Answer:
Archetype
Step-by-step explanation:
Definition of a Archetype:
"A universally recognizable element... that recurs across all literature and life (Latrobe 13).
Psychologist Carl Jung called these elements a kind of "collective unconscious" of the human race, prototypes rather than something gained from experience. The word is derived from Greek:
arche, original, and typos, form or model; thus, original model (Latrobe 13)
Definition of Archetype cnt'd
An archetype is a first real example or prototype of something (as Model T is the prototype of the modern automobile). In this sense an archetype can be considered the ideal model, the supreme type, or the perfect image of something (Brunel 111-112, 114).
Archetypes result in deep emotional response for readers.
"Archetypes are repeated patterns that recur in the literature of every age " (Slan 48).
Examples of Archetypal Characters
⇒ Endowed with a tragic flow
⇒ Doomed to make a serious error in judgement
⇒ Falls from great heights or high esteem
⇒ Realizes he/she made an irreversible mistake
⇒ Faces and accepts death with honor
⇒ Meets a tragic death
⇒ The audience goes through catharsis - feeling pity, fear, and emotional relief
⇒ Classical hero journey and qualities of a Hero (honor, loyalty, strength, etc.)
⇒ "The main characters leaves his or her community to go on an adventure, performing deeds that bring honor to the community" (Herz and Gallo 121).
More Archetypal Characters
⇒ Loving Mother (true maternal instincts, caring, sacrificing, etc.)
⇒ Fairy Godmother (surrogate mother) - comforts and directs child, especially when he or she is confused and needs guidance. Represents powers that can be called on for help when it is needed. Helps young person to solve their own problems (Knapp 71).
⇒ Earth Mother
⇒ Step Mother
- The Great Teacher/ Mentor/ Wise Sage
⇒ Wise "old" man/woman
⇒ protects or helps main character when he or she faces challenges
⇒ Rational, self-reflective character who provides guidance
⇒ Honest, truth-seeker
Even More Archetypal Characters
- The Innocent - naive child, youth, inexperienced adult
- The Scapegoat/Sacrificial Victim - the innocent who gets blamed or dies for the sake of others
- The Enchantress/ Temptress - the female that exhibits power over others, especially men; sе×ually charged
- The Giant/Monster/Ogre - the beast who is an outcast, evil, grotesque; sometimes misunderstood
- The Underdog - the weaker of the two components, the one who is expected to lose
- The Double or Split Personality - a character with two aspects to their character; or a character that represents another within the text
And Finally...
- The Trickster (represents chaos and destruction; animalistic forces)
- The Devil
- The Serpent (biblical reference)
⇒ All characters represent the evil forces at work whose sole purpose it to bring down that which is good; sometimes without any real motivation (no rationality or morality).
Archetypal Settings:
- The Garden - a place of purity; cultivation
- The Forest - represent fertility, home of the Great Mother, symbolically primitive. Those who often enter lose their direction or rational outlook and thus tap into their collective unconscious. This unregulated space is opposite of the cultivated gardens.
- A Tree - represents life and knowledge
- A Cave - turning inward; deep down where a character delves into himself, become invisible; in extreme cases can symbolize death
- A Mountain - the highest peak; place to gain greatest insight
- A River - a place of reflection or rebirth; crossing borders or new territory; May represent human life or time passing as we follow the river from its source to its mouth
- The Sea - vast, alien, chaotic, dangerous; waves may symbolize measures of time and represent eternity or infinity
- An Island - a place of isolation; a small world unto itself; microcosm