Mythological and

Archetypal Approaches
Definitions and Misconceptions
The myth critics
study the so-called
archetypes or
archetypal
patterns. They
wish to reveal
about the people’s
Myth is the symbolic projection of the
mind and people’s hopes, values, fears, and
aspirations. The illustration is
character. Pandora’s Box. According to
mythology, Pandora’s Box is the
source of all misfortune but also
hope.
Comparisons between these
two approaches
Both mythological
criticism and the
psychological
approach are
concerned with
the motives that
underlie human
behavior.
Psychology tends to
be experimental and
diagnostic; it is
related to biological
science. Mythology
tends to be
speculative and
philosophical; its
affinities are with
religion, anthropology,
and cultural history.
Examples of Archetypes:
Images
1. Water:
a. The sea
b. Rivers (cf. The
Mississippi
River in
Huckleberry
Finn)
2. Sun
a. Rising sun
Archetypes are universal symbol.
b. Setting sun
This is Ouroboros. 3. Colors
4. Circle:
wholeness, unity
a. Mandala
b. Egg (oval)
c. Yin-Yang Mandala

d. Ouroboros
5. Serpent (snake,
worm)
6. Numbers
Yang-yin
 Miss Watson

7. The archetypal woman

a. The Good Mother (cf. The Widow
Douglas in Huckleberry Finn)
b. The Terrible Mother (cf. Miss Watson
in Huckleberry Finn)
c. The Soul Mate (cf. Mary Jane Wilks in
Huckleberry Finn)
8. The demon lover (cf.
Blake’s “The Sick Rose”
and the Jungian animus)
9. The Wise Old Man (cf.
Jim in Huckleberry Finn)
10. The Trickster (“con
man”—King and Duke in
Huckleberry Finn)
11. Garden
12. Tree
13. Desert
14. Mountain
B. Archetypal Motifs or
Patterns
1. Creation: perhaps
the most
fundamental of all
archetypal motifs
2. Immortality (cf. “To
His Coy Mistress”)
a. Escape from time
b. Mystical
Andrew Marvell
submersion into
cyclical time
 3. Hero
archetypes
a. The quest (cf.
Oedipus)
The dueling match in Hamlet is
a pattern of sacrifice- b. Initiation (cf.
atonement-Catharsis
Huck)
c. The sacrificial
scapegoat (cf.
Oedipus the Rex
Oedipus and
Hamlet)
C. Archetypes as Genres
Northrop Frye, in his
Anatomy of Criticism,
indicates the
correspondent genres
for the four seasons:
1. Spring: comedy
2. Summer: romance
3. Fall: tragedy (cf.
Louis Bouwmeester (1842-
Hamlet) 1925) as Oedipus

4. Winter: irony
Myth Criticism in Practice: A.
Anthropology and Its Uses
• Sir James G. Frazer, in his
monumental The Golden Bough,
demonstrates the “essential
similarity of mans’ chief wants
everywhere and at all times.”

Photo from
1990 Main
Stage
Production of
Oedipus Rex by
Sophocles
 The central motif with
which Frazer deals is
the archetype of
resurrection,
specifically the myths
describing the “killing
of the divine king.”
Corollary to the rite
was the scapegoat
The book cover of
Shirley Jackson’s The archetype.
Lottery
B. Jungian Psychology
C.G. Jung’s “myth
forming” elements are in
the unconscious psyche;
he refers them as
“motifs,” “primordial
images,” or “archetypes.”
He also detected the
relationship between
dreams, myths, and art Carl Gustav Jung is known
through which as one of the foremost
psychological thinkers of
archetypes come into the 20th century.
consciousness.
Individuation: Shadows,
Persona, and Anima
Individuation is a
psychological growing
up, the process of
discovering those
aspects of one’s self
that make one an
Process of individuation: individual different
1. acknowledging that
these unconscious from other members
tendencies are part of
oneself, of one's
of the species.
personality
Shadow The shadow is the
darker aspects of our
unconscious self, the
inferior and less
pleasing aspects of the
personality, which we
wish to suppress. (cf.
Shakespeare’s Iago,
Milton’s Satan,
2. refusing to allow one's Goethe’s
personality to be
compelled by these Mephistopheles, and
tendencies through
possession or projection
Conrad’s Kurtz)
 Anima
The anima is the
“soul-image.” It is
the contrasexual part
of a man’s psyche,
the image of the
opposite sex that he
carries in both his
personal and
collective
unconscious. (cf.
Helen of Troy,
Dante’s Beatrice,
Milton’s Eve)
Persona
If the anima is a kind of mediator between
the ego and the unconscious, the persona
is the mediator between our ego and the
external world. It is the actor’s mask that
we show to the world.
Related works and links about
mythological approaches
• Jung, Carl Gustav. Four Archetypes: Mother, Rebirth, Spirit, Trickster.
Trans. R. F. C. Hull. London: Routledge,1969.
• ---. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Trans. R.F.C. Hull.
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton U P,1980.
• Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP,
1957.
• Grazer, James G. The Golden Bough. Abridged ed. New York:
Macmillan, 1992.
• Introduction to Individuation.
http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/persona.html
• Personality and Consciousness– Major Archetypes and
Individuation.http://pandc.ca/?cat=car_jung&page=major_archetypes_a
nd_individuation
• The Individuation Process
http://www.soul-guidance.com/houseofthesun/individuationprocess.htm