Mythological/Archetypal

Theory
Ms. Angelann Stephens
Benjamin E. Mays High School
English Department

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

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

Three main points to study

Archetypal characters
Archetypal images
Archetypal situations

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

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

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

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

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

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

SPIRIT or INTELLECT
Often-unidentified
Feminine inspiration
Ex. Dantes Beatrice (Dantes Inferno)

Shakespeares Dark Lady

Archetypal Situations
The QUEST
RENEWAL OF LIFE
INITIATION
The FALL
REDEMPTIVE SACRIFICE

The QUEST
Heros endeavor to establish his/her
identity or
fulfill his/her destiny

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

INITIATION
Coming of age
Rites of passage
Ex. First hunt, weddings, teenage angst
films

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

REDEMPTIVE SACRIFICE
Any voluntary loss
Especially loss of life that results in
anothers gaining or regaining a desired
state

ARCHETYPAL IMAGES
COLORS
NUMBERS
WATER
GARDENS
GEOMETRIC SHAPES
CELESTIAL BODIES
YIN and YANG

COLORS
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

NUMBERS
Three=Christian trinity
Four= four Seasons, ancient elements
(earth, water, fire, air)
Twelve=months of the solar year, etc.

WATER
Source of life and sustenance
Cleansing or purification
Baptism

GARDENS
Natural abundance
Easy, beautiful life
New birth, hope
Eden, the original Paradise from which
humankind was expelled

GEOMETRIC SHAPES
Triangle= the trinity
Circle = perfection and eternity,
wholeness, union

CELESTIAL BODIES
Sun (masculine)=the giver and destroyer
of life
Moon (feminine)=the passage of time,
controls the course of human events
Ex. Seedtime, harvest, etc., are all
determined more by the phases of the
moon than the phases of the sun

YIN and YANG

Any scheme that suggests that each of a
pair of opposites partakes of the others
nature
Complements each other
Essentially completes the other
Without balance, the world would erupt
into chaos

Work Cited
Grudzina, Douglas. Teaching F. Scott
Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby from
Multiple Critical Perspectives. Clayton:
Prestwick House, Inc., 2006.