Character archetypes

By Karim Abdalla

TheoryThe character archetype theory was created by Vladimir Propp in the 1938 and published a book based on it which was also released the same year. The theory states that there are really only eight different characters throughout all of story telling, and while the characters in these stories can be a mixture of the different character archetypes, it still stands that these 8 different characters are really the only important characters throughout books and media as a whole, the different character archetypes are The hero, The villain, The donor, The helper, The Princesses father, the false hero and the dispatcher and every character could be put under one or more of these titles . He came to this conclusion this by reading hundreds of Russian folk tales and realized that as well as this there is also only thirty one different plot elements which he named functions.

The Hero

The hero of a story, or the protagonist, is the character that is assigned to save the day, or get over the problem in the story that is set before him, usually the main character, with exceptions, the hero sets out on an adventure and will usually have to cover some amount of distance to collect an item or save a person which will lead to them saving the day, this usually is in the form of a loved one of the hero, or an item which will help them save the day and overcome the enemy in the story. An example of a hero is the main character in my book who would be the blue pig with the top hat on called Marvin. The reason he is the hero is because he saves the day, and even though all the other characters can be compared to him as a hero, as they all chase the wolf away, is because he is the one who starts the attack and makes the plan, and if it wasn’t for him building his castle and swords, all the pigs would have been eaten by the wolf.

The Villain

The character of the villain, or the antagonist, is a character in a story that antagonizes the hero and does everything he can to make the hero’s mission not succeed, they generally have a reason for this such as they want something the hero wants, or they are doing something evil that the hero doesn’t agree with and believes he has to stop. The villain can also be a main character in a story, however generally isn’t, usually having a little bit less screen time that the hero. The villain in a story is usually morally wrong as well, and if the character archetype is done correctly, should be disliked by the audience. An example of a villain would be the wolf out of my story, which doesn’t really seem to have any motivation to eat the pigs that is good motivation, but does it because he is greedy and to show his strength, which are both traits that generally aren’t liked and agreed with my audience members, and this is what makes him the villain of my story.

The Princess/Prize

The princess or the prize of the story may seem like very different things, however the stereotype princess may as well not even be a person, and ends up just being an end goal or prize set by the writers of the story that helps the audience connect with the hero of the movie and gives the hero motivation that the audience can connect with to actually go out and save the day as to gain the affection of the princess or gain the prize at the end of the story. Another character which may chase the princess along with the hero is the false hero, which wants to get the princess before the hero, however while the hero feels something for the princess (or is made out to) the false hero is generally doing it for selfish reasons, such as just marrying her to become king. An example of a princess/prize would be the maid Marian from Robin Hood, in which she is captured by the sheriff of Nottingham and Robin Hood has to go and rescue her as he wants to gain her affection to marry her.

The Donor

The donor of a story is a character that gives the hero some kind of advantage against the evil or the bad character in the book that is trying to stop the hero of the book to reach his end goal. Generally the gift is given to the hero by the Donor because without it the hero wouldn't actually be able to complete his mission. It is also usually given to the hero at a desperate time of need, or a time that seems like all hope is lost for the hero and it seems the villains have won. However the gift may not just be given up, something might have to be exchanged, or the hero must have to go on some kind of side quest to get the gift the donor gives, however this changes from story to story. An example of this happening in a book would be in Cinderella when the fairy god mother helps her out by creating the carriage, horses and outfit to go to the ball, however without this she would not have gone.

The helper

The helper is a character in a book that is generally a sidekick to the hero of the book, generally taking the role of a best friend and travel companion, the helper is loyal to the main character and helps him to complete h is mission with little to no goal of their own except to help the hero of the story. Generally the helper will help out in times of extreme peril or confusion where the hero seems stumped, however the helper will help them out to solve the puzzle and keep them on the path to completing their quest. The helper will display characteristics which will help the hero, which include intelligence, bravery and determination, while this isn't always the case, it is a lot of the times. An example of a helper would be the two little pigs in my book which are not the blue pig. These pigs help the blue pig chase the wolf out of their land and show courage and a loyalty to the hero and help him accomplish his quest.

The Princess's fartherThe princesses farther is a character that is incredibly important to the story line, generally because the princess's farther, when in the story, gives the hero of the story the quest to go on to help his daughter, the princess, however he adds another dynamic to the story because the hero is also trying to win the acceptance of the father and a lot of the time will bend over backwards to gain the acceptance that he desires as the father is very protective over the daughter and until the hero gets the acceptance he can not get the daughter. An example of this happening would be in the movies coming to America, which in this movie a prince goes over to America and acts like a poor man and gets a job in a burger place, he then meets a girl, however the owner of the burger place is her father and he is overprotective until he learns who he truely is.

The False HeroThe false hero is a character in a story which acts heroically and may even be portrayed as heroic and the hero of the film until some kind of plot twist and unveiling where it shows that his intentions are not true and he is doing the heroics for selfish reasons such as money or the princess for himself. A lot of the time he will steal the hero's thunder and will be out to undermine and steal credit from the hero at every time he can in the movie, and ultimately trying to be the hero of the movie for selfish reasons. Another thing the false hero does often is gain the acceptance of the princesses father before the hero, leading to the hero becoming frustrated. An example of a false hero would be Hans in the movie frozen who looks to exploit the kingdom through marrying the princess of the movie Anna, and when her sister runs away, he kidnaps her and claims that he didn't want to marry her because he loves her, but because he wanted the kingdom.

