Jung & the Fairy Tale Archetype

Archetypal Theory or Myth Criticism

The Collective Unconscious, is a collection of latent images, not in one’s personal unconscious but from the ancestral past, as well as pre-human or animal ancestors. Not inherited, the Collective Unconscious belongs to all of us in a certain culture and time. Latent images manifest from our unconscious minds so that we can recognize patterns and symbols in an icon or persona. It is these primal symbols and concepts that create the tropes we use in story telling. A full list of tropes can be found here.

C.G. Jung: Psychology of the Unconscious
Here's a link referring to Jung's theory of Archetypes

J.G. Frazer: The Golden Bough: a Study in Magic and Religion

Arche = original
Typos = form

Patterns, as those found often in literature, originate in the collective unconscious.

Both plots and characters of literary works can be examined for archetypal patterns.

In literary criticism, the field of Myth Criticism examines a text and asks:

1. How does the story resemble other stories in plot, character, setting or use of symbols?
2. Are archetypes presented, such as quests, initiations, scapegoats, descending, or withdrawals and returns?
3. Does the protagonist undergo any kind of transformation (such as movement from innocence to experience) that seems archetypal?
4. Are there any specific allusions to myths that shed light on the text?

Myth critics: Joseph Campbell & Northrop Frye

More Archetypes to use in writing:

• Traditional Plot Archetypes #1
• Traditional Character Archetypes #2

The Archetypal Fairy Tale

• Stories, often told to children, to entertain, instruct or teach
• Often used to illustrate the problems that children and young people face as they become adults
• The characters in fairy tales represent part of our own “psyche” or inner self

Common themes in fairy tales include:
• Metamorphosis
• Transformation
• Imprisonment
• Love
• Good versus evil (overcoming obstacles)
• Death or transition
• Illusion or misunderstanding
• Rules or authority

There are often boy and girl fairy tales. These differ in plot.

• Boy fairy tale plots focus on exploration, discovery, and include a climax which separates the boy from his childhood. Usually by the end, the boy has grown into a man.

• Girl fairy tale plots focus on discovery as well, but also abduction, outside threats, powers beyond their control, and falling in love. Usually by the end, the girl has grown into a woman.

Fairy Tale Characters
• Often good, innocent, or sometimes foolish.
• Often instructed by an older person or character (sometimes a mystical creature)
• Often fairy tale characters have to face great odds
• Often fairy tale characters are given an item(s) that allows them to discover who they are

Fairy tale form:
• Usually written in 3rd person point of view with an omniscient narrator
• Usually begins with “Once upon a time…” and ends “happily ever after.”
• Usually include the rule of 3 (the first two times a character tries something, it usually doesn’t work)

Look here for some more fairy tale examples.

HOMEWORK: Please read the sample fairy tales given to you in class. As you read, look for and identify the archetypes,  tropes, and characteristics that define the form (fairy tales). You should refer back to the link about Jung's archetypes to include an examination of such things as the anima/animus, the shadow, self-realization, etc. You may examine the trope list to include these as well. In a paragraph response for each story, explain how the stories support the archetypal form, character, and structure of the genre.