Mythological Criticism
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Mythological literary critics analyze works of literature to identify recurring archetypes, characters, symbols, and storylines that are common across different works regardless of time period or location. These archetypes represent fundamental aspects of human nature and experience. Critics examine how archetypes are portrayed differently in various works and what this reveals about underlying meanings. Common archetypes include heroes, villains, natural elements like the sun and moon, and symbolic places. Analyzing these archetypes can provide insight into human psychology and culture.
Mythological Criticism
- 1. Mythological Criticism and Archetypes BY: TO: AYTEKIN ALIYEVA Prof. SHAHIN KHALILLI
- 3. Mythological literary critics look for archetypes, characters and/or symbols with traits that are seen throughout literature regardless of time or place. Mythological critics compare one work to others with similar story lines to uncover the archetypes and compare the differences as well as the similarities how it helps to define the underlying existence of the human condition. The important thing to remember when discussing mythological literary criticism is the recurrent patterns of characters in the different works. Mythological critics do not take simply a dog or cat for example and compare that dog or cat to any other dog or cat. The mythological critic is looking for the evil dog or the heroic cat, so that he or she can compare that animal as an archetype to other evil dogs and heroic cats found in other literary works. Mythological criticism is about the symbolic meaning, the undertones of the archetypes: The moon that looms large over the horizon is different than the moon that sits quietly unnoticed in the heavens. Each has a different undertone of the archetype of the moon. While they share certain qualities, they also vary in certain qualities and meanings. Many were skeptical of this approach, since it appears to lean towards the mystery, but then anthropological studies began to advance at the end of the 19th century, and it has been one of the biggest influences on mythological criticism. They study of anthropology have a new understanding to the Greek myths, which are the most well known and often used allusions. Mythological Criticism has references to famous mythological stories in works of literature. These references are included in the hopes of getting universal reactions from all readers. It is similar to a psychological approach because it also is concerned with the things that underlie human behavior. Myths are symbolic of people’s hopes fears, values, and other philosophical ideas. Unlike the more traditional form of criticism that focuses on the history of the author and the piece itself, mythological and archetypal focuses on the history of the gods, goddesses, and other allusions mentions in the piece that involve mythology. There are certain characters that the mythological critic looks for, such as the avenger, who is driven to avenge the death of his father or another family member. The mythological critic also looks for inanimate symbols such as the sun, the moon, or some other natural phenomenon that is repeated in literature to give it significant underlying meaning. Those are called archetypes. Archetypes are similar ideas, motifs, and images found in many different myths and normally defined as “universal symbols". Carl Jung believed that these archetypes served to trigger the collective unconscious a fundamental collection of shared memories that reside in the unconscious of every human being. Jung believed that these memories are triggered by certain symbols. Whether there is any truth to this or not, the mythological critic seeks to find these archetypes, and recognizes that they are helpful tools in solving the concepts in the work as a whole. These archetypes recur in many literary works and often enough that whether they are part of the collective unconscious as Jung believed, they are definitely a part of the collective conscious as they share certain unspoken meanings to just about everyone who sees them or reads them. For example, the character of Iago in Othello could be compared to the devil in traditional Christian belief. This character, by different names of course, appears in different literary works throughout the world and throughout history. The mythological critic seeks to find these and compare them to each other.
- 4. Some Examples of Archetypes: Mandala: It is a geometric figure based upon the squaring of a circle around a unifying center and means the desire for spiritual unity and psychic integration. Yang-yin: A Chinese symbol representing the union of the opposite forces of the yang (masculine principle, light, activity, the conscious mind) and the yin (female principle, darkness, passivity, the unconscious) Ouroboros: the ancient symbol of the snake biting its own tail, signifying the eternal cycle of life, primordial unconsciousness, the unity of opposing forces.
- 5. Water: the mystery of creation, birth, death, resurrection; life cycle; eternity, fertility and growth. Colors: Red: blood, sacrifice, violence, disorder and so on. Green: hope, fertility, sensation, growth, in negative context can be death, decay and so on. Black: the unknown, death, evil, chaos, mystery, melancholy, primal wisdom and so on. Blue: virginal, Mary, security, highly positive, spiritual purity, religious feeling and so on. Numbers: Three: spiritual unity, light, male etc. Four: life cycle, four seasons, four elements, earth, nature, female etc. Five: integration, the four limbs and the head that controls them, the four cardinal points plus the center etc. Seven: powerful because it unites three and four (male and female), perfect etc. Garden: paradise, innocence, unspoiled beauty etc. Tree: immorality, inexhaustible life etc. Desert: spiritual aridity, death, nihilism, hopelessness. Mountain: aspiration and inspiration, meditation and spiritual elevation. Circle (sphere): wholeness, unity Oval: the mystery of life and the forces of generation. Finally, in addition to appearing as images and motifs, archetypes may be found in even more complex combinations as genres or types of literature that conform with the major phases of the seasonal cycle: • The mythos of spring: comedy • The mythos of summer: romance • The mythos of fall: tragedy • The mythos of winter: irony Myth is a structural organizing principle of literary form and an archetype is an essential element of one’s literary experience.
- 6. Water: the mystery of creation, birth, death, resurrection; life cycle; eternity, fertility and growth. Colors: Red: blood, sacrifice, violence, disorder and so on. Green: hope, fertility, sensation, growth, in negative context can be death, decay and so on. Black: the unknown, death, evil, chaos, mystery, melancholy, primal wisdom and so on. Blue: virginal, Mary, security, highly positive, spiritual purity, religious feeling and so on. Numbers: Three: spiritual unity, light, male etc. Four: life cycle, four seasons, four elements, earth, nature, female etc. Five: integration, the four limbs and the head that controls them, the four cardinal points plus the center etc. Seven: powerful because it unites three and four (male and female), perfect etc. Garden: paradise, innocence, unspoiled beauty etc. Tree: immorality, inexhaustible life etc. Desert: spiritual aridity, death, nihilism, hopelessness. Mountain: aspiration and inspiration, meditation and spiritual elevation. Circle (sphere): wholeness, unity Oval: the mystery of life and the forces of generation. Finally, in addition to appearing as images and motifs, archetypes may be found in even more complex combinations as genres or types of literature that conform with the major phases of the seasonal cycle: • The mythos of spring: comedy • The mythos of summer: romance • The mythos of fall: tragedy • The mythos of winter: irony Myth is a structural organizing principle of literary form and an archetype is an essential element of one’s literary experience.