146 + A Handbook of Critical Approaches iteratere ‘who reject psychoanalysis as neurotic non- sense deprive themselves of a valuable tool in understanding rt only liteatore but hima nature and their individual selves ae well AP ENGLISH KANOURE 4 comPosii7eny Mythological and Archetypal Approaches |. DEFINITIONS AND MISCONCEPTIONS In The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology (New York: Vie king, 1959), Joseph Campbell recounts # curious phenome non of animal behavior. Neel hatched chickens, bits of es shells si clinging to thle tis, will dat fr cover when & lunwk flies overhead: yet they remain unaffected by other bids. Furthermore, a wooden mel oft haw, deewn for- ward alonga wire above thir coo, wll send them scurrying {ifthe modo is pulled backoeard, hoswever, there is a0 to. sponse) "Whence," Campbell ask, “this abrupt seiare by an image to which thore Is no catnterpart in the chicken's world? Living gulls and ducks, htons nd pigoons, leave it I: but the work of ae steikes some very deep chord (31; ‘aur italics) Campbell's hinted anslogy, thew only roughly approxi- ato, wil serve nonetheloss as an instructive introduction to the mythological approach to leeature, For itis with the relationship of literary at to “some very deep chord in hur man nature that mythological criticism deals. The myth “rit concemed fo seek out those mysterious elements that inform certain Iiterary works and that eet with almost un- ‘canny foro», dramatic and universal human reactions. The ith crile wishes to discover how certain works f litera ture, usually those that have hcume, ar promise to become,148 + A Handbook of Cries! Approaches to Liteatre “classics,” image a kind of reality to which readers give pe- rental response—-while other works, seemingly ax well con ftructed, and even some forms of reality, eave them cold ‘Speaking figuratively, the myth critic studies in dopth the “wooden havik” of gvat iterate: the so-called archotypes or archetypal patterns that the weiter has drawn forward long the tonséd structural wires of his or her masterpiece fd That vibrate in such a way tht a sympathetic resonance is set off dovp within tho reader ‘An obvioutly close connection exists between mytholog ‘al criticism and the psychological approach discussed in ‘chapter 2 both are concerned with the motives thst uudertic Thuman behavior, Between the two approaches are differ fences of degree ad of afinities, Psychology tands to be ex perimental and diagnostie; Its elasely related to biological Science, Mythology lends to be speculative and philosophic: Itsalfinitiog are with eigion, anthropology, and cultura his {ory, Such generalizations f couse, risk oversimpliication: for instance, a grat psychologist ike Sigmund Froud ranged farboyond experimental and clinical study int the reals of ‘myth, and his distinguished sometime protégs, Carl Gustav Jung became one of the foremost mythologists of our time. Even a0, the (wo approaches are distinc, and mythology is ‘wir in its scope than psychology. For example, sthat py. Choanalysis attempts to disclose about the individual per Sonali, th study of myths reveals about the mind! and char ter of people, And just ax dreams elect the unconscions ‘sites and anxieties ofthe individual, so myths are thes bolic projections ofa people's hopes, values, ears, and axpl ‘According tothe common misconception and misuse of the tarm, myths are merely primitive fetions illusions, or fpintions based upon false reasoning. Actually, mythology fncompesses more than grade schoo! stries about the Grea fand Roman deities or clever fables invented forthe exuse nent of children for the havestment of students in college Titerature courses), It may he tue that myths do nol meet our ‘surtent standards of factual eat, but thon nether does any feat Htratute instead, they both eeflect a more profound Mythological and Archetypal Approaches * 149 reality. As Mark Schorer says in William Blake: The Politi, ff Vision (Now York: Holt, 1946), "Myth isfundanmenta, the Sramatic representation of our deepest instinctual life, of a primary awareness of man in the universe, capable of many fonfigurations, upon which all particular apinions and att- fndes depend” (29). According to Alan W. Wats in Myth and Ritual in Christianity (New York: Vanguar, 1954), "Myth i To be defined ns a compli of stories some no doubt fat tind some fatasy-—which, for various