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Archetypes
and Northrop Frye
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Northrop
Frye working in the field of literature defined an archetype as a
symbol, usually an image, which recurs often enough in literature to be
recognizable as an element of one’s literary experience as a whole.
Another way of thinking about archetypes is to imagine that in some way
it is possible to plot the important aspects of a story onto a
graph. If enough points from several stories were plotted a
pattern would start to appear. If one then drew a line that
approximated the pattern that emerged in the points, that best fit line
would be an archetype. No story perfectly matches the archetype,
and some stories will diverge from the archetype more than others.
Still, recognizing that a pattern exists can be a powerful tool in
understanding and comparing literature.
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Mythos
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| Northrop Frye
asserts in Anatomy of Criticism (1957) that all narratives fall
into one of four mythos. Each mythos has six phases, sharing three
with the preceding mythos and three with the succeeding mythos. |
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- Spring:
- Comedy
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- Summer:
- Romance
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- Autumn:
- Tragedy
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- Winter:
- Irony & Satire
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one
Existent society remains
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one
Complete innocence
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one
Complete innocence
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one
Existent society remains
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two
Criticism of society without change
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two
youthful innocence of inexperience
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two
youthful innocence of inexperience
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two
Criticism of society without change
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three
Existent society replaced by a happy society
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three
Completion of an ideal
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three
Completion of an ideal
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three
Existent society replaced by a happy society
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four
Happy society resists change
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four
Happy society resists change
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four
Individual's faults
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four
Individual's faults
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five
Reflective and idyllic view
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five
Reflective and idyllic view
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five
Natural law
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five
Natural law
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six
Society ceases to exist beyond contemplation
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six
Society ceases to exist beyond contemplation
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six
World of shock and horror
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six
World of shock and horror
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Terms
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- Agnon
: Romance : Conflict
- Pathos
: Tragedy : Catastrophe
- Sparagmos
: Irony and Satire : Absence of Heroism and Effective Action
- Anagnorisis
: Comedy : Recognition of Newborn Society
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- Alazon:
a deceiving or self-deceived character in fiction, normally an
object of ridicule in comedy or satire, but often the hero of
tragedy.
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- Archetype:
a symbol, usually an image, which recurs often enough in literature
to be recognizable as an element of one’s literary experience as a
whole.
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- Eiron:
A self-deprecating or unobtrusively treated character in fiction,
usually an agent of the happy ending in a comedy and of the
catastrophe in tragedy
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- Hamartia:
A
term coined by Aristotle to describe "some error or
frailty" that brings about misfortune for a tragic hero. The
concept of hamartia is closely related to that of the tragic flaw:
both lead to the downfall of the protagonist in a tragedy. Hamartia
may be interpreted as an internal weakness in a character (like
greed or passion or hubris); however, it may also refer to a mistake
that a character makes that is based not on a personal failure, but
on circumstances outside the protagonist’s personality and
control.
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- Hybris
or Hubris: Excessive
pride or self-confidence that leads a protagonist to disregard a
divine warning or to violate an important moral law. In tragedies,
hubris is a very common form of hamartia.
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- Mythos:
One of the four archetypal narratives, classified as comic,
romantic, tragic, and ironic.
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Applications
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- Evaluation
of an Example:
Examines how a specific text compares with the archetype.
The focus here would likely be in finding insightful
variations from the traditional archetype and analyzing how these
function.
An examination of a text that simply pointed out how the
narrative meets the criteria for a specific archetype would be flat
and uninteresting.
- Textual
Analysis:
Since the archetypes offer insight into typical traits that
are present in different types of writing, they are useful in
explicating a text in the reader’s mind.
By using the archetypal traits as a guide, select interesting
or unique traits and discuss their function in the work.
This could easily be applied to plot, characters, symbols,
and setting.
- Comparison
of Archetypal Traits:
By using the traits outlined in the archetype create a
comparison of two or more works.
The archetypal traits can be used here to guide the analysis
implicitly or explicitly.
- Definition
of Archetypes: Too broad for this class, this approach would require
creating your own theory of archetypes relying on numerous examples
for support.
Northrop Frye did this with literary narratives, Joseph
Campbell with world myths, and Carl Jung with dream imagery.
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Resources
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- Books
- Frye,
Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. Princeton:
Princeton UP, 1957. (Available in the UHS Library)
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- The Northrop Frye
International Literary Festival: http://www.northropfrye.com/home.htm
- Northrop Frye,
Bedford/St. Martin's: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/litlinks/critical/frye.htm
- Northrop Frye, The
Literary Encyclopedia: http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1648
- Northrop Frye Collection,
Victoria University Library: http://library.vicu.utoronto.ca/special/fryeintro.htm
- Anatomy of Criticism, Book Review: http://pages.prodigy.net/aesir/aoc.htm
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- Wikipedia Links
- Northrop Frye: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Frye
- Anatomy of Criticism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomy_of_Criticism
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- General Interest
- Northrop Frye, Simulation,
and the Creation of a "Human World": http://www.transparencynow.com/introfry2.htm
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