Archetype%20Unit

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Archetype Unit

• Harry Potter

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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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 mans social, psychological, and
  biological being

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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

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Situational Archetypes
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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 Sorcerers Stone, Harry
  must find the Sorcerers Stone before Voldemort
  can use it to come back to life.

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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
  Sorcerers Stone
• Enchanted Wizards Chess

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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 sorcerers stone.

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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.

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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 Siriuss death.

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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

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Nature Versus a Mechanistic World

• Nature is good while technology and society are
  often evil
• Harry is connected to nature and creatures of
  nature throughout the series

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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

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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

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Ritual

• 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.

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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
• Harrys wand is the twin of Voldemorts.

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Symbolic Archetypes
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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

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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 characters spiritual
  birth.

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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

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Heaven Versus Hell

• 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

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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.
• Hermiones innate ability at spell work helps
  Harry numerous times

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Haven Versus Wilderness

• 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

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Supernatural Intervention

• The gods intervene on 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 Godric Griffyndors sword.

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Fire Versus Ice

• Fire represents knowledge, light, life, rebirth
• Ice, like the desert, represents ignorance,
  darkness, death

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Threshold

• Gateway to a new world which the hero must enter
  to change and grow
• Platform 9 ¾ is the threshold to Hogwarts

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The Underworld

• 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

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The Crossroads

• 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

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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.

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The Castle

• A strong place of safety which holds treasure or
  the princess
• May be enchanted or bewitched
• Hogwarts

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The Tower

• A strong place of evil
• Represents the isolation of self
• Azkaban Prison

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The Whirlpool

• Symbolizes the destructive power of nature or
  fate
• In The Half-Blood Prince, the lake with the
  Inferi represents a whirlpool

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Character Archetypes
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The Hero

• Mother is a virgin or at least pure of heart and
  spirit
• Sometimes the hero is the child of distinguished
  parents (royalty)
• Harrys parents were a part of the Order of the
  Phoenix

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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Young One From the Provinces

• 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 kingdoms problems

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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

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MentorPupil Relationship

• Mentors serve as teachers or counselors to
  initiates
• The mentor acts as a role model for the
  protagonist and can function as father or mother
  figures as well
• The mentor teaches by example the skills
  necessary to survive the quest/task/journey
• Harrys primary mentor is Dumbledore

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ParentChild Conflict

• Tension often results from separation during
  childhood or from an external source when the
  individuals meet as men and where the mentor
  often has a higher place in the affections of the
  hero than that of the natural parent
• Harry does not know his parents as they died when
  he was a baby

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Loyal Retainers

• These retainers are somewhat like servants and
  are heroic themselves
• Often called side-kicks, their duty is to protect
  the hero/heroine and reflect his/her nobility
• Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are Harrys
  loyal retainers

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Hunting Group of Companions

• This is a band of loyal companions willing to
  face any number of perils in order to be together
  or to achieve a common goal
• Harry has many HGOCs throughout the seven book
  series.
• Dumbledores Army (DA) is one of them

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Friendly Beast

• These creatures aid or serve the hero/heroine
• Symbolize how nature is on the side of the
  hero/heroine
• Harrys owl Hedwig is a friendly beast

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Devil Figure

• This character is evil incarnate who offers
  worldly goods, fame, or knowledge to the
  protagonist in exchange for possession of the
  soul
• Voldemort is the devil figure in the Harry Potter
  series

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Devil Figure with theUltimately Good Heart

• A redeemable evil character saved by the nobility
  or love of the hero/heroine
• Severus Snape fits this category as he saves
  Harry several times in the series

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Scapegoat

• Animal or more usually a human whose death in a
  public ceremony expiates some taint or sin that
  has been visited on a community.
• The death of the scapegoat often makes him/her a
  force in society more powerful than when they
  lived
• Dumbledore becomes the scapegoat at the end of
  The Half-Blood Prince

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The Outcast

• A figure who is banished from a social group for
  some crime (real or imagined) against his fellow
  man
• The outcast is usually destined to become a
  wanderer from place to place
• Sirius Black is an outcast because everyone
  thinks he was the cause of the James and Lily
  Potters death.

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Creature of Nightmare

• A monster usually summoned from the deepest,
  darkest part of the human psyche to threaten the
  life of the hero/heroine.
• Often it is a perversion of the human body
• The Goblins can be considered CONs

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Threshold Guardian

• Tests the heros courage and worthiness to begin
  the journey
• Hagrid is Harrys Threshold Guardian

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Woman Figures
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Platonic Ideal

• This woman is a source of inspiration and a
  spiritual ideal
• The protagonist has an intellectual rather than a
  physical attraction to her
• Hermione is Harrys platonic ideal

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Earth Mother

• Symbolic of fruition, abundance, and fertility,
  this character traditionally offers spiritual and
  emotional nourishment to those with whom she
  comes in contact.
• She is depicted in earth colors, having large
  hips symbolic of her childbearing capabilities
• Mrs. Weasley is the Earth Mother in the Harry
  Potter Series

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Temptress

• Characterized by sensuous beauty, this woman
  brings about the downfall of the hero by tempting
  him to turn away from his goal
• Cho Chang causes Harry to lose his focus with DA

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Unfaithful Wife

• A married woman who finds her husband dull or
  unattractive and seeks a more virile or
  interesting man.
• Archtypally, the woman is the center of the
  family and is responsible for keeping it
  together.
• Bellatrix Lestrange could be considered an
  unfaithful wife as she is more devoted to
  Voldemort than her own husband

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Damsel in Distress

• This vulnerable woman must be rescued by the hero
• She is often a trap set by the devil figure or
  temptress to ensnare the unsuspecting hero
• Ginny Weasley is a damsel in distress in The
  Chamber of Secrets

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Star-Crossed Lovers

• These two characters are engaged in a love affair
  that is fated to end tragically for one or both
  due to the disapproval of the society, friends,
  family or some tragic situation

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Star-Crossed Lovers

• Other times it is a situation which separates the
  lovers, such as war, their respective positions
  in society, where they live, or untimely death
• Ginny and Harry become SCL in books 6 and 7
• Unlike most SCL, they do have a happy ending