Archetypes

1. Archetypes

2. What Is An Archetype? • Archetypes are recurring patterns (plot structures, symbols, character types, themes) that occur in mythology, religion, and stories across cultures and time periods.

3. They embody universal meanings and basic human experiences and can evoke unconscious responses in a reader. They help us to understand common traits we share with others outside our own culture and to interpret situations and characters that might be quite different from ourselves otherwise. What Is An Archetype?

4. Where did archetypes come from? • The term “archetype” comes from ancient Greek, translating to “original pattern” • Carl Jung, a psychologist, used the concept in his theory of the human psyche. He realized that many classic stories had a lot of the same elements in them or that they followed a sort of pattern, regardless of time period or culture. He believed that these patterns of characters, settings, plots, and symbols, were rooted in our unconscious.

5. Why do we still use them? • If these patterns of story lines and story elements are so overdone, why do we still use them? • They are still used in modern works of literature, film, TV shows, etc.

7. HOMEWORK: • Review your notes on archetypes. • Use one text of your choice (movie, book, short story, children’s story, etc) and identify two character archetypes, one plot archetype, and one setting archetype • For each archetype (4), fill out your Archetype Tracking Chart