Guide to Literary Terms Group

Question:

jeepchuck
jeepchuck
Student
High School - 12th Grade

What is an archetype? My teacher keeps talking about it, but I am stumped. Could you please give a couple of examples?

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Posted by jeepchuck on Friday January 25, 2008 at 12:02 PM and tagged with archetype, guide to literary terms, literary term.

Answers:


  1. amy-lepore Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    An archetype is an original or fundamental imaginative pattern that is repeated through the ages.

    For example, in Star Wars, you've got:

    *the evil villain (Darth Maul, Darth Vader, the Emperor)

    *the damsel in distress (Princess Leia)

    *the hero (Hans Solo, Luke Skywalker)

    *the sage or wise man (Yoda, the Jedi Counsel)

    By now, you're probably getting the idea.  There are the Mom characters, the people who sell their souls to the Devil characters, the rebels, the people who never do anything wrong. 

    These are the character types who show up over and over again in literature no matter what era.

    Hope this helps!

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/literary-terms/archetype

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    Posted by amy-lepore on Friday January 25, 2008 at 12:12 PM

  2. npdckrsn
    npdckrsn Teacher
    Vocational

    eNotes Editor

    An archtype is a repeated image that comes down from human experience as a pattern or a symbol. For instance, something that has "fallen" may be as splendid as Lucifer becoming Satan or as simple as Humptey Dumptey becoming a scrambled egg. The idea remains that the one who sets himself up above others is setting himself up for a fall. Some archtypes come to us as myths and some as characters in modern movies--think Lord of the Rings.

    I hope that this helps.

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    Posted by npdckrsn on Friday August 8, 2008 at 3:40 PM