Archetypal Criticism

Assignment topic: Northrop Frye’s Archetypal Criticism

Name:Nikunj Bhatti

Roll no.:19

M.A. Semester: 2

Enrolment No.: 14101005

Year: 2015-16

Email id.:nikunjbhatti332@gmail.com

Paper no.:7 (Literary Theory and Criticism)

Submitted to: Department of English

     Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

    

Archetypal Criticism

              -Northrop Frye

Ø Introduction

            Herman Northrop Frye (1912-1991) was Canadian literary critic, university professor and editor. A professor of English at Victoria Collage at the University of Toronto. Frye published his first book, ‘Fearful Symmetry: A study of William Blake’ in 1947. The book is a highly original study of the poetry of Blake and it is considered a classic critical work.

Ø Anatomy of Criticism

Ø The Education Imagination

Ø The Modern Century

Ø The Archetypes of Literature

            In his ‘Archetypes of literature’ Frye outlines a theory of the arts in general and literature in particular which would be developed more fully in his celebrated “Anatomy of criticism”. Archetypal literary criticism is a type of critical theory that interprets a text by focusing on recurring myths and archetypes in the narrative, symbols, images, and character types in literary work.

Ø What is Archetypal?

               Archetype is a Greek word meaning “Original pattern, or model.” In literature, film and art an archetype is a Character, an event, a story or an image that recurs in different works, in different culture and in different periods of time.

·       Definition of archetypal.

ü Archetypal means images and symbols are representing in literature it’s called archetypal.

ü In literature, an archetype is a typical character, an action or a situation that seems to represent such universal patterns of human nature.

ü Archetypal can refer to a constantly recurring symbol or motif in literature, painting or mythology.

ü  “A kind of literary anthropology”-by Frye

ü In dictionary meaning: A typical idea.

According to Northrop Frye………

“In literary criticism the term archetype

suggests narrative designs, patterns of action, character types, themes and images which are known to a wide verity of works of literature also to myths, dreams and even social rituals.”

                   General meaning of Archetypes according to Carl G. Jung of Dept. psychology in “Collective unconscious” it is Primordial images and Psychic residue. James G Frazer gave theory of Archetype in “The Golden Bough” identified elemental patterns of myth and ritual. Creative writers have used myths in their works and critics analyze text is called archetypal criticism. Archetype can be:

Ø Archetypal criticism as “A new poetics”

                   This, ‘New Poetics’ is to be found in the principle of the mythological framework, which has come to be known as “archetypal Criticism”. It is through the lens of this framework, which is essentially a centrifugal movement of backing up from the text towards of literary criticism becomes apparent essentially. According to Frye;

“Is awaken students to

Successive levels of awareness

Of the mythology that lies

Behind the ideology in which

Their society indoctrinates them”

The study of recurring structure pasterns grants students an emancipation distance from their own society, and gives theme vision of a higher human state the logician sublime.

Ø Frye use seasons in archetypal criticism

ž Spring: Comedy

              Comedy emphases on the social group, often setting up an arbitrary law or humorous society and setting out to reform it.  This change, however, is rarely a moral judgment of the wicked, but usually a social judgment of the absurd instead. Comedy is aligned with spring because the genre of     comedy is characterized by the birth of the hero and spring is also symbolizes the defeat of winter and darkness.

ž Summer: Romance

                                                                

         Romance related with summer both are paired together because summer is the culmination of life in the seasonal calendar, and romance genre culminates with some sort of triumph. Romance is aligned with summer because summer is the Culmination of life in the seasonal Calendar. In romance the reader’s values are bound up with hero who unequivocally represents what is supposed to be right and virtuous. The essential element in the plot of romance.

ž Autumn: Tragedy

           In tragedy the focus is on individuals: the tragedy is in the hero’s isolation, not the villain’s betrayal, in fact the villain is often part of the hero.  The story begins with a hero who has comparatively free will and moves him or her into a world of causation. Tragedy is aligned with autumn because autumn is the dying stage of the seasonal calendar and also known for the “fall” or demise of the protagonist. In Tony Morrison’s novel “The Bluest Eyes” she describes all four seasons in her novel, in this novel she connected four seasons with human life and literary genre. According to her novel autumn, spring, summer, and winter that four are symbols of human’s life birth, maturity, fall and death.

• ž Winter: Irony and Satire

         Irony and satire parody romance by applying romantic mythical forms to a more realistic content, which fits them in unexpected ways.  It presents an image where reality rather than ideology is dominant. Satire is militant irony, where moral norms are relatively clear, and standards are assumed against which the grotesque and absurd are measured.

Seasonal cycle	Archetypal patterns	Literary genre
Dawn/spring/birth	The birth revival resurrection of hero	Romance
Summer	The triumph, marriage, age or apotheosis of the hero	Comedy, pastoral
Sunset/autumn	The fall, sacrifice, isolation, or death of the hero	Tragedy, elegy
Night/winter	The unheroic nature of the hero	Satire

Now Frye gives the context of a genre determines how a symbol an image is to be interpreted. He gives five different views of different fields like human, animal, vegetation, mineral, and water.

(1)            Human:

             The comedic human world is representative of wish –fulfillment. In its contrast, the tragic human world is of isolation, tyranny, and the fallen hero. Thus, in different world, the roles of different humans do not change.

(2)            Animals:

              The comedic animal world suggests the docile and pastoral animals whereas in the tragic animal world they are like hunters, predatory for example wolves, leopard etc.