roasans,husvan beings gard as demonstrations of the inner meaning of the uni worse and of human life" (7) ‘Myths aze by natuve collective and communal; they bind a ‘nibe ora nation together in cammon psyetlogcal and spi tual activities, In The Language of Poot, edited by Allen ‘Tate (Now York: Russell, 1060), Philip Wheelwright ex plains, "Myth isthe expression ofa profound sense of toget frnese of feeling and of action and of wholeness of living” {1}. Moreover like Melville's famous whito whale (itself an chetypal image), myth tv ubiquitous ix tine as well as place. Iso dyriamc factor everywhere in human society i Franscends tine, uniting the past (raditional modes of belief) ‘with the present {cusrent valves) and reaching toward the Fature (spiritual and cultural aspiations 1, SOME EXAMPLES OF ARCHETYPES: Paving established the significance of mth, we need to ‘iing its evlationship to archetyposand sechetypal patterns Although every people bas its oven distinctive mythology that may be reflected im legend, flklere, and ideotouy— although in other words, myths take thale specific shapes from the cullusal environments is whica they gros—ayth Iain the gonoral nse, universal. Furthsrmore, sila so tis or theines may be found among many differnt myth flies, and certain images thal recur in the myths of peoples Widely separated in time and place tone to have a commen Imening or, mere accurately, tend to elicit comparable psy tthologieal responses and to serve similar cultural Functions, Such motifs and images ace called archetypes, Stated sap,160 + A Handbuok of Cical Approaches Leztare archetypes are universal syrabols. As Philip Wheelwright wx- plains in Metaphor and Reality (Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1or2}, such ayimbols aro ‘hose which cate ha sane o vary sinllar meanings for alana putin, if not al, of unkind i's discoverable fat that ‘tan spol, such the ky father nd earth ther. Hit, tld, dove, the axis oft whos, and ober, res asin ‘tga in calor so emate fem ane aber in space nd ‘ime thal her Is ikeluood a any histor suena ‘causa eomnesion among thon. (21) Example ofthese archetypes and the symbolic meanings with which they tend to be widely associated follow (it should he noted that those meanings may vary significantly from ove context to another} A. Images 1, Water: the mystery of creation; binh-Joath-esurrection purification and redemption; fertility and growth, ‘According to Jung, water is also the commonest ssrabol for the unconscious, 2 The sea: the mother of ell lif; spiritual mystery and Infiity: death and rebirth timelessness and eternity the unconscious, , Rivers: death and eebirh Quptism) the flowing of time into eternity; transitional phases of the lifecycle; incaroations of deities, 2. Sum (fire and sky are closely related) creative enensy: Jaye in nature; consciousness (Ihinking, enlightenment, wisdom, splsitual vision}: fatbor principle (moon and earth tan fo be associated with female of mother print pl: passage of tne andl ie 4. Rising sun: Diet: eatin enlightenment 1, Setting sun: death 3, Colors ‘2. Red blood, saceifce, violent passton; disorder. '. Green: growth; sensation; hope; fertility in nogative context may be associated with death and decay 4. Chel tap Mythological ond Archetypol Approaches + 151 ‘Blue: usually highly postive, associated with truth, religious feeling, soc, spin. purity tho color Gt the Great Mother or Hey Mother) lack (darkness chaos, ayster, the unknown death; primal wladems th anconeious vi; lan chal ‘White: highly multivalent, signifying ts postive aspocts light, py, Innocence, ard tseessns in is negative aaect, dea, terror, the mipernataa, and the blinding uth ofan inscrutable coamic me tery (Se, for instance, Henman Melville's chapter “The Whitenoss ofthe Whale” in Maby-Diek) wholanss, uty Manda (a geometric igure bused pon th squai of circle aroun wnilying nts see the eae panylng ilustration of the este Shi Yont me fa) the dese for spirits unity and pay int tation. Note that in its classic Asian forms ‘handala ustaposes th tring, the square, and he circle with thelr mumerical nquivalnts of thee, fou, fan seven Fag (oval: the mystery of fe and te forces of genera Yang-yin: a Chinose symbol (below) representing the union of the opposite forees ofthe yang (maseing print ight, activity the conscious anid) and the Vin (lomale principle, darknoss, passvity, the uncon clo).