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Harry Potter. Archetype Unit. What is an Archetype?. The word is derived from the Greek: arche, original, and typos, form or model; thus, original model. A key to understanding folk literature is to understand archetypes.
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Harry Potter Archetype Unit
What is an Archetype? • The word is derived from the Greek: arche, original, and typos, form or model; thus, original model. • A key to understanding folk literature is to understand archetypes. • They are what provides us a connection to all cultures and all stories.
Collective Unconscious versus Personal Unconscious • Sigmund Freud • Personal experience that has been forgotten or repressed • Carl Jung • Collective unconscious has never been conscious but is the part we share with all humanity • Proof of its existence can be found in the study of the commonality of trances, dreams, delusions, myths, religion, and stories
Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious • These fantasy images of the primitive mind are so alike for all cultures that psychologist Carl Jung calls them the Collective Unconscious. • They remain part of every human unconscious mind as dreams of fantasy and fear
Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious • People who had no contact with each other at all formed myths to explain natural phenomena such as great floods and the creation of the world as well to answer such questions as why we die and why we are born.
Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious • They are living, psychic forces which demand to be taken seriously. • Jung believes that we can never be legitimately cut loose from our archetypal foundations or we will go mad and become suicidal
Characteristics of Archetypes • They are not individual, but the part we share with all humanity • They are the inherited part of being human which connects us to our past beyond our personal experience • They are not directly knowable, but instead express themselves in forms • Situations, Symbols, and Characters • They grow out of man’s social, psychological, and biological being
Characteristics of Archetypes • They are universal • From the Roman gladiator to the astronaut, they remain the same • They cannot be explained by interaction among cultures because geography and history often made this impossible • They are recurrent, appearing in slightly altered forms to take present day situations and relate them to the past in order to find meaning in a contemporary world
The Quest • The search for someone or some talisman which, when found and brought back, will restore fertility to a wasted land • In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry must find the Sorcerer’s Stone before Voldemort can use it to come back to life.
The Task • To save the kingdom, to win the fair lady, to identify himself so that he may resume his rightful position, the hero must perform some nearly superhuman deed. • Harry must complete several tasks to get to the Sorcerer’s Stone • Enchanted Wizard’s Chess
The Initiation • This usually takes the form of an initiation into adult life. • The adolescent comes into maturity with new awareness and problems along with new hope for the community. • This awakening is often the climax of the story • Harry is initiated into the Wizarding World at Hogwarts.
The Call to Adventureand Refusal of the Call • The first occurrence in a chain of events where the hero receives a call • Either from within or via a messenger • Animal, hermit, spirit, human • Causes the journey to begin • Usually the hero, not recognizing the hand of fate at work, will attempt to back out of these life-changing adventures • Harry is prevented from accepting his “call to adventure” by his aunt and uncle
The Journey • Sends the hero in search of some truth or information necessary to restore fertility to the kingdom. • Usually the hero descends into a real or psychological hell and is forced to discover the blackest truths, quite often concerning his own faults.
The Journey • Once the hero is at his lowest point, he must accept personal responsibility to return to the world of the living. • In “The Chamber of Secrets,” Harry must go into the chamber to realize that although he is similar to Voldemort, he follows the side of good.
Journey Variation • A group finds themselves together on a voyage or in an isolated situation • Each member of the group will represent a level of society • As a microcosm of society, the group will descend into a real or psychological hell to discover the blackest truths concerning a society or culture • Ron and Hermione help Harry with his tasks to find the sorcerer’s stone.
The Fall • Fall (from innocence) and out of paradise. This archetype describes a descent from a higher to a lower state of being. • The experience involves a defilement and/or loss of innocence and bliss. • The fall is often accompanied by expulsion from a kind of paradise as penalty for disobedience and moral transgression.
The Fall • The fall is often accompanied by expulsion from a kind of paradise as penalty for disobedience and moral transgression. • In “The Order of the Phoenix, Harry goes to the Ministry of Magic to rescue his godfather Sirius Black. In doing so he jeopardizes the safety of his friends and ultimately causes Sirius’s death.
Death and Rebirth • The most common of all situational archetypes, this motif grows out of the parallel between the cycle of nature and cycle of life. • Thus, morning and springtime represent birth, youth, or rebirth; evening and winter suggest old age and death. • Cycle of Life • Fawkes the Phoenix represents Death and Rebirth because he is reborn out of the ashes
Nature is good while technology and society are often evil Harry is connected to nature and creatures of nature throughout the series Nature Versus a Mechanistic World
Battle Between Good and Evil • The battle between two primal forces. • Mankind shows eternal optimism in the continual portrayal of good triumphing over evil despite great odds where the future or very existence of the kingdom is often at stake • In “The Goblet of Fire,” Harry must battle the newly regenerated Voldemort
Unhealable Wound • This wound is either physical or psychological and cannot be fully healed. • This wound also indicates the loss of innocence. • These wounds always ache and often drive the sufferer to desperate measures
The actual ceremonies the initiate experiences that will mark his rite of passage into another state. The Sorting of First Year Students into houses is an example of a ritual. Harry is sorted into Gryffindor House. Ritual
The Magic Weapon • The weapon symbolizes the extraordinary quality of the hero because no one else can wield the weapon or use it to its full potential. • It is usually given by a mentor figure • Harry’s wand is the twin of Voldemort’s.
