Archetypal Criticism - The Archetypes of Literature - Northrop Frye (1921-1991)
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 of 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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