1. English 10
9/12
Plot Box Model/Questions
Composition Notebooks
Archetypes Notes/Journaling
HW: Plot Box is due Thurs. (9/15)

2. Heroes, GODS, and Monsters
Literary Archetypes

3. What does archetype mean?
word origin: Greek for “first model”
a prototype, an original that is then imitated
a recurrent motif or symbol in literature

4. Carl Jung (1875-1961) Pronounced “Yoong” (“oo” as in “book”)
Swiss psychiatrist who founded analytical psychology
Influenced not only psychology but also the study of philosophy, anthropology, and literature

5. Jungian Archetypes
An archetype is a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, or mental image universally present in individuals from the dawn of time.

6. Why do so many stories have similar characters, plots, and conflicts?

7. Joseph Campbell’s Hero Cycle
Freud’s theory of the unconscious influences Jung
Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious influences Campbell
Campbell uses the term “monomyth” to describe the archetypal journey we see in stories all over the world

8. Are you a lover or a fighter?
Which archetype(s) can you identify within your own personality?
Use your handout to explain.

9. Archetypes for Us to Study: Monsters, Gods, Heroes
Why do monsters, heroes, and gods play such a key role in these and other stories in Western Civilization?
What characterizes these archetypes? Brainstorm with a partner and create a web or mindmap for each of the three archetypes.
What can we learn about a culture’s values by studying these archetypes?

10. Examples from Myths
Read the following accounts of mythological archetypes from ancient Greece.
Using your graphic organizer, take notes on the characterization, symbolism, and conflicts featured in each story.

11. Odysseus Versus Scylla and Charybdis

12. Odysseus Versus Scylla and Charybdis
On both sides of a narrow stretch of sea, monsters lie in wait. On one side, Scylla thrashes her snakelike heads, ready to devour passing sailors. On the other, Charybdis creates a deadly whirlpool. No person has ever faced theses beasts and escaped unharmed. Now, after fighting nine years of battle against the Trojans and bringing the Greeks victory with his idea for the Trojan Horse, the King of Ithaca, Odysseus, and his crew must pass these monsters to get home. Odysseus decides not to tell his men all of the gory details of the perils that await them. As they edge their ship around Charybdis’s spiraling sea, he shouts to the men, “Row!” He knows some men would have to be sacrificed. Scylla swoops down and gobbles up six sailors, but Odysseus is able to lead the rest of the crew safely past the deadly channel.

13. Hercules Versus the Hydra

14. Hercules Versus the Hydra
Hercules, cursed by the goddess Hera, went into a mad rage and killed his own wife and children. As a penance, the god Apollo told him to serve King Eurystheus for twelve years. Each year featured a heavy labor, a task only Hercules could accomplish. For his second labor, he was to kill the Hydra, a monster who lived in the murky waters of the swamps and terrorized the nearby countryside. A monstrous serpent with nine heads, the hydra attacked with poisonous venom. With his club, Hercules attacked the many heads of the hydra, but as soon as he smashed one head, two more would burst forth in its place! Each time Hercules bashed one of the hydra's heads, his friend Iolaus held a torch to the headless tendons of the neck. The flames prevented the growth of replacement heads, and finally, Hercules had the better of the beast. Once he had removed and destroyed the eight mortal heads, Hercules chopped off the ninth, immortal head and buried it.
Perseus and Medusa
King Polydectes sends Perseus on a dangerous mission to capture the head of the Gorgon Medusa. Once a beautiful maiden, Medusa was raped by Poseidon in Athena’s temple. Athena was furious and turned Medusa’s hair into snakes. She also made Medusa’s face so hideous that anyone who looked upon it would turn to stone. With the help of Hermes’s winged sandals, a helmet of invisibility, and a scimitar, Perseus faces the challenge. He sneaks up on the sleeping Medusa, uses Athena’s polished aegis (shield) to deflect the fatal gaze of the Gorgon, and beheads the monster. Medusa’s head is then placed on Athena’s shield and used as a weapon in many subsequent adventures.

