1. Archetypes and the Quest

2. Archetypes
Simply put, an archetype is a recurring pattern of character, symbol, or situation found in mythology, religion, and stories of all cultures.
They are unconscious…meaning humans didn’t “invent” them.

3. Carl Jung
Believed that these archetypes were the result of a collective unconscious. This collective unconscious was not directly knowable.

4. Carl Jung
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 specifics of the idea may be different, but the idea itself is the same.

5. Archetypal Character Examples
The hero archetype: When everything seems lost, the Hero saves the day. Tough and courageous, this archetype sets goals, overcomes obstacles, and persists in difficult times.
The lover archetype: governs all kinds of love—from parental love, to friendship, to spiritual love—but we know it best in romance.

6. Archetypal Character Examples
The Sage archetype: seeks the truths that will set us free.
The Warriar archetype: protects and defends against all enemies, operating on the premise that strength and power overcome any injustice.
There are dozens of archetypal characters…

7. The Heroic Journey Archetype
There are 6 stages to the Hero Quest Monomyth
Can be visualized as a cycle.

8. Stage 1: Call to Adventure
The hero is called to adventure by some external event or messenger. The Hero may accept the call willingly or reluctantly.

9. Stage 2: Helper
During the early stages of the journey, the hero will often receive aid from a protective figure. This supernatural helper can take a wide variety of forms, such as a wizard, and old man, a dwarf, a crone, or a fairy godmother.

10. Stage 3: Crossing the “Threshold of Adventure”
Upon reaching the threshold of adventure, the hero must undergo some sort of ordeal in order to pass from the everyday world into the world of adventure.
This trial may be as painless as entering a dark cave or as violent as being swallowed up by a whale. The important feature is the contrast between the familiar world of light and the dark, unknown world of adventure.

11. Stage 4: Tests and Helpers
Tests: The hero travels through the world of adventure where he must undergo a series of tests. These trials are often violent encounters with monsters, sorcerers, warriors, or forces of nature. Each successful test further proves the hero's ability and advances the journey toward its climax.
Helpers: The hero is often accompanied on the journey by a helper who assists in the series of tests and generally serves as a loyal companion. Alternately, the hero may encounter a supernatural helper in the world of adventure who fulfills this function.

12. Stage 5: The Ordeal
Climax/The Final Battle: This is the critical moment in the hero's journey in which there is often a final battle with a monster, wizard, or warrior which facilitates the particular resolution of the adventure.

13. Stage 6: Flight
Flight: After accomplishing the mission, the hero must return to the threshold of adventure and prepare for a return to the everyday world. If the hero has angered the opposing forces by stealing the “elixir” or killing a powerful monster, the return may take the form of a hasty flight.

14. Stage 7: Return
Return: The hero again crosses the “threshold of adventure” and returns to the everyday world of daylight. The return usually takes the form of an awakening, rebirth, resurrection, or a simple emergence from a cave or forest.

15. Stage 8: Elixir
Elixer: The object, knowledge, or blessing that the hero acquired during the adventure is now put to use in the everyday world. Often it has a restorative or healing function, but it also serves to define the hero's role in the society.

16. Example: The Lion King
Remember the beginning of Lion King? Simba's birth is being celebrated. The unusual aspect of his birth is his royal status. His father, Mufasa, is the King of the Jungle.
Simba's father is
murdered by Scar...

17. ...which leaves our little hero helpless and forces him to leave his kingdom. Have no fear, however; heroes always return to their land.
Simba initially fights with Nala, but they soon realize they are friends. She tells him of Scar's reign, which begins
Simba's quest to gain his
father's kingdom back from
Scar.

18. Simba sees his father's spirit and also gets helps from Rafiki, a medicine man-type character. Rafiki is the supernatural force in The Lion King. He he influences Simba and provide him with guidance.

19. Simba is immature at first and unable to be the hero he will eventually become. However, once Simba realizes Scar must be removed and Simba is the only one who can do it, he assumes his proper role as the hero and saves the land from the evil Scar.

20. Simba's descent into "hell" is combined with his defeat of Scar and the hyenas. Remember all the flames in the background as he fights Scar? He symbolically goes where none of the other lions could go in order to help his tribe and prove himself. Simba's unhealable wound? His past, where his courage failed him and his tribe, will always haunt him.

21. The spirit of Mufasa, Simba's father, tells Simba to be strong and assume his place on the throne. Simba, who has been reluctant up to this point to return to his kingdom, realizes he has little choice but to avenge his father's murder.

