Archetypes in

Literature and Film

Denise HunterEDSC 304 Microsoft Office

Word 97 - 2003 Document

What is an “archetype”?

Psychologist Carl Jung called these elements a kind of “collective unconscious” of the human race

Repeated patterns that recur in the literature of every age

“The primordial image, or archetype, is a figure…that constantly recurs in the course of history and appears wherever creative

fantasy is freely expressed…In each of these images there is a little piece of human psychology and human fate, a

remnant of the joys and sorrows that have been repeated countless times in our

ancestral history…” – Carl Jung

The Archetypes

The child The hero The devil

The mentor

The wise old manThe great mother

The trickster

Classic literature is filled with archetypes…

• Gilgamesh• Beowulf• Homer’s The Iliad• Homer’s The Odyssey• Sir Thomas Malory’s Le

Morte d’Arthur

Why is understanding archetypes important to understanding literature?• They provide the deepest

structure of human motivation and meaning

• Becoming aware of archetypes can help us understand characters on a deeper level– Motivations, dreams– predictions are possible

• Understand the journey of the characters

Where else can we find specific examples of archetypes throughout the history of

literature?

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

William Shakespeare

Where can we find archetypes in our modern world?

How can the complexity of

human nature be understood by

examining archetypes?

Activity: What is your archetype?

Archetype AssessmentBased on the theories Carl S. Pearson published in The Hero

Within.