Name: - Trushali Dodiya
Roll No: - 19
Semester: - 2(Batch 2022-24)
Enrolment number: - 4069206420220011
Paper No: - 109
Paper name: - Indian and Western Literary Theory and Criticism
Paper code: - 22342
Topic: - The Four Mythoi and The Great Chain of Being in ‘The Archetypes of Literature’
Submitted to: - Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University
Date of Submission:- 31/03/2023
Email Address: - trushalidodiya84@gmail.com
The Four Mythoi and The great Chain of Being in ‘The Archetypes of Literature’
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Myths and Archetypes
Four Mythoi
The Great Chain of Being
Conclusion
Introduction:
Northrop Frye's book Anatomy of Criticism, published in 1957, revolutionised the field of literary criticism by introducing his archetypal approach. This approach focuses on identifying recurring patterns and themes in literature and situating them within cultural and historical contexts. Frye's work represents a departure from traditional methods of literary analysis and has had a lasting impact on the way we understand and interpret literature. M. H. Abrams in his ‘A Glossary of Literary Terms’ notes that,
“In literary criticism the term archetype denotes recurrent narrative designs, patterns of action, character-types, themes, and images which are identifiable in a wide variety of works of literature, as well as in myths, dreams, and even social rituals.” (Abrams)
In his essay "The Archetypes of Literature," Northrop Frye presents his archetypal theory of literature, which involves the systematic and scientific study of literary works and their recurrent narrative designs, patterns of action, character-types, themes, and images. Frye draws upon the ideas of James G. Frazer, who identified elemental patterns of myth and ritual in diverse cultures and religions, as well as the depth psychology of Carl G. Jung, who used the term "archetype" to refer to primordial images that survive in the collective unconscious of the human race and are expressed in myths, religion, dreams, and literature. Frye's essay thus offers a framework for analysing and interpreting the deeper meanings and themes that recur in works of literature, drawing on a rich history of scholarly inquiry into the universal patterns and motifs that shape human experience.
Myth & Archetypes:
The synchronisation of human nature with the cycles of nature has given rise to various rituals that are associated with the stages of life from birth to death. These natural cycle rituals can be found in myths from all cultures. Northrop Frye argues that the myth is the essential force that instils ritual with archetypal significance and oracular narratives with archetypal meaning, as he says, “The myth is the central informing power that gives archetypal significance to the ritual and archetypal narrative to the oracle. Hence the myth is the archetype, though it might be convenient to say myth only when referring to narrative, and archetype when speaking of significance.” (Frye)
Thus, the myth is itself an archetype, although the term "myth" is usually used when referring to narrative, and "archetype" when discussing significance. Frye's argument highlights the importance of myth as a foundational element of human culture, shaping our understanding of the world and our place within it. In the solar cycle of the day, the seasonal cycle of the year, and the organic cycle of human life, there is a single pattern of significance, out of which myth constructs a central narrative around a figure who is partly the sun, partly vegetative fertility and partly a god or archetypal human being. (Abrams #)
Thus myth introduces the universal archetypes which are there in the collective unconscious of the human mind. Frye notes that “The crucial importance of this myth has been forced on literary critics by Jung and Frazer in particular”.
Walter K. Gordon stated that, "The basic connection of archetypal Criticism is that literary expression is an unconscious product of the collective experience of the entire species. As such literature is therefore integral related with man's cultural past". (Brown)
In ‘The Archetypes of Literature’, Frye gives two tables of archetypes:
Mythos Grid
The Great Chain of Being
Mythos Grid:
According to Northrop Frye, all literary works together form a "self-contained literary universe" that has been created over time by the human imagination. This universe serves to assimilate the indifferent world of nature into archetypal forms that fulfil enduring human desires and needs. Within this literary universe, there are four radical mythologies that correspond to the four seasons of the natural world. Northrope Frye gives a table of various phases in archetypal reading of literature which are the four mythoi of the archetypal criticism, which are
By understanding the archetypes that are present in literature, readers can gain a greater understanding of the human experience and the ways in which certain themes and ideas are shared across cultures and time periods.
1. The Dawn, Spring, and birth phase.
Myths of the birth of the hero, of revival and resurrection, of creation and (because the four phases are a cycle) of the defeat of the powers of darkness, winter and death.
Subordinate characters: the father and the mother.
The archetype of romance and of most dithyrambic and rhapsodic poetry.
2. The Zenith, Summer, and marriage or triumph phase.
Myths of apotheosis, of the sacred marriage, and of entering into Paradise.
Subordinate characters: the companion and the bride.
The archetype of comedy, pastoral, and idyll.