22. Simba becomes king, earning his elixir (power)
Simba becomes king, earning his elixir (power). He returns the animal kingdom back to normal and the hero quest comes to an end.

23. What is a mythological/ archetypal approach?
Looking for common symbols throughout literature, cultures, people
Myths are repeated throughout history in cultures
Example
Every culture has a creation story
A life after death belief
A reason for human failings

24. What is a mythological/ archetypal approach?
When we study different texts across different cultures, we see similarities
Look for general recurring themes, characters, situations

25. Three main points to study
Archetypal characters
Archetypal images
Archetypal situations

26. 1. Archetypal Characters
The HERO
The SCAPEGOAT
The LONER or OUTCAST
The TEMPTRESS
The EARTH MOTHER/GODDESS
The SPIRIT or INTELLECT

27. HERO
Larger than life
Search for self-identity results in self-destruction
Death of him/her leads toward some ideal
Modern superheroes (Superman)

28. SCAPEGOAT Innocent character Situation is blamed on this character
Character assumes the blame for a situation
Is punished in place of the truly guilty party
He/she removes the guilt from the culprit and society

29. LONER or OUTCAST Character separated from society
Impaired physically, emotionally, physiologically
Ex. – Jesus goes into the desert to discern his destiny
Buddha leaves society to come to terms with his philosophy
Victor Frankenstein travels to remote locales to avoid people when he realizes he has created a monster
Heroes can be loners or outcasts too

30. TEMPTRESS Female She wants what the male desires
She uses his desire (intentionally or unintentionally) to achieve his destruction
Ex. Eve, Juliet, Lady Macbeth

31. EARTH MOTHER/GODDESS Mother Nature Mother Earth
Nurturing, life-giving aspect of femininity

32. SPIRIT or INTELLECT Often-unidentified Feminine inspiration
Ex. Dante’s Beatrice (Dante’s Inferno)
Shakespeare’s Dark Lady

33. 2. Archetypal Situations
The QUEST
RENEWAL OF LIFE
INITIATION
The FALL
REDEMPTIVE SACRIFICE

34. The Quest Hero’s endeavor to establish his/her identity or
fulfill his/her destiny
The Monomyth

35. Renewal of Life Death and rebirth
Resurrection as seen in the cycle of the seasons
Phases of the day, sleeping and waking
Ex. “Sleeping Beauty,” “The Secret Garden”

36. Initiation Coming of age Rites of passage
Ex. First hunt, weddings, teenage angst films, To Kill A Mockingbird - Scout

37. The Fall Any event that marks a loss of innocence
A devolution from a paradisiacal life and viewpoint to a tainted one
Ex. Gatsby’s realization that he will never have Daisy in Chapter 8

38. Redemptive Sacrifice Any voluntary loss
Especially loss of life that results in another’s gaining or regaining a desired state

39. 3. Archetypal Images COLOURS NUMBERS WATER GARDENS SERPENT
GEOMETRIC SHAPES
ASTRONOMICAL BODIES

40. Colours Red = blood, passion, violence Gold=greatness, value, wealth
Green-fertility, luxury, growth
Blue (the color of the sky)=God-like holiness, peace, serenity
White=purity
Black=death

41. Numbers
Three = light, spiritual awareness, and unity (eg: The Holy Trinity)
Four = circle, life cycle, four seasons, female principle, earth, nature, 4 elements (earth, air/wind, fire, water)
Seven = union of 3 and 4, the completion of the cycle, perfect order.
Twelve=months of the solar year, etc.

42. Water Source of life and sustenance Cleansing or purification
Fertility and growth
Baptism

43. Gardens Natural abundance Easy, beautiful life, paradise
Unspoiled beauty
Fertility
New birth, hope
Eden, the original Paradise from which humankind was expelled

44. Serpent (snake/worm) Symbol of energy, pure force Evil Corruption
Sensuality
Destruction
Mystery

45. Geometric Shapes Triangle = the trinity
Circle = perfection and eternity, wholeness, union

46. Astronomical
Sun = MALE - creative energy, wisdom, father, passage of time and life (rising sun = birth, creation, hope / setting sun = death, sorrow)
Moon = FEMALE - symbol of life, death, and then rebirth. Moon controls course of human events. Light within darkness.
Ex. Seedtime, harvest, etc., are all determined more by the phases of the moon than the phases of the sun