Archetypes


 * Archetypes: **





**The following comes from TeachWithMovies ** http://www.teachwithmovies.org/heros-journey-and-archetypes.html

INTRODUCING THE MONOMYTH

 * The Hero's Journey is a fundamental paradigm of human experience that is frequently the basis for written stories, drama, and film. It was initially described by mythologist Joseph Campbell, who relied in part on the insights of psychologist Carl Jung. The stages and archetypes of the Journey have been developed and applied to film by Christopher Vogler. The writings of these men demonstrate that the Journey is helpful in understanding both fiction and reality.

**The Hero's Journey in Life and Art**
The human condition requires purposeful effort for any achievement and often for survival. Myths and stories in all cultures contain tales of successful quests through which great achievements have been made. Some are efforts to save an individual or a group; others are missions to protect or transform a community; many are stories of personal growth and development. The protagonists of these successful quests are often called heroes and the tale of their efforts has come to be known as "the Hero's Journey." Mythologist Joseph Campbell, who pioneered the study of the Hero's Journey, referred to it as "The Monomyth" because it is appears in all cultures and is basic to what it means to be human.

The origins of the Hero's Journey/Monomyth are in the earliest beginnings of the human race. Undoubtedly, tales of struggle and triumph were heard around camp fires of tribes long forgotten. When starvation had stalked the community, there would be a celebration when hunters returned from the first successful effort after many failures. The hunters would have told the story of the difficulties they had overcome and their eventual triumph. When tribes had been locked in mortal combat and the resolution had been in doubt, the victors would have delighted in recalling the tale of the battle and how they had vanquished the enemy. Those best at telling stories, people who had a way with words or music, would be asked to repeat the tale again and again, praising those who had saved the community.

When people started to put stories into writing, the first epic poem was the //__The Odyssey, __// which describes the Hero's Journey of Odysseus on his quest to return home from the Trojan War. Since that time, stories of the Monomyth have appeared in countless variations, not only in epic poems, but also in novels, comic books, and plays. Movie plots frequently employ versions of the Hero's Journey.

Joseph Campbell describes the mythical quest in its simplest form: > A hero ventures forth from the world of the common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won; the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man. In life and in fiction, certain stages can be identified in most Hero's Journeys. These include: a starting place, an ordinary world that is somehow deficient or inadequate; a call to action; first steps on the journey; meeting with a mentor; the crisis, a reward, and a return with the result or a prize that corrects the deficiency or inadequacy that launched the quest. Each journey has its unique aspects and not all stories of the Monomyth contain all of the stages of the classic Hero's Journey. In many situations, some of the stages are combined or occur simultaneously. The order of the steps usually follow in a certain sequence, but not always. Different scholars have described the stages in slightly different ways, but in countless myths and stories, the outline of the Hero's Journey can be clearly seen.

In addition, stories that manifest the Monomyth contain certain types of characters whose functions relate to the hero's progress on the Journey. These include not only the hero and the mentor, but also the threshold guardian, the shadow, the trickster, and the shapeshifter. In similar fashion to the stages of the Journey, not all of these characters appear in every Hero's Journey and in some Journeys functions of different character types are combined in one individual. Because these character types have a structural relationship to the Hero's Journey and they are parts of the human experience that appear in generation after generation and in story after story, they are called the archetypes of the Hero's Journey.

The Monomyth can appear in many different types of stories. Adventure tales describe the experiences of heroes as they overcome villains who threaten certain individuals or endanger an entire community. In a romance, one of the characters, or the couple acting together, are on a quest to requite their love and live happily ever after. Sports stories involve the effort of one team or one contestant to triumph over all the others. In tales of personal transformation and growth, people examine their own lives, muster the courage to change, and accept the challenges presented on the path to fulfillment. Each of these types of stories often employ the stages of the Hero's Journey.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">One reason that the Monomyth has endured is that it matches the way in which many events actually occur: it illustrates how human beings on an important quest interact with their environment and with other people. Each person will at certain times in life perform different versions of the Hero's Journey or they will see others do it. Some people will go on a quest to make a difference in society; most people will, at times, serve as the hero for a quest that is important to their family, their school, a friend, or themselves. One example of the Hero's Journey, which has been undertaken by millions of people will be explored in detail in detail in this essay. It is the journey of an alcoholic or a drug addict who decides to take control of life and stop using drugs.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The stages of the Hero's Journey can be separated into three sections. The first consists of the expository phase of the story. The second unfolds the complications and the crisis which describe the Hero's struggle and provide the action in the story. The third section concludes the journey with resolution and denouement.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> **SECTION ONE — Introduction to Setting, Characters and Conflict** //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">1. The Ordinary World: //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">This is the setting with which the protagonist is familiar, the life experienced before the quest. There will probably be many loved ones and the comfort of familiarity in the Ordinary World. However, in some way it is unstable or dissatisfying for the protagonist of the mission described in the story; either the Ordinary World has changed or the hero-to-be comes to feel the need for change due to some internal conflict or realization. In some tales that express the Monomyth, the Ordinary World has been destroyed or made uninhabitable by an outside force and the protagonist has no choice but to start on the journey to find a new life. In other stories, the Ordinary World still exists and often exerts a strong influence pulling the protagonist back from the challenges of the quest. In the classic Hero's Journey, a victorious hero returns to the Ordinary World bringing back objects: the hunter brings food and the victor brings the spoils of war. In other Journeys there is no return to the Ordinary World and the successful hero lives in a new world that is better than the old. This also occurs in quests of personal growth in which a character seeks to resolve contradictions in his or her personality or overcome an emotional challenge, such as grief from the loss of a loved one.