The DispatcherThe dispatcher is a character that generally appears early on in the story and gives the hero his quest which will start of the story. Generally this is a family member of the hero such as a mother and a father or a sibling but it could also be another character in the story which is a lot of the time another character archetype such as the princess's father or even the helper. Generally when it is given by the Princess's father it is to gain his daughter and his love which is a reason why the hero would have the drive to go on the quest. However if the helper gives the quest, usually it's because the helper is too weak on his own, and need's the hero's help to complete the quest. An example of a dispatcher would be Gandalf in the hobbit movies who goes and gathers the dwarves and Bilbo the hobbit to go on the quest and gives them guidance to help them complete the quest.

Narrative structure componentsThere was a Russian structuralist called Todorov. He had the theory that all stories and narratives followed one simple path that was the same for every story. There is a three and a five step version of this path, however they end up being incredibly similar. The three step process is made up of three steps called the equilibrium, the disequilibrium and the new equilibrium.

The equilibrium is where the story starts, generally a state of peace and harmony, everyone in the world of the story that is being read at the time is happy and nothing wrong is happening. The main character, or the hero, is happy and is living day to day in the balance of nothing being wrong or corrupt. This then leads to the disequilibrium, this is where the actual story starts and it means that something happens that would shatter the equilibrium or balance of the world that is made around the main character. Generally the thing that does this is an event that will effect the main character either emotionally or physically causing them to be upset or unhappy. This event could range anywhere between a small thing like the main character falling over on his way to school, to something huge, like an alien invasion, however what it is doesn't really matter, what matters is that the equilibrium has been shattered and the main character is spurred to do things that would attempt to recover the equilibrium of his world. This then leads onto the third and last step which is the new equilibrium. This happens at the end of the story, the main character's choices throughout the story will end up leading him on the correct path to his goal which was to restore the equilibrium and he will end up restoring it, either the same as before or better than at the beginning of the story. This also means after the story ends the viewer expects the equilibrium to continue on indefinitely.

My book that I created followed this type of story ark, in which at the beginning all of the pigs where happy, or in a state of peace and they are all going out to create their houses out of their chosen material. This is the start of the story and it falls under the first step which is the equilibrium. This then leads to the disequilibrium of the wolf coming and blowing down the first two pigs houses and then chases then to the thirds pig house. This then leads to the new equilibrium in which the three little pigs chase the wolf away from where they live and restore the equilibrium, resulting in a new equilibrium in which could go on indefinately .

Narrative structure components: Binary opposition

The French theorist Claude Levi Strauss came up with a theory in story telling named Binary opposition. This theory consisted of the idea that there can only really be a story when two sides that are battling, or opposing each other come together, without this the story makes no sense and has no drive, making it uninteresting and have no progression. An example of this in my book is good vs evil, in the way that the wolf is the evil and pigs are the good. And while the wolf is winning for the majority of the book, at the end the pigs come together and overthrow the evil in the book which is the wolf. This is done through the act of chasing the wolf away and leading to the good of the book beating the evil, which is the most common thing to happen in a good vs evil story arc. My book also follows this theory because this is what drives the story and without this conflict then there really wouldn't be a story to begin with.

Narrative structure: Types of structure

Closed: A closed structure on a book implies that at the end of the book it will come to a definitive ending, generally with a solution to the problem that is happening throughout the story. It also means that the entire story will be told within these pages of the book or the 90 minutes run time of the film, and you don't have to take in any extra media learning things about the story or have to worry about anything after the film ends. This is the case with my book because at the end of the book they chase the wolf away and it implies that he's never coming back and the pigs lives happily ever after meaning that the story ends on a good note and has a solid ending that makes sense and doesn't need a sequel to explain things from the book.

Another type of narrative structure that relates with my book is the single strand structure type. This implies that there is only one story arc going on at a time. This is a very common factor in story books and is there in mine as well, this is because children, until the age of around 13 have a lot of trouble following more than one story line at a time, this results in 99% of children's books only having one story arc at a time. Because of this, generally single strand structure type books have less characters due to only one story arc going on throughout the book. This is the case in my book too, only having the story line of the three little pigs being chased by the wolf, and then eventually ganging up and beating the wolf with swords and chasing him away and there not being many characters in my book, only being four, which consists of the three little pigs, and the wolf.

Narrative structure: Types of structure

The next structure type that applies and my story uses in it is the linear story type structure. The linear story type structure means that the events happen chronological order and there aren't any flashbacks or anything that would disrupt the story. The story is designed to work in steps and each part of the story line comes after the one before it. It's an incredibly simple way of telling stories, however it works really well for children's books because it's harder for them to understand more advanced method's of story telling such as flashbacks. This is present in my story and is actually how the story line because it is simple and my story is marketed towards children so they would understand it better.

The last structure type that my book follows is the anti-realist structure type. The anti-realist structure type means that the elements and thing that happen in the book are highly likely to happen. This is most common in genres that include things that are impossible in the real world, such as horror, sci-fi and fantasy. I feel my book follows this structure type because it is a fairy tale and a fantasy, that includes pigs that can talk and wolves that can blow houses down. Becau