An Introduction to Literary Archetypes

Identify the symbols yousee here:

Key Intellectual Figures: From Freud to Campbell

Sigmund Freud (AKA “The Father of Psychology”): 1865-1939

Carl “I Don’t Look

Very”Jung (The founder of Analytical Psychology): 1875-1961

http://www.clipartgallery.com/people/historical/historical1.html/

http://www.clipartgallery.com/people/historical/historical2.html

Joseph Campbell (I bet you thoroughly enjoyed reading my “The Question of Meaning” this week!): 1904-1987

As I brilliantly stated in my 1923

book, The Ego and the Id: “…the ego represents what may be called reason and common

sense….”

“…the super-ego retains the … influence of

authority…in the form of conscience or perhaps of an

unconscious sense of guilt…” (Freud The

Ego and the Id).

Another great read is my 1933 New Introductory Lectures on

Psychoanalysis, in which I explained:

“[The id] is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality… striving to

bring about the satisfaction of the instinctual needs….”

Id

Superego

Ego

Freud was the first person to offer a systematic method of studying

the unconscious mind. Below is a chart of the human psyche

according to Freud:

In my aforementioned book of 1923, The Ego and the Id,

I also claimed that “In a healthy person… the ego is the strongest so that it can satisfy the needs of the id,

not upset the superego, and still take into consideration

the reality of every situation.  Not an easy job by any means, but if the id gets too strong, impulses and self gratification take

over the person's life.  If the superego becomes to

strong, the person would be driven by rigid morals,

would be judgmental and unbending in his or her

interactions with the world.”

Freud on Mental Health:

You need to know this only as

it pertains to Jung’s work on

the human psyche, and, simply, as an

educated person. It’s not on the test though!

Jung’s Revises Freud’s Concept of the Psyche:

My brain’s better! It recognized the

complexity of the human psyche!

You’ll find that the most important

part of this diagram as it relates to

archetypes is the collective

unconscious.

Collective Unconscious

Anima/Animus

Shadow

Subconscious Memories

Persona

Ego

Explaining Jung’s Psyche:

Collective Unconscious

Anima/Animus

Shadow

Subconscious Memories

Persona

Ego

ConsciousnessThe Ego = our true outer selves; consciousnessThe Persona = the person we present ourselves as to conceal our true natures

Explaining Jung’s Psyche:

Collective Unconscious

Anima/Animus

Shadow

Subconscious Memories

Persona

Ego

Personal UnconsciousnessSubconscious Memories = suppressed and forgotten memories—these can resurface in the consciousness through involuntary memoryThe Shadow = consists of repressed animal instinctsThe Anima (for men)/Animus (for women) = our true inner selves as opposed to our persona

Explaining Jung’s Psyche:

Collective Unconscious

Anima/Animus

Shadow

Subconscious Memories

Persona

Ego

Collective Unconsciousness

The subconscious awareness of human

experiences that predates the

individual--our species shares this

knowledge

Why the Collective Unconsciousness is

Important:To protect innocent new

sophomores from my dense prose, I’ll let their lovely

English teacher explain this in her own words…

The primary pieces of knowledge we share as part of our collective

unconscious are called ARCHETYPES! This is why we

see the same symbols and characters and situations in the

literature from all over the world.

Archetypal Symbols…

Just think about how many stories you’ve read

that use flowers as symbols of beauty and

hope…

From: http://clipart.disneysites.com/http://clipart.disneysites.com/display.php?catID=48

Archetypal Characters…

Or an evil figure with an

ultimately good heart… From: http://clipart.disneysites.com/imgFullSize2.php?linkID=144

Archetypal Situations…

From: http://clipart.disneysites.com/imgFullSize2.php?linkID=361

From: http://clipart.disneysites.com/imgFullSize2.php?linkID=19

How could you forget the archetypal

Hero’s journey which I wrote about so extensively in my

1949 book, The Hero with a

Thousand Faces? I know you wrote a

whole essay about it in the 9th grade!

Therefore, we can learn more about humanity and authors’ specific purposes through the study of literary archetypes!

Due ___________: 1. Read through your “Literary Archetypes” packet2. Read “Peach Boy” and annotate it by marking.

all of your observations directly on the paper—focus on identifying as many archetypes as you can; return prepared to discuss it.

For _________________: 1. Print your assigned fairy tale from my website:

http://teachers.ausd.net/classlink/viewteacher.ausd?tid=46580

Stories1. “Briar Rose”2. “Little Red Cap”3. “Rumplestilzchen”4. “Snow White”5. “The Little Mermaid”