Name: ________________________________________ Date: _________ Block: _______
Archetypes - Notes
Part I: Overview
Definition: An archetype is a
image, symbol, character, or even situation that is an instinctual
expression of man’s nature and experiences that are universal in nature.
Significance: The collective unconscious is the unconscious/subconscious mental record of all common
human experiences (examples – love, passion, birth, death, anger, peace, evil, spirituality, etc.). This concept
was made evident through the study of Swiss psychologist, ________________
.
Part II: Archetypes in Literature
Category 1: Character
________
Innocent
Outcast Scapegoat
Mother Figure
Star-Crossed Lovers
________
_______
Mentor/Teacher
Rugged Individualist Faithful Companion Damsel in Distress
The Hero: Examples: Beowulf, King Arthur
 circumstances of his conception and
are vague or unusual
 little or nothing is known of his childhood
 upon reaching manhood, he returns to his future _______________
 after a victory of some sort, he reigns uneventfully for a time
 until he
favor with gods
 often meets with a mysterious death
The Innocent: Examples: Frodo, Dorothy
 Child/youth
 Inexperienced _____________
 Fears abandonment; seeks safety
 ______________ and have optimism
 Become dependent on others to fulfill their heroic task
 Main danger is that they may be
to their own weaknesses
The Outcast: Examples: Cain, Shrek
 figure who has been cast out or
from a social group for some crime against a fellow man
 he/she is usually destined to become a ___________________
The Scapegoat: Examples: Jesus Christ
 the hero with whom the welfare of the people of the nation, kingdom, or tribe is identified and who
must _______ to atone for the people’s sins in order to return the land to fruitfulness
The Mother Figure: Examples: Glinda the Good Witch, Cinderella’s Stepmother
 Fairy godmother – comforts & directs child, special powers when needed, helps protagonist to
own problems
 Earth mother - symbolic of fruition and abundance as well as fertility (mother nature)
 Stepmother – cruel to protagonist, usually
The Star-Crossed Lovers: Example: Romeo and Juliet
 This is the young
joined by love but unexpectedly parted by fate.
The Trickster: Example: The White Witch in Chronicles of Narnia
 god, goddess, spirit, man, woman, or animal who plays
and conventional behavior.
or otherwise disobeys normal rules
The Villain: Example: Cruella Deville, The Joker
 "bad guy", "black hat", or "
" is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative
or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the _____________________, the character
who tends to have a negative effect on other characters.
The Rugged Individualist: Example: Paul Bunyan
 A person who is mentally and/or physically
needing or relying on unnecessary
and is able to navigate through life without
from outside forces.
Faithful Companion: Example: Robin
 _______________ and companion of protagonist
 Willing to face hardship and possible
to remain together
The Great Teacher/Mentor: Example: Obi Wan Kenobi
 Wise old men/women that
and
 Sometimes role models, father/mother figures
the protagonist as they are faced with challenges
Damsel in Distress: Example: Sleeping Beauty, Lois Lane
 Vulnerable,
, beautiful woman that needs to be ________________
 Often used as a trap by the villain to catch the _____________
Category 2: Images/Setting
Water
Sun
Garden
________
Forest
Desert
Caves & Tunnels
Mountains & Peaks Islands
___________
Road or Train Shapes Animals
Colors
Water
 River – crossing of symbolizes
territory (safety or doom), time passing
 Sea – vast, eternity, infinity, chaos, dangerous
 Fountain – baptism,
, new life
Sun



Creative energy, father figure, wisdom
Rising – east,
, creation
Setting –
, death, destruction, ending
Garden
 Paradise
 ______________________
 Fertility, new growth
Tree



__________________________
Life
Stability
Forest
 Loss of direction
 Something scary
 ____________________
Desert
 Empty soul, loss of spirituality
 Death and ___________________
 Hopelessness
Caves and Tunnels
 Deep
oneself
 Hiding place
 Shut off from outside world
Mountains and Peaks
 “see” far
 place to gain great__________________
Islands
 Isolation
 ______________________
Crossroads
 ___________________
 Options
Road or Train
 Journey of __________
 Train often symbolizes the journey into death
Shapes
 ______________ – complete, wholeness, unity
 Egg/Oval – mystery of life
 Square – different, uncomfortable, misfit
Animals
 Serpent – evil, corruption, sin
 Dark-colored birds – death, hate, corruption (raven, hawk, vulture)
 Light-colored birds – _____________, love, life (dove)
Numbers
 Three – holy, trinity, spiritual
 Four – nature, four basic elements of nature (earth, air, fire, and water)
 Seven – perfect number b/c it is 3+4, lucky
 Thirteen – ________________
Colors





Red – love, violence, hate, blood, disorder
Green – nature, fertility, birth, hope, luck,
, decay, greed
Blue – sadness, purity, truth, religious security
Black – power, doom, darkness, mystery, primal wisdom, unconscious evil
White – purity,
, death, terror, supernatural, blinding truth, antiseptic
Journey
Task
Category 3: Situational
Initiation/Rite of Passage
Parental Conflict
Birth/Death/Rebirth ________________
Journey/Task/Quest
 Something
must do
 Possible to save home land and people
 Sometimes involves super
feats
 Must be done to get rights to kingdom
Initiation/Rites of ____________________
 Youth being accepted into adulthood
 Involves task or experience
 Adolescent maturing in to ________________
Parental conflict
 Age-old arguments between teen and parent
 Sometimes depicted with other ___________________ figures
Coming of age
 Youth being
into adulthood by circumstances beyond control
 Learning a lesson due to bad decision
Birth/Death and Rebirth
 Circle of life
 Renewed ________________
 Clarifying realization appears after cycle
The Fall
 Outcast,
from others due to poor decisions