//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">2. The Call to Adventure: //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> The call to adventure can take many forms, but it always pulls the protagonist away from the Ordinary World into a new situation. The Call to Adventure may be something that the hero-to-be voluntarily accepts or it may be an event which compels the journey, leaving the protagonist no choice but to embark on the journey.

//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">3. Refusing the Call: //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> At one point (or on many occasions) the potential hero feels the pull of the familiar comforts of the Ordinary World and resists going on the adventure. After all, every quest carries with it the risk of failure and some Journeys are downright dangerous.

//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">4. Meeting with the Mentor: //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> A Mentor is a guide or a teacher who will help the hero-to-be gather the courage, find the right path, or pass the tests required for successful completion of their mission. The meeting with the Mentor can come at any point in the Hero's Journey.

//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">5. Crossing the First Threshold: //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> This is the point at which there is no turning back without an admission that the protagonist is not to be a hero. Crossing the first threshold can be a voluntary, considered action or it can be an external event which launches the protagonist on the quest.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> **SECTION TWO — Action, Climax, Triumph**

//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">6. Tests, Allies, and Enemies: //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> In most important quests there will be obstacles to overcome and challenges to meet; on most there will be allies to assist the protagonist toward the goal. There may also be enemies seeking to obstruct the way. Enemies may also be aspects of nature or a part of the protagonist's psyche. In both film and literature, these elements of the Journey provide the action, provoke interest, and serve as complications on the path to the goal.

//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">7. Approach to the Inmost Cave: //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> This is the turning point, the moment in which the protagonist seems to realize completely what must be done and to accept all accompanied risks including the possibility of failure. In some stories, failure means death. The Approach to the Inmost Cave is an essential element in most stories describing a quest. It reveals the fact that the hero-to-be is operating with full awareness of the consequences of failure.

//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">8. Ordeal: //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> The climax, or the peak experience in the adventure, appears in virtually all stories. The hero-to-be faces the moment of truth: will he or she prevail in the struggle with the enemy?

//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">9. Reward: //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> The payoff for the protagonist's struggle may be as simple as survival or it may involve fantastic riches or symbolic prizes that make the experience worthwhile. The Reward may be personal growth, self-knowledge, or the reconciliation of conflicting parts of the personality.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> **SECTION THREE — Resolution and Denouement** //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">10. The Road Back: //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> Returning to the ordinary world can be a difficult journey in itself and may offer additional risks for the adventuring protagonist, who is still not yet a hero. Some will be able to negotiate the Road Back and some will not: the hunter bringing the kill back to the village may be set upon by a pack of wolves who steal the hard won prey. For those protagonists who do not successfully pass this stage, the quest ends in failure; they never become heroes. > //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">11. Resurrection: //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> At this point, the protagonist, now a Hero, becomes transformed by the experience of the quest into a new, or at least a better, person.

//<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">12. Return with the Elixir: //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> In stories in which the Ordinary World still exists, upon re-entering that world, the Hero shares with those who stayed behind the prize won on the adventure. The Elixir shared can be abstract, such as love, or it can be concrete, such as something the group needs in order to survive or prosper. When the Ordinary World no longer exists or the Hero cannot, for some reason, return to the Ordinary World, the Hero will share the Elixir with those who accompanied him or her on the quest or those who inhabit the new world in which the victorious Hero will live. In journeys of personal growth and development, the Elixir is the new realization that the Hero has about life or about the self. The last two or three stages are often combined, especially in journeys of personal growth and development.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">**Archetypes in Life and Art**
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Certain character types and their structural relationships with others in family and community are parts of the human experience that repeat again and again. The functions of the father, the mother, the child, the hero, the mentor, and the trickster are found in most cultures and are timeless. People can take on different roles multiple times during their lives and they will change roles depending upon the situations in which they find themselves. For example, a person may be on a quest in one aspect of life and therefore take on the function of the hero, while at another time or in a different set of circumstances, the same person may function as a mentor for someone else's quest. People can take on different roles in different situations and at different times. People are children in relation to their parents and later they are parents to their own children. As parents age, they become more child-like and their children take on the role of parent. People can take on more than one function at the same time. For example, every parent takes on different aspects of the mother (nurturing) and of the father (stern and judging); that is, aspects of both the mother and the father usually exist in varying degrees in any parent; and the relative strength of the different roles changes over time and as the situation changes.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Character types which have persisted over centuries and across cultures are called archetypes. The concept of archetypes is derived from the work of Swiss psychologist Carl Jung who theorized that people are born with a psychic inheritance, a collective unconscious, which affects all of human experience. Jung believed that this knowledge lies in our unconscious mind and can only be accessed indirectly through dreams, myths, forms of religious belief, and the arts, such as written fiction, movies, visual arts, music, and dance. It may be the Jung was correct or it may be that people learn about archetypes as children because there are certain basic ways in which human beings relate to each other in societies, in families, and in personal relationships. Whatever the source of the knowledge, the concept of archetype helps to organize and clarify human experience. As such, archetypes are an important part of understanding life and telling a story, whether in written form or presented on stage or screen.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Another way to look at archetypes is that they embody energies in the psyche that seek to fulfill a function in life and in story. Thus, one character can provide the energy to nurture, another the impetus to quest, a third the desire to the mentor, while a fourth provides the force of a leader, etc. The mother archetype nurtures, the father archetype judges, and the mentor archetype gives sage advice, etc. A person functions as a hero when engaging in purposeful effort, for example, putting a man on the moon or a journey of personal growth. The effort could be as simple as going on a trip and as mundane as learning to fit in when starting at a new school or asking a girl to go out on a date.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Every school contains character types that have existed for as long as we have had schools and which can be considered archetypes. The bully, the sports jock, the nerd, the class clown, and the teacher's pet are examples. Centuries ago, the bully pattern of personality would have been evident in the powerful hunter or warrior who used his strength to dominate and hurt others. The characteristics of a bully contrast with those of a true leader, another archetype, who uses intelligence, knowledge, or the power of personality to take care of his people. And although math or science as fields of study are rather new in the long history of mankind, certainly there were members of ancient societies who involved themselves with numbers and were devoted to the accuracy of exchange, the measurement of distances, and even the passage of time. There have always been court jesters and comedians, and, of course, an individual favored by a person with power. Each of these functional types have recognizable expressions in school society.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">While each archetype has its own constellation of attributes which most people recognize, everyone who functions as an archetypal character, in life and in story, will also have unique characteristics depending upon their culture, their own personality, and the situation. Dorothy Gale of <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d87bc; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">[|The Wizard of Oz] <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> is a true heroine who defeats formidable adversaries on her journey. However, Dorothy, as required of a female by her culture, her time and her story, is always kind and considerate. While she kills the wicked witches of the East and the West as thoroughly as any action/adventure hero vanquishes a villain, Dorothy always kills by accident and without an intent to harm.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Joseph Campbell, the mythologist, refers to archetypes as elementary ideas and asserts that anthropologists and archeologists can account for the differences in the archetypes in mythologies across the globe as responses to environmental factors. In stories, the use of archetypes builds an empathic reaction as each reader or viewer sees many familiar aspects of characters who take on the archetypal roles. There is universal appeal when protagonists, antagonists, and ancillary characters exhibit aspects of various archetypes.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">**Archetypes of the Hero's Journey - Characters of the Monomyth**
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">There are certain archetypes which are often associated with the Hero's Journey; their functions relate to the conduct of a quest. The following description of the archetypes of the Hero's Journey are brief summaries derived from Christopher Vogler's book. Mr. Vogler based his analysis on the ideas of psychologist Carl Jung and mythologist Joseph Campbell. Note that these summaries are an attempt to briefly describe complex personality patterns; they are necessarily incomplete.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">**Some Other Important Literary Archetypes**
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Some of the archetypes identified by Carl Jung that are frequently found in literature are summarized below.

//1. The Father://

//2. The mother://

//3. The Child:// [|The Child Savior: An Example of a Literary Archetype]

//4. The Maiden://

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">These archetypes may be found in many stories, including stories of the quest. They differ from the archetypes of the Hero's Journey only because their function does not necessarily assist in reaching the resolution of a story of purposeful effort.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">**Conclusion**
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The Hero's Journey/Monomyth is basic to the human experience. Jung, Campbell, and Vogler have shown that the stages of the Hero's Journey correspond to what actually occurs in life. They have demonstrated that archetypes, assembled and reassembled in life and in stories, remain faithful to truths about human existence throughout time. The Hero's Journey analysis assists in discovering the elemental messages of myth, drama, literature, and film. The Journey assists in understanding inner meaning and clarifying theme. In life, knowledge of the stages and archetypes of the successful quest will help people organize and understand their own experience.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Bibliography

 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> [|The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers], 3rd Edition, by Christopher Vogler;
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> [|The Power of Myth] by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers;
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> [|The Hero with a Thousand Faces] by Joseph Campbell; The quotation beginning "The hero ventures forth . . . " is from page 23;
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #101010; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> [|The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious (Collected Works of C.G. Jung Vol.9 Part 1)] . ||