archetype

—archetypal /ahr"ki tuy'peuhl/, archetypical /ahr'ki tip"i keuhl/, archetypic, adj. —archetypally, archetypically, adv.

/ahr"ki tuyp'/, n.

1. the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form; prototype.

2. (in Jungian psychology) a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.

[1595-1605; < L archetypum an original < Gk archétypon a model, pattern (neut. of archétypos of the first mold, equiv. to arche- ARCHE- + týp(os) mold, TYPE + -os adj. suffix)]

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Primordial image, character, or pattern of circumstances that recurs throughout literature and thought consistently enough to be considered universal.

Literary critics adopted the term from Carl Gustav Jung's theory of the collective unconscious. Because archetypes originate in pre-logical thought, they are held to evoke startlingly similar feelings in reader and author. Examples of archetypal symbols include the snake, whale, eagle, and vulture. An archetypal theme is the passage from innocence to experience; archetypal characters include the blood brother, rebel, wise grandparent, and prostitute with a heart of gold.

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      (from Greek archetypos, “original pattern”), in literary criticism, a primordial image, character, or pattern of circumstances that recurs throughout literature and thought consistently enough to be considered a universal concept or situation.

      The term was adopted and popularized by literary critics from the writings of the psychologist Carl Jung (Jung, Carl), who formulated a theory of a “ collective unconscious.” For Jung, the varieties of human experience have somehow been genetically coded and transferred to successive generations. These primordial image patterns and situations evoke startlingly similar feelings in both reader and author. The Canadian literary critic and theorist Northrop Frye (Frye, Northrop) was influential in extending the use of the term archetype to specifically literary contexts. Archetypal criticism has been connected with another group of thinkers more closely allied to its Jungian roots, including Maud Bodkin and James Hillman.

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