(3)            Vegetation:

                     The comedic realm of vegetation is pastoral as well as gardens, parks also symbolizes roses and lotuses. And the tragic realm of vegetation is like a wild forest or sometime a sterile or barren place.

(4)            Mineral:

              The comedic mineral realm represents cities, temples or precious stones. The tragic mineral realm represents desert, ruined places.

(5)            Water:

              At last, the comedic realm of water is represented by rivers. And in tragic realm by seas, especially by floods. Signify the water covers huge part of earth and it is vital for all known forms of life. For example The Mississippi River in Huckleberry Finn.

·       Inductive & Deductive Methods of Archetypal Criticism

v Inductive Method

      Frye contends that structural criticism will help a reader in understanding a text, and in this analysis, he proceeds inductively. That is from particular truths. For example Othello, in the Shakespearean play, inflicts upon himself affliction and this is the particular truth of the general truth of life that jealousy is always destructive. This is called the inductive method of analysis under structural criticism and Frye disuses this in detail in this section of the essay.

• The Inductive Method of Analysis: Oliver Twist

The Deductive Method

                   The Deductive method of analysis proceeds to establish the meaning of work from the general truth to particular truth. Literature is like music and painting. Rhythm is an essential characteristic of music and painting, pattern is the chief virtue. Rhythm in music is temporal and pattern in painting is spatial. In literature both rhythm and pattern is spatial. In literature both rhythm and pattern are recurrence of images, forms and words.

                   Literature can be interpreted in as many ways as possible. These methods are useful for critics and it can derive reader in new direction and vision of any literary work. If we want to interpret in different way through this methods Centre and periphery can be changed.

Ø Archetypes in Characters

·       The Hero:

     The Hero is a character who predominantly exhibits goodness and struggles against evil in order to restore harmony and justice to society. The traditional protagonist is the driver of the story: the one who forces the action. We root for it and hope for its success. For example Hamlet, Macbeth, Tom Jones, etc.

·       The outcast

      He or she has been out casted from society. The outcast figure can oftentimes also be considered as a Christ figure. For example in Indian myths there are characters like Pandvas, Ram- Sita- Laxman, Sugreev, Vibhishan etc.

·       The Scapegoat

         A character that takes the blame of everything bad that happens. No one try to understand whether he or she is really at fault or nor. For example Tom Jones, Ophelia in “Hamlet”, etc.

·       The Star-Crossed Lovers

         This is a young couple joined by love but unexpectedly parted by fate. For example Romeo and Juliet from William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, Heer and Ranjha, Heathcliff.

·       The Journey

         The main character takes a journey that may be physical or emotional to understand his or her personality and the nature of the world. For example; Oliver Twist, Tom Jones, Rama, etc.

vSituation or symbols

Ø The quest:

        The characters search for something whether consciously or unconsciously. Their action, thoughts, feelings are centered around the goal of completing this quest. For example Rama’s search  for Sita, Nal- Damyanti’s search for each other,  Savitri’s search for Satyakam’s life, etc.

Ø The Task:

This refers to a possibly superhuman feat that must be accomplished in order to fulfill the ultimate goal. For example, Frodo’s task to keep the ring safe in J.R.R. Tolkein’s  “The Lord of the Rings”  trilogy.

Ø Water:

Water is necessary to life and growth; it commonly appears as a birth or rebirth symbol. It is also strong life force. Symbolizes creation, purification and redemption also fertility and growth.

Ø Sun:

It symbolizes creative energy like fire, thinking, enlightenment, wisdom, spiritual wisdom, piousness, dawn etc. Rising sun symbolizes birth, creation, enlightenment. While setting sun symbolizes death.

Ø Colors:

·       Black- darkness, chaos, mystery, the unknown, before existence, death, the unconscious, evil.

·       Red- blood, sacrifice; violent passion, disorder, sunrise, birth, fire, emotion, wounds, death, sentiment

·       Green- hope, growth, envy, Earth, fertility, sensation, vegetation, water, nature, sympathy.

·       White - light, purity, peace, innocence, goodness, Spirit, morality, creative force, spiritual thought

·       Orange- fire, pride, ambition, egoism, Venus.

·       Yellow- enlightenment, wisdom.

·       Blue – clear sky, the day, the sea, height, depth, heaven, religious feeling.

         

Ø Numbers:

·       Three- Spirit, Birth, Life, Death, light.

·       Four-life cycle, four elements, four seasons.

         

·       Six- devil, evil.

·       Seven-  relationship between man and God, seven deadly sins, seven days of week, seven days to create the world, seven stages of civilization, seven colors of the rainbow, seven gifts of Holy Spirit.

Ø Nature:

·       Air- activity, creativity, breathe, light, freedom (liberty), movement

·       Rain- life giver

·       Clouds - mystery, sacred

·       Tree- where we learn, tree of life, tree of knowledge

·       Wind- Holy Spirit, life

·       Mountain- height, mass, center of the world, ambition, goals.

Ø Heart- love and emotions.

The use of archetypal characters and situations gives a literary work a universal acceptance, as readers identify the characters and situations in their social and cultural context.

v Conclusion

                   To sun up, Frye points out there are only a few species of myth though there are an infinite numbers of individual myths. For example, these species or archetypes of myths include “myths of creation, of fall, of exodus and migration of the destruction, of the human race in the past or the future, and of redemption”.