What are archetypes?
A Brief Explanation
What are archetypes? The answer depends on the context. The term archetype can be used in casual conversation to refer to a few different but related concepts. In this context, we’re talking specifically about Jungian archetypes.
An archetype is a fundamental aspect of human nature. It’s like an instinct, only psychological instead of biological.
Sounds simple. But we are not simple creatures. Because human nature is multifaceted, complex, and dynamic, we cannot rely on simple concepts and concrete categories to describe it. The rich language of archetypes allows us to describe the human condition without being reductive.
Archetypes are dynamic psychic patterns innate to all humans. They organize perception and motivate behavior according to certain fundamental orientations to oneself, to one’s environment, and to other living beings.
History and Etymology
The core idea of archetypes goes back to Plato in ancient Greece and his notion of ideal forms. The term was introduced to our modern lexicon by C. G. Jung, bringing together ideas from prior psychologists, anthropologists, and philosophers.
Despite the lineage of the term, most contemporary uses bear only a superficial resemblance to the Jungian concept of archetypes. And so the qualifier is often helpful when referring to Jungian archetypes as opposed to a more casual notion.
Two Kinds of Archetypes
There are two broad categories of Jungian archetypes.
Character archetypes (a.k.a. archetypes of personality) reflect enduring facts of the human condition. These manifest as characters in narratives who represent or embody ways that people might orient themselves in their lives and in the wider world.
For example, the hero archetype is oriented toward long-term goals. It’s associated with virtues such as focus and tenacity and with vices such as obsession. The mother archetype is oriented toward the bonds that ground us in place, time, and society. This archetype is associated with virtues such as familial loyalty and vices such as insularity.
Event archetypes (a.k.a. archetypes of transformation) reflect acute opportunities, challenges, and dangers that people have encountