Northrop Frye was born in Southern Quebec province Canada. He studied theology and was keenly interested in Canadian literature, culture and education. Though his critics charge him with arbitrariness in his taxonomy and catergorisation of literary works, his influence as a literary critic, theorist and educator extended worldwide. His first book on William Blake won him fame. In his second book, ‘Anatomy of Criticism’, he articulated the role of archetypal symbols, myths and generic conventions in creating literary meaning.
The word
‘Archetype’ was derived from the Greek word ‘Archetypon’, means, “beginning
pattern”. According to Frye Archetype in
literary criticism refers to a recurrent image, character, plot, theme or
pattern that have passed through by its repetitions in many works across the
centuries. To prove his point, Frye
draws sources from different areas including Bible. The detailed studies of primitive myths by
James Frazer and Jessie Weston have also helped him. But, the main source for Frye, perhaps, was
the Psychologist Carl Jung, particularly Jung’s account of the ‘Collective
Consciousness’.
In defining
genuine criticism, Frye says that it is connected to but different from
philosophy, theology, history and the social sciences. Knowledge of ‘archetypes’ enables us to
perceive the shared myths that literary works rely on and explore. Through this awareness, we can glimpse the
underlying ‘Structure’ of the structures of all works. Creative writers have used myths in their
works and critics analyse texts for a discovery of “Mythological
patterns”. This kind of critical
analysis of a text is called Archetypal Criticism. T.S. Eliot has used mythical patterns in his
creative works. The waste land is a fine
example for it.
There is a
type of criticism, which focuses only on an analysis of a text. Such criticism confines itself to the text
and does not give any other background information about the text. This type of criticism is called formalistic
or structural criticism. In historical criticism
the background information helps the reader to understand the text. So, the reader needs both these criticisms to
have a better understanding of the text.
Archetypal criticism is a synthesis of structural criticism and
historical criticism.
Owing to Jealousy,
Othello, in the Shakespearean play inflicts upon himself affliction. This is the particular truth of the drama
from which the reader learns the general truth of life that Jealousy is always
destructive. This is called the
inductive method of analysis under structural criticism. Similarly, the historical inductive method
that helps the reader understand the genre of drama originates from Greek
religion. So, Archetypal criticism, the
combination of both these criticisms is an all inclusive one. It involves the efforts of many
specialists. An editor analyses the
text. A rhetorician analyses the
narrative pace. A literary social
historian studies the evolution of myths and rituals. Thus, a thorough understanding of the text is
possible under archetypal criticism.
As a matter
of fact, the world of nature is governed by rhythm and it has got a natural
cycle. The seasonal rhythms in a solar
year are spring, summer, autumn and winter.
This kind of rhythm is also there in the world animals and human
beings. Crops are planted and harvested
rhythmically every year and they have their seasons. During planting and harvest, sacrifices and
offering are made which are rituals.
Actually, works of literature have their origins in such rituals and the
archetypal critic discovers and explains them.
A writer
usually gets a concept or idea of his work in a moment of inspiration. Then he expresses what he has ‘perceived’ in
the form of proverbs, riddles and folktales.
He uses myths either deliberately or unconsciously, and it is the critic
who discovers the archetypes, myths in a work.
Every myth has a central significance in a myth centre. That may be God, Demigod, Super human or Legend.
Frye
classifies myths into four categories.
1.
The
Dawn is spring and is said to be birth phase.
The birth of a hero, his revival and resurrection, his defeating the
powers of darkness and death are all the happenings here. The father and mother are the subordinate
characters here. This phase is with
archetypes of comedy and rhapsodic poetry.
2.
The
Zenith is summer and is said to be marriage or triumph phase. Myths of Apotheosis of the sacred marriage
and of entering into paradise are found in this phase. The companion and the bride are the
subordinate characters. This phase has
the archetypes of romance and pastoral poetry.
3.
The
Sunset is autumn and is said to be the death phase. Myths of fall, of dying God, of violent death
and of sacrifice and of the isolation of the hero are found in this phase. The traitors are the subordinate characters
here. This phase has the archetypes of
tragedy and elegy.
4.
The
darkness is winter and is said to be the desolation phase. Myths of the triumph of these powers, myths
of floods and the return of chaos and the myths of the defeat of the hero are
seen in this phase. The witch and ogre
are the subordinate characters here.
This phase has the archetypes of satire.
These are the four categories of
myths that Frye identifies in different types of works written by different
writers. Thus, Frye classifies the
literary universe into four categories, corresponding to the four natural
seasons: Comedy corresponds to spring; romance to summer; tragedy to autumn and
satire to winter. Apart from these
Northrop Frye says that there is a quest–myth that makes the hero goes in quest
of a truth or something else. In this
way a critic can analyse myths and finds how a drama, a lyric or an epic has
been evolved. Moreover, Frye is also of
the opinion, that there are twelve brand archetypes namely, The Innocent,
Everyman, Hero, Orator, Explorer, Creator, Ruler, Magician, Lover, Caregiver,
Jester, and Sage.
Moreover, according to Frye, to
attain perfection the comic and tragic visions of life that are used in the
creation should be analysed. In a comic
vision of life in a myth the human world is presented as a community. There a here is presented as the representative
whereas in a tragic vision of life, the human world is in tyranny. Similarly, in the comic visions of life, in a
myth, the animal world is presented as a community of domesticated animals like
a flock of sheep with pastoral images.
But, in the tragic visions of life, there are vultures, serpents,
dragons and so on. According to Frye all
who deal with literature need two powers, a power to create and a power to
understand. As criticism has every
characteristics of a science, it should have a systematic study with any piece
of literature that it deals with.
Moreover, every poet has his private mythology, his own spectroscopic
band or peculiar formation of symbols, of much of which, he is quite unconscious. So, the critic should take over, where the
poet leaves off and with the help of literary psychology he should connect the
poet with the poem. No doubt, this is
quite possible if he applies archetypal criticism here.
-----Thulasidharan V
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