15. Perseus Versus Medusa

16. Perseus Versus Medusa
King Polydectes sends Perseus on a dangerous mission to capture the head of the Gorgon Medusa. Once a beautiful maiden, Medusa was raped by Poseidon in Athena’s temple. Athena was furious and turned Medusa’s hair into snakes. She also made Medusa’s face so hideous that anyone who looked upon it would turn to stone. With the help of Hermes’s winged sandals, a helmet of invisibility, and a scimitar, Perseus faces the challenge. He sneaks up on the sleeping Medusa, uses Athena’s polished aegis (shield) to deflect the fatal gaze of the Gorgon, and beheads the monster. Medusa’s head is then placed on Athena’s shield and used as a weapon in many subsequent adventures.

17. Theseus Versus the Minotaur

18. Theseus Versus the Minotaur
Half-man, half-bull, the Minotaur lurks in an underground maze waiting for his next meal—children sent to him as a sacrifice. Lost in the labyrinth, the kids will surely be devoured. But brave Theseus has had enough of his people living in fear of the Minotaur. He journeys to Crete as one of the youths to be given to the monster as tribute. Ariadne, daughter of King Minos, gives him a “clew,” a ball of thread, so he can find his way out of the maze. Theseus kills the Minotaur with his sword, escapes, sails to Athens with Ariadne but abandons her on Naxos.

19. Bellerophon Versus the Chimera

20. Bellerophon Versus the Chimera
With the help of Athena, the hero Bellerophon tames the winged horse, Pegasus, and saves the Lycians from the terrifying Chimera, a fire-breathing hybrid creature composed of various animal parts. It is usually depicted as a lion, with the head of a goat jutting out from its back, and a tail that ends with a snake’s head. As they neared the Chimera's lair, Bellerophon saw the scorched Earth all around and could feel the monster's burning breath, which gave him an idea. He guided Pegasus back to Earth and found a block of lead, which he mounted on his spear. Then he pulled upon the horse's reins, and again they soared into the sky, directly to the Chimera. Bellerophon held his spear before him as they winged headfirst toward the monster. When they were close, Bellerophon plunged his spear into the Chimera's throat. The creature roared, and as he did, his breath melted the lead. As it dripped down the creature's throat, the air passage was blocked and the fierce Chimera died of suffocation.

21. Jason Versus the Harpies

22. Jason Versus the Harpies
Jason and his sailors, the Argonauts, meet King Phineus while on the quest for the Golden Fleece. The King promises Jason and his crew that he will tell them how to get through the deadly Clashing Rocks if they help him get rid of the horrible Harpies. These female monsters were the personification of sudden storms or violent whirlwinds. Zeus decided that the Harpies should harass King Phineus as punishment for revealing the secrets of the gods. The Harpies were represented with the head of a fair-haired maiden and the body of a vulture, and were perpetually struck by the pangs of insatiable hunger. They tormented their victims by devouring their food with great gluttony, or defiling it completely. Jason told the Boreades, the winged sons of the North Wind who accompanied the Argonauts, to chase the Harpies away. They did so until the goddess Iris commanded them to turn back and leave the storm spirits unharmed.

23. Vocabulary for this Unit
archetype (n) a recurrent character or idea in literature
unconscious (n) the part of the mind that is not accessible to the conscious mind but that affects emotions and behavior (can also be an adjective)
recurrent (adj) occurring often or repeatedly
motif (n) a recurrent symbol or idea that helps develop a central idea (theme)
anthropomorphic (adj) human-like

24. Vocabulary (cont’d) chimerical (adj) imaginary, unreal
herculean (adj) extremely difficult; requiring great strength
lethargic (adj) deficient in alertness or activity
narcissistic (adj) egotistical, vain, self-centered
nemesis (n) enemy

25. Vocabulary (cont’d) odyssey (n) a long wandering and eventful journey
protean (adj) taking on different forms
tantalize (v) to tempt
labryrinthine (adj) circuitous, complex
mercurial (adj) constantly changing

26. Sentence Composition
Using your notes from the myths and your new vocabulary, write a variety of sentence types with your partner.
Simple
Compound (with a coordinating conjunction)
Complex
Compound-Complex

27. Diamond Paragraphs: Practice Sentence Variety
Follow the pattern below and write a diamond paragraph about heroes, gods, and monsters.
simple
compound
complex
compound-complex