10. Archetypal criticism assumes that there
is a collection of symbols, images,
characters, and motifs that suggest
basically the same response in all
people.

11. archetypal women - the Good Mother, the Terrible Mother, and the Soul Mate (such as
the Virgin Mary)
water - creation, birth-death-resurrection, purification, redemption, fertility, growth
garden - paradise (Eden), innocence, fertility
desert - spiritual emptiness, death, hopelessness
red - blood, sacrifice, passion, disorder
green - growth, fertility
black - chaos, death, evil
serpent - evil, sensuality, mystery, wisdom, destruction
seven - perfection
persona- a man's social personality (usually the hero), and anima or "soul image"
(usually the heroine).
Hero archetype - The hero is involved in a quest (in which he overcomes obstacles).
He experiences initiation (involving a separation, transformation, and return
THEY BELIEVE THAT THESE ARCHETYPES ARE THE
SOURCE OF MUCH OF LITERATURE'S POWER.

12. PROPONENTS

13. Carl Jung
Jung addresses the relevance of
archetypal theory in literature and the
arts most clearly in The Spirit in
Man, Art, and Literature (1966)
which contains two significant essays
on literature and poetry (first
published 1922 and 1930).

14. • psychologist
• student of Freud
• The Basic Writing of
C.G. Jung
• first gave prominence
to the term archetype
became convinced that all humans
share a “collective unconscious,” an
unconscious “which does not derive
from personal experience and is not
a personal acquisition but is inborn”
(Jung 289)
Collective Unconscious
• Shared by all humans
• an unconscious “which does not
derive from personal experience
and is not a personal acquisition
but is inborn” (Jung 289)

15. In Jung’s archetypal theory, the
unconscious mind plays a profound
role, and it has a purpose, which is to
assist individuals in maintaining a
balanced psychological state.

16. Archetypes
• contents of the collective
unconscious
• defined as primordial or “universal
images that have existed since the
remotest times” (Jung 288)
• formed during the earliest stages of
human development

17. Although the theory may seem almost
mystic, Jung found no other way to
account for the appearance of nearly
identical images and patterns in the
mind of individuals from wholly
different cultures and backgrounds.

18. Jung notes instances which suggest that
water is a symbol of the unconscious and
the action of descending to the water is a
symbol of the frightening experience of
confronting the depths of one’s
unconscious.
• dreams of Protestant clergymen
• legends of African tribes

19. Jung’s account of a patient who in 1906
related visions containing odd symbolic
configurations.
- later he encountered similar symbols in
a Greek papyrus first deciphered in 1910

20. Theory of Individuation
A psychological “growing up”
A process of learning of one’s own individuality
A process of self-recognition which is
essential to becoming a well-balanced person
Neuroses are result of person’s failure to
confront and accept archetypal components of
the unconscious

21. Inherited components of the psyche
Principles Archetypes
Animus
Anima
Shadow

22. ANIMUS
• Physical man
• Represents physical, brute strength of
man and his animal instincts
• Can be the “masculine” designation of
the female psyche

23. ANIMA
• The “soul image”
• The spiritual life-force
• The “living thing in man, that which lives of
itself and causes life…” “…the archetype of life
itself” (Jung, Archetypes 26)
• Feminine designation in the male psyche
• Associated with feelings, passions, instinctive,
unconscious aspect of the psyche

24. SHADOW
• The darker side of our unconscious self
• Inferior, less pleasing aspect of the personality
• Represents “the dangerous aspect of the unrecognized
dark half of the personality” (Jung, Two Essays 94)
• Needs to be suppressed
• When projected, this archetype becomes
The villain
The devil

25. The theory of archetypes would explain
not only such instances as these but also
the similarity of myths and rituals found
by Frazer, for archetypes are universal
patterns from which myths derive.

