Archetype and Archetypal criticism – Literary terms:

Literary term Archetype, Literary term Archetypal criticism 

Archetype and Archetypal criticism – Literary terms:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Archetype:

A pattern or model of an action (such as lamenting the dead), a CHARACTER type (rebellious youth), or an IMAGE (paradise as a garden) that recurs consistently enough in life and LITERATURE to be considered universal. Although the term archetype has long been used in its most general sense, the psychoanalyst C. G. Jung gave it new meaning. He theorized that certain ideas, actions, and images-rivalry between brothers, for example-arose out of early experiences of the human race, passed along through the "collective unconscious of mankind," and are present in the subconscious of every individual. According to Jung, these archetypes emerge in the IMAGERY of dreams and also in MYTHS and other literature.

Some archetypes are used so often in certain literary GENRES that they become CONVENTIONS, or distinguishing features of the genre. For example, it is conventional for the dying hero of a folk BALLAD to announce his or her last will and testament.

See also:

ARCHETYPAL CRITICISM,

CONVENTION,

SYMBOL.

Archetypal criticism:

A critical approach that describes, interprets, or evaluates a work in terms of its relationship to all other works centered on a basic situation (such as coming of age), CHARACTER type (the jealous husband), PLOT pattern (boy meets girl - girl resists - boy wins girl), IMAGE (the lily for purity), or THEME (the conflict between free will and destiny) that recurs consistently enough to be considered universal. According to critic Northrop Frye, an ARCHETYPE “recurs often enough to be recognizable as an element of one's literary experience as a whole.”

See also:

ARCHETYPE,

LITERARY CRITICISM.