Light Versus Darkness • Light usually suggests hope, renewal, or intellectual illumination; darkness implies the unknown, ignorance, or despair. • The theme of the struggle between light and dark frequently symbolizes the struggle between good and evil
Water Versus Desert • Water commonly appears as a birth or rebirth symbol. • Water, which solemnizes spiritual births, is used in baptismal services. • Similarly, the appearance of rain in a work of literature can suggest a character’s spiritual birth.
Water Versus Desert • A desert is seen as the opposite or a place of exile. • Often the desert is represented by an absence of the expected: lack of wind or waves on the ocean, lack of rain when there is usually rain, absence of game to hunt in the wilderness
The skies and the mountain tops house gods Hogwarts The bowels of the earth contain the diabolic forces that inhabit his universe. Chamber of Secrets Heaven Versus Hell
Innate Wisdom Versus Educated Stupidity • Some characters exhibit wisdom and understanding of situations instinctively as opposed to those supposedly in charge • Instinctive wisdom versus book-learned ignorance is emphasized • Ron has the wizarding street smarts that Harry lacks. • Hermione’s innate ability at spell work helps Harry numerous times
Loyal retainers often exhibit this wisdom as they accompany their “educated” masters on journeys Innate Wisdom Versus Educated Stupidity
Places of safety contrast sharply against the dangerous wilderness. Heroes are often sheltered for a time to retain health and resources The Burrow is a haven for Harry and the Weasleys Haven Versus Wilderness
Supernatural Intervention • The gods intervene of the behalf of the hero or provide obstacles sometimes against him or her. • The literary term is deus ex machina • In “The Chamber of Secrets,” Harry’ is helped by Fawkes who brings him the Sorting Hat from which he pulls GodricGriffyndor’s sword.
Fire represents knowledge, light, life, rebirth Ice, like the desert, represents ignorance, darkness, sterility, death Fire Versus Ice
Threshold • Gateway to a new world which the hero must enter to change and grow • Platform 9 ¾ is the threshold to Hogwarts
A place of death or metaphorically an encounter with the dark side of the self Entering an underworld is a form of facing a fear of death The Chamber of Secrets is an Underworld The Underworld
A place or time of decision when a realization is made and change or penance results Harry decides to leave Hogwarts to search for the Horcruxes to defeat Voldemort The Crossroads
The Maze • A puzzling dilemma or great uncertainty, search for the dangerous monster inside of oneself, or a journey into the heart of darkness • The Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic is a Maze.
A strong place of safety which holds treasure or princess May be enchanted or bewitched Hogwarts The Castle
A strong place of evil Represents the isolation of self Azkaban Prison The Tower
The Whirlpool • Symbolizes the destructive power of nature or fate • In “The Half-Blood Prince,” the lake with the Inferi represents a whirlpool
Mother is a virgin or at least pure of heart and spirit Sometimes the hero is the child of distinguished parents (royalty) Harry’s parents were a part of the Order of the Phoenix The Hero
An attempt is made to kill the pregnant mother or kill the child at an early age usually through a curse or prophecy Voldemort tries to kill Harry as an infant due to a prophecy The Hero
To save the child, he/she is spirited away and reared by foster parents usually in humble circumstances Frequently in a wilderness or wasteland Harry is raised by his aunt and uncle in a suburb of London away from the Wizarding World. The Hero
Very little is known of his/her childhood Upon reaching adulthood, he/she returns to his/her future kingdom Harry must find out about his parents from Hagrid The Hero
The Hero • Male, after proving himself (usually by defeating a wild beast), marries a princess, becomes king, knight, or warrior of the realm or village • Harry defeats many different creatures and does battle with Voldemort several times
The Hero • Hero later loses favor with the gods and is then driven from the city (outcast) after which he/she meets a mysterious death • Often at the top of a hill • Body is not buried • Has one or more holy sepulchers • Dumbldore is buried in a tomb
The hero/heroine is spirited away and raised by strangers in humble surroundings in a wilderness or wasteland setting Later returns to his/her home as a stranger with new solutions to the kingdom’s problems Young One From the Provinces
The Initiate • The hero/heroine who, prior to their quest, must endure some training and ceremony • They are usually innocent, untested, and often wear white • Harry must learn the ways of the wizarding world at Hogwarts