26. Northrop Frye (1912-1991)
Canadian literary critic, best
known as a major proponent
of archetypal criticism.
Anatomy of Criticism: Four
Essays (1957)
• Relies solely upon literature
to draw the archetypal
patterns.
• Calls the theory of
collective unconscious an
“unnecessary hypothesis in
literary criticism” (Frye 112)

27. In this branch of literary criticism, literature and
other art forms are seen as manifestations of
universal myths and archetypes (largely
unconscious image patterns that cross cultural
boundaries). Frye’s most important work,
Anatomy of Criticism (1957), introduced
archetypal criticism, identifying and discussing
basic archetypal patterns as found in myths,
literary genres, and the reader’s imagination.

28. Frye’s works combine a formidable
breadth of knowledge with clarity of
thought and an accessible style. He was
committed to literary criticism as a vital
component of cultural life rather than
an intellectual hobby.

29. • Shifts definition of archetype from
psychological to the literary
• Archetype is “a symbol, usually an
image, which recurs often enough in
literature to be recognized as an
element of one’s literary experience as
a whole” (Frye 365)

30. 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.

31. A symbol which recurs often enough in literature
to be recognizable as an element of one's
experience devises an elaborate classification of
modes, symbols, myths, and genres. It establishes
a comprehensive correspondence between the
basic genres- comedy, romance, tragedy, and
irony. And the myths and archetypal patterns
associated with the seasonal cycle of spring,
summer, fall, and winter.

32. Four Types Of Literature (Narrative
Patterns)
• mythos
Unifying Myth
• analogous to seasons of year
• to the story of the birth, death, and
rebirth of the mythic hero

33. Mythos of SUMMER: Romance
analogous to the birth and youthful
adventures of the mythic hero
suggests innocence and triumph
narrative of wish-fulfillment with
good character triumphing over bad
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Robin Hood
• old-fashioned cowboy movies

34. Mythos of AUTUMN: Tragedy
 major movement toward the death
or defeat of the hero
• Oedipus
• King Lear

35. Mythos of WINTER: Irony or Satire
hero now absent
society is left without effective
leadership or sense of norms/values
• Swift’s A Modest Proposal
social norms are turned upside down for artistic purposes
• Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
• Kafka
• Camus
sense of hopelessness and bondage

36. Mythos of SPRING: Comedy
rebirth of hero
renewal of life in which those
elements of society who would block
the hero are overcome
hero and heroine take their rightful
place
order is restored
• Shakespearian comedies

37. Every work of literature has its place
within this scheme or myth.
Every piece of literature adds to the
myth.

38. OTHER PROPONENTS

49. EFFECT ON READERS

50. Strength:
It allows us to see the larger patterns of literature.
Studies of anthropology, psychology, and cultural
history have broaden through the usage of this type
of criticism.

51. Weakness:
It tends to ignore the individual contributions of the
author and the specific cultural and societal
influences. Many are skeptical of this approach, since
it appears to lean towards the occult. There is also
much confusion over the definitions of the objects in
the actual myths, and the fact that people are more
interested in concrete ideas.

52. The death-rebirth theme is a pattern
wherein it starts with the quest by the
protagonist who must leave her/his home,
travel into unfamiliar territory, meet a guide,
endure dangerous situations and adventures,
reach the object of his goal, gain important
knowledge, and return home with that
knowledge to share with others.

53. The readers are able to recognize story
patterns and symbolic associations.
Somehow, they are able to form
assumptions and expectations from the
encounters.

54. Archetypal images and story patterns
can encourage readers to participate in
basic beliefs, fears, and anxieties of
their age. These archetypes constitute
the clearness of the text but also tap
into a level of desires and anxieties of
people.

55. Archetypal criticism helps in the
deepening of events into experiences. It
provides a universalistic approach to
literature. It works well with works that
are highly symbolic.

56. SUMMARY
The aim of this approach is to find out how we can look in a
work for this kind of structures and these universal symbols
which allow us to describe a work as classic, universal, because
they can produce a similar human response not only at the same
time, but also at different times and places of the history.
The archetypical criticism has several points in common with the
psychological criticism, but it researches the personality of each
individual and the psychoanalysis considers the literary work as a
product of neurosis. The mythology and archetypical criticism
consider the literary work such as a manifestation of those vital
strengths that rise from the “psique”

57. And God Bless You…
THANK YOU!