Myth Criticism |
Archetypal Criticism
Myth
▪Myths are traditional stories that are
created within cultures.
▪Myths are mostly very old, and happen to
have ruled the world when science and
technology were not very precise.
▪Stories were told that when God Poseidon
became angry, he would hit the ground
which caused earthquakes.
▪It is a traditional story that typically aims
to explain a natural or social phenomenon.
1
A Mythology is a collection of myths.
Some popular Mythologies are:
Roman Mythology
Greek Mythology
Norse Mythology
Famous Example of Myths
▪Homer - The Iliad And The Odyssey
▪T.S. Eliot - The Waste Land
▪John Milton - Paradise Lost
▪Troy (film)
Famous Indian Mythologies
▪Ramayana
▪Mahabharata
2
Archetypes
An archetype is a common pattern,
behavior or symbol that is universally
understood across various cultures.
Example of Archetypes :Marriage, Religion,
Death, Education etc.
3
12 Types of Archetypes in Literature
1. Innocent
2. Hero
3. Everyman
4. Creator
5. Lover
6. Sage
7. Ruler
8. Jester
9.Explorer
10. Caregiver
11. Rebel
12. Magician
Carl Jung (Swiss psychiatrist) gave these 12
Archetypes in his work The Archetypes and
the Collective Unconscious(1959)
4
Literary Theory
▪"Literary theory" is the body of ideas and
methods we use in the practical reading of
literature and in the systematic
study of the nature of literature.
▪Feminist literary theory focuses on the
nature, function and condition of women.
▪"Literary theory" is the body of ideas and
methods we use in the practical reading of
literature and in the systematic study of
the nature of literature.
5
Literary Criticism
▪An opinion given about something,
describing its positive and negative points
is known as Criticism.
▪The act of describing the positive and
negative points of a literary work is known
as Literary Criticism.
▪Critics evaluate, interpret, and judge
literary work according to various literary
theories.
6
Archetypal Criticism/ Myth Criticism
▪Archetypal literary criticism interprets a
text by focusing on myths and archetypes.
▪Myth Criticism interprets a literary work
by focusing on Myths.
James George Frazer - The Golden Bough
(1890)
Maud Bodkin- Archetypal patterns in poetry
(1934)
7
Northrop Frye- Anatomy of Criticism (1957)
Emotions- Weather/ Climate
Types Of Literature:
1. Comic Literature :Comedy and Romance
2. Tragic Literature :Tragedy and Satire
Romance: Summer Season, Flowers/
Garden, Happy Characters, Animal (Sheep
or Peacock)
Comedy: Spring Season, Happy
Characters, Lake
Satire: Winter Season, Wild Animals (Lion
etc.)
Tragedy: Autumn Season, Forest/ Desert,
Storm/ Flood
8
Five Components of Literature
Human
Animal
Vegetation
Mineral
Water
Carl Jung gave the concept of "Collective
Unconscious" in
his book "The Archetypes and the
Collective Unconscious".
