Archetypal Criticism: an easy handout for beginners

Archetypal Criticism

A process of detecting conventional and prototypical patterns in literature. This school of criticism takes its origin from Maud Bodkin's "Archetypal Patterns in Poetry" published in 1934. It reached its zenith in the 1940s and 1950s. Northrop Frye (1912-91), the Canadian Critic is one of the most prominent figures of this mode of criticism. He developed this approach in his study of William Blake in a book entitled "Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake"(1947) and later his well known work "Anatomy of Criticism"(1957).

The term Archetype signifies "narrative designs,character types and images which are found in a variety of works of literature". This becomes the formula of interpreting literature. The foundation of archetypal thought can also be traced out To James.G.Frazer's "The Golden Bough" and the depth of psychology of C.G Jung, who applied the term Archetype to signify 'Primordial images' (existing right from the beginning of the universe) and the 'psychic residue'. Solely Archetype means a basic prototype or original patterns from which copies are made.
The other practitioners were Wilson Knight, Leslie Fiedler, Francis Fergusson, Richard Chase and Philip Wheelwright. But Northrop Frye gave a new direction to Archetypal Criticism.

The contributions of the Swiss Psychotherapist Carl Jung was immense. He theorized the experiences of our ancestors through his much celebrated term "The Collective Unconscious". He remarked that everything gets collected and stored in some unconscious corner of the mind. So, the moment we create something, we unconsciously go and fetch these Archetypes. Human life itself is tuned through certain Archetypal functions like birth, love, Conflict, death and other matters which can be grouped into fixed patterns.
For instance The Hero, The Villain, The Snob,The Damsels in distress and the Wicked stepmother all are frequently used Archetypal figures.

Even more images are conspicuous in  the literary sphere. The image of water occurs most commonly in different Myths. It appears in the form of sea, rivers and springs so on. Water is a source of life. Symbolizes Myths of creation as well as destruction are associated to sea, the largest reservoir of water. While a river is a symbol of death and rebirth, also stands for the eternity. According to Jung water is also symbolizes the unconscious.
Similarly The Sun stands for the creative energy, also remembers the Cosmic Law as it rises and sets according to the set patterns. Additionally, spirituality and wisdom can be attributed to the enlightening energy of the sun and the fleeting nature of life and time as well. While the rising sun represents creation and enlightenment , the setting sun represents death.

Likewise, while Tree stands for regeneration, Desert is for aridity and death. Colours have since time immemorial, constituted certain feelings. Thus, White stands for virtue,purity and innocence, Red is for violence and passion, Green is for growth and fertility, Black is for Evil, death and ignorance. images do not have absolute meanings. They will change according to the context.  Wheelwright used the term 'Plurisignation' to describe how literature acquires multiple meanings.

In the much anthologized essay "The Archetypes of Literature" Frye expresses his dissatisfaction with New Criticism. He was a strident believer of treating a work of literature as a part of larger system. Not as a pure isolated phenomenon. Literature imitates the total dream of a man. For him, no text is an island, it should be read in relation to the other existing elements. The natural world and the human world are brought together by the human imagination.

 
Frye approaches literature from two opposite ends, The inductive (Centripetal) and The deductive (Centrifugal). one can easily trace out growing, emerging patterns of significance and spreading out from the center like the ripples in a pond when a stone is cast upon it.

Frye classifies the world of literature into four categories, he calls them Mythoi.Corresponding to the four seasons. Comedy corresponds to Spring, as the presence of breeze and sunshine make you smile. Romance to Summer, as the hottest temperature evokes our passion. Tragedy to Autumn, as the shortest duration of daylight and fall of leaves disrupt our mind. finally, satire to Winter, as the wind blows with heavy freezing all around.This is how Frye identifies Myth with literature,asserting that an Archetype is basically an element of literary experience.                     

    
 Frye lived in comparatively quieter intellectual climate. he expressed his blatant philosophic nihilism towards Europeans. As a born teacher he clarified all the difficult thoughts and texts to his students. And that prompted his distinguished student, Margaret Atwood to pay her homage through the following words: "He did not lock literature into an ivory tower; instead he emphasized its centrality to the development of a civilized humane society".    

Reference & for further reading 

• Anatomy of Criticism  by  Northrop Frye
• English literary criticism and theory  by  M. S. Nagarajan
• A new approach to literary theory     by R.S Malik and Jagdish Batra
• A companion to literary forms by Padmaja Ashok
• Twentieth Century Literary Criticism: A Reader  edited by  David Lodge.
•  A handbook of critical approaches to literature   by    Wilfred. L.Guerin.