3. The Sunset, Autumn, and death phase.
Myths of fall, of the dying god, of violent death and sacrifice and of the isolation of the hero.
Subordinate characters: the traitor and the siren.
The archetype of tragedy and elegy.
4. The Darkness, Winter, and dissolution phase.
Myths of the triumph of these powers; myths of floods and the return of chaos, of the defeat of the hero.
Subordinate characters: the ogre and the witch.
The archetype of satire (Frye)
The same types of archetypal grid can also be found in Indian context, Which denotes the dominance of the cycle of nature in archetypal reading or criticism. The mood of each season puts an emphasis to the particular tone or mood.
These are ‘Universal archetypes’ that can be found in every myth and culture. They are general archetypes that can be applied to all forms of literature, including poetry, drama, and fiction, and can also be used to analyse other forms of art, such as films and paintings. Readers or viewers who are familiar with these archetypes can quickly understand what will happen next in a story. For example, if a work of art begins with the theme of Darkness, it signifies that something bad is going to happen in the story. These archetypes are universal and offer a common ground for understanding and interpreting various forms of art. The significance of these mythoi lies in their ability to provide a framework for understanding the underlying structures and patterns that recur in literature across time and place. Frye believed that by identifying these patterns, literary critics could gain insight into the deeper meanings and themes of literary works, and into the ways in which these works participate in larger cultural and historical contexts. By analysing the way that individual works fit into these larger patterns, critics can gain a better understanding of the ways in which literature shapes and is shaped by the world around it.
The Great Chain Of Being:
For centuries the ‘great chain of being’ held a central place in Western thought. This view saw the Universe as ordered in a linear sequence starting from the inanimate world of rocks. Plants came next, then animals, men, angels and, finally, God. (Nee)
This mythical idea has been captured by Frye and in the last part of his essay ‘The Archetypes of Literature’, he gives five types of archetypes according to the great chain of being. Frye set forth the central pattern of the comic and tragic visions. One essential principle of archetypal criticism is that the individual and the universal forms of an image are identical, the reasons being too complicated. There are two basic categories in Frye’s framework, i.e., comedic and tragic in each of these five types of archetypes.
1. Human World:
Comic Vision: A community, or a hero who represents the wish-fulfilment of the reader. The archetype of images of symposium, communion, order, friendship, and love. Marriage or some equivalent consummation belongs to the comic vision
Tragic Vision: A tyranny or anarchy, or an individual or isolated man, the leader with his back to his followers, the bullying giant of romance, the deserted or betrayed hero. The harlot, witch, and other varieties of Jung’s “terrible mother” belong to the tragic one
All divine, heroic, angelic, or other superhuman communities follow the human pattern.
2 Animal:
Comic Vision: A community of domesticated animals, usually a flock of sheep, or a lamb, or one of the gentler birds, usually a dove. The archetype of pastoral images
Tragic Vision: Beasts and birds of prey, wolves, vultures, serpents, dragons, and the like.
3.Vegetable:
Comic Vision: A Garden, grove or park, or a tree of life, or a rose or lotus.
Tragic Vision: Sinister forest like the one in Comus or at the opening of the Inferno, or a heath or wilderness, or a tree of death.
Marvell’s green world or of Shakespeare’s forest comedies can be seen under these archetypes.
4. Mineral:
Comic Vision: A city, or one building or temple, or one stone, normally a glowing precious stone.
Tragic Vision: Deserts, rocks and ruins, or of sinister geometrical images like the cross.
The Gravedigger scene in Hamlet can be seen in the Tragic vision of Mineral.
5. Water:
Comic Vision: A river
Tragic Vision: The sea, as the narrative myth of dissolution is so often a flood myth. The combination of the sea and beast images gives us the leviathan and similar water-monsters. (Frye)
These archetypes are also universal archetypes. By examining these archetypes it is easy to get what will be next in the story of any literary work of art.
Conclusion:
To sum up, the archetypal criticism provides a framework for understanding the deeper meanings and themes of literary works. By elaborating ‘The four Mythos’ and ‘The Great Chain of Being’, Frye becomes successful to prove his argument of universal archetypes. By examining the use of these archetypes in literature, archetypal criticism aims to uncover deeper meanings and themes that may be present within a literary work.
{Words: 1650}
Works Cited
Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Earl McPeek, 1999.
Brown, Daniel Russell. “A Look at Archetypal Criticism.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 28, no. 4, 1970, pp. 465–72. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/428486. Accessed 29 Mar. 2023.
Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism. Penguin Books, Limited, 2002.
Nee, Sean. “The great chain of being.” Nature, 25 May 2005, https://www.nature.com/articles/435429a. Accessed 30 March 2023.
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