Archetypal criticism is a form of criticism based on the
psychology of Carl Jung. He argues that there are two levels of the unconscious: the
personal and the archetypal.
Archetypes are the unknowable
basic forms personified in recurring images, symbols, or patterns which may include
motifs. These motifs can be recognizable character types such as the trickster or the
hero, symbols such as the apple or snake, or images such as
crucifixion.
Archetypal criticism argues that archetypes
determine the form and function of literary works that a text's meaning is shaped by
cultural and psychological myths. For example, for the myth critic Northrop Frye, an
archetype is "a symbol, usually an image, which recurs often enough in literature to be
recognizable as an element of one's literary experience." Frye elaborates taxonomy of
modes, symbols, myths, and genres, establishing a complex and comprehensive
correspondence between the basic genres -- comedy, romance, tragedy, and irony -- and
the myths and archetypal patterns associated with the seasonal cycle of spring, summer,
fall, and winter.
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