Where did it come Where did it come from?from?

Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell developed the idea of the archetype Archetype: A

recurring pattern of images, situations, or symbols found in the mythology, religion, art, and dreams of cultures around the world

Characteristics of the Hero/ Characteristics of the Hero/ HeroineHeroine

Inexperienced and gullible

Meets monsters or monstrous men

Has a strange wise being as a teacher

Is born and raised in a rural setting away from cities

Has an origin that is mysterious or loses his or her parents at a young age, being raised by animals or a wise guardian.

Returns to the land of his or her birth in disguise or as an unknown

Is tested to determine strength, persistence, and fortitude

Faces danger and suffers pain or sorrow

Wins what he or she fights for/wants

Archetypal Setting Archetypal Setting ElementsElements

Threshold: a gateway to a new world the hero must enter to change and to grow.

Underworld: the place where the hero encounters fear or death.

Wilderness (forest): the place where rules don’t apply, and people and things run wild.

River: the place representing the flow of time.

Garden: the place of harmony with nature, innocence, union, imagination; sometimes can be ruined or poisoned, or the hero has to leave it.

Archetypal Setting Elements Archetypal Setting Elements (cont.)(cont.)

Wasteland: the opposite of the garden; the place of loneliness, desolation, despair; the place where there is no growth.

Desert: place of purity, reflection, solitude; the lonely quest for meaning.

Crossroads: place of suffering and reflection.

Maze or labyrinth: represents a puzzling dilemma or great uncertainty; sometimes represents the search for a monster within self.

Archetypal Setting Elements Archetypal Setting Elements (cont.)(cont.)

Castle: strong place of safety; holds the treasure or the princess; may be bewitched or enchanted; may represents home or some other safe place.

Tower: strong place where evil resides or where the self is locked away from society and fellowship.

Winding stair: long and difficult way into the unknown.

Archetypal CharactersArchetypal Characters

Mentor/teacher: teaches the hero; gives valuable gifts (weapons, food, magic, information); older, wiser, can serve as the hero’s conscience.

Shadow: worthy opponent with whom the hero must struggle in a fight to the end/must be destroyed, neutralized, or assimilated.

Monster/Dragon: the hero’s dark self; the forces of evil; the scary aspect of life

Old Crone/wise woman/potion-maker: may represent the frightening knowledge and wisdom of experience and age

Archetypal CharactersArchetypal Characters

Animal Companion: represents that side of nature that helps man and is friendly to him

Blind seer: mysterious figure who can see into the nature of life though he or she cannot see physically.

Witch: the scary or angry aspect of women.

Damsel in distress: women who need to be rescued.

Princess in the tower: women who are unattainable

Common Archetypal Common Archetypal Journey PatternsJourney Patterns

Quest to…

know who you are

find knowledge

find the promised land or to build a beautiful city

get revenge

Rid the land of some danger

Fame and fortune

Warrior’s quest to save the people

Fool’s quest (a clown, simple-minded person, or silly person saves the land or princess because of his/her own innocence)

Search for love (to rescue the princess)

Grail quest (search for perfection or spiritual nourishment)