1. ARCHETYPAL MOTIFS & UNIVERSAL SYMBOLS

2. Universal Symbols & Archetypal Motifs:
evoke deep response in readers
are characters, images, and themes = basic human experiences no matter where or when they live
mean the same thing for all people

3. SYMBOL
OBJECT, WORD, OR IMAGE THAT REPRESENTS AN ABSTRACT IDEA

4. MOTIF
Pattern; recurring set of words, shapes, colors, subject, symbols, theme, ideas, images
Recurring symbol motifs in literature often take on figurative meaning and help develop the central theme

5. ARCHETYPE: Original, a model or first form, prototype.
In literature, model for common characters and stories
Writers use archetypal stories to inspire contemplation of our human nature and evoke a deep psychological response/connection/understanding
Writers use archetypal characters to define who their characters are and how they act
EXAMPLES of archetypal stories and characters: stories of quests, initiations, scapegoats (hero’s journey); descents to the underworld, ascents to heaven, awakenings, death/rebirth, sacrifice, creation myths; wise old man, hero, soul mate, terrible mother, good mother, etc.

6. SYMBOLS objects (nature), shapes, colors, numbers
UNIVERSAL
SYMBOLS
objects (nature), shapes, colors, numbers

7. SUN, FIRE, SKY SUN: Laws of nature
Creative energy; consciousness (thinking, wisdom, enlightenment)
Passage of time/life
Masculine
Power, Force, Clarity
Rising Sun = birth, creation, enlightenment
Setting Sun = Death
FIRE –energy, passion, creation
SKY – dreams, limitlessness, freedom, contemplation

8. TREE
Life of the Cosmos – consistence, growth, generative and regenerative processes, connectivity
Inexhaustible Life – symbol of immortality

9. SERPENT (snake, worm) Energy
Pure force (libido - sexual instinct/sex drive)
Corruption
Evil
Sensuality
Destruction
Mystery
Wisdom
The unconscious

10. CIRCLE: Wholeness & unity
Mandala: (geometric figure based upon the
squaring of a circle around a unifying center)
classic Asian forms of the mandala juxtapose
the triangle, the square, and the circle with their numerical equivalents of 3, 4, and 7.
Egg (oval): the mystery of life and
the forces of generation
Yin-Yang: union of the opposite forces of the yang
(masculine, light, activity, the conscious mind) and the yin (female, darkness, passivity, the unconscious); balance

11. COLORS RED: blood, sacrifice, violent passion, rage, disorder
GREEN: (+) growth, sensation, hope, fertility
(-) jealousy, death, decay
BLUE: highly (+), truth, religious feeling, security, spiritual purity (the color of the Great Mother or Holy Mother)
BLACK (darkness): chaos, mystery, the unknown, death, primal wisdom, the unconscious, evil, melancholy
WHITE: (+) light, purity, innocence, timelessness;
(-) death, terror, the supernatural, the blinding truth of cosmic mystery

12. NUMBERS
3: light, spiritual awareness & unity (Holy Trinity, pagan trinity = maiden, mother, and the crone), male
4: associated with the square, life cycle, 4 seasons, earth, nature, 4 elements
(earth, air, fire, water), female
7: Most potent of all symbolic numbers = the union of 3 and 4, the completion of a cycle, perfect order (7th day of creation)

13. Archetypal
Characters

14. THE ARCHETYPAL WOMEN The Good Mother (+ aspects of
Earth Mother): life, birth, warmth,
nourishment, protection, fertility, growth, abundance
The Terrible Mother (- aspects
of Earth Mother): the witch,
the sorceress, siren, whore, temptation,
femme fatale—associated with sensuality—
sexual orgies, fear, danger, darkness,
death, dismemberment, emasculation
The Soul Mate (Holy Mother,
the princess or beautiful lady):
incarnation of inspiration
and spiritual fulfillment

15. THE ARCHETYPAL MEN The Wise Old Man (savior, redeemer, guru):
Personification of spirituality
Knowledge
Reflection
Insight
Wisdom
Cleverness
Intuition
Morality - tests moral qualities of others
Always appears when the hero is in a hopeless and desperate situation from which only profound reflection or a lucky idea can help him.

16. HERO ARCHETYPES The Quest: hero (savior, deliverer)
goes on long journey to perform impossible tasks, battle with monsters, solve unanswerable riddles, and overcome insurmountable obstacles
Initiation: hero undergoes a series of excruciating ordeals in passing from ignorance and immaturity to social and spiritual adulthood (becoming full-fledged member of social group), consists of 3 phases: separation, transformation, and return. Like quest =variation of the death and rebirth archetype (coming of age)
The Sacrificial Scapegoat: hero on whom welfare of tribe or nation is identified must die to atone for the people’s sins and restore the land to fruitfulness

17. Symbolic Archetypal
IMAGES

18. ARCHETYPAL IMAGES WATER SEA: life, spiritual mystery,
infinity, death & rebirth,
timelessness & eternity
RIVERS: death & rebirth (baptism),
flowing of time into eternity,
transitional phases of the life cycle

19. Paradise Innocence Fertility Unspoiled beauty – especially feminine
GARDEN
Paradise
Innocence
Fertility
Unspoiled beauty –
especially feminine

20. DESERT Spiritual aridity Death Nihilism - Hopelessness
1. An extreme form of skepticism that denies all existence.
2. A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.
3. Rejection of all distinctions in moral or religious value and a willingness to repudiate all previous theories of morality or religious belief.
4.The belief that destruction of existing political or social institutions is necessary for future improvement.
Hopelessness
Infertile/Unproductive

21. Spring – beginning of life, birth, newness
SEASONS OF THE YEAR
Spring – beginning of life, birth, newness
Summer – height of life, harmony, perfection, good health
Fall – middle of life, middle age, harvest, knowledge, maturity, ripeness
Winter – death, barren, end of life

22. ARCHETYPAL STORY
MOTIFS

23. CREATION Most fundamental of all archetypes – Every mythology is
built on some account
of how the cosmos,
nature, and human-
kind were brought into
existence by some
supernatural being
or beings
(usually includes fall
of mankind)

24. IMMORTALITY
Escape from Time: return to paradise (the state of perfect, timeless bliss enjoyed by man and woman before their tragic Fall into corruption and mortality)
Mystical submersion into cyclical time: theme of endless death and regeneration –
human beings achieve some kind
of immortality by submitting
to vast, mysterious rhythm of
nature’s eternal cycle,
particularly the cycle of seasons

25. TRICKSTER
A god, goddess, spirit, or man that experiences challenges and danger by playing tricks or disobeying rules of conventional society.

26. RESURRECTION THE HERO… ...faces most dangerous life and death ordeal
…dies (either literally or figuratively) so he can apply all he as learned to the ordinary world.
…is reborn/transformed
…maintains ordinary self + insights/lessons learned
…is purified/cleansed

27. DUALITY Good v. Evil Innocence v. Experience
Exploration of man’s dual nature and our fallibility; delicate balance to maintain reason; better to have knowledge or to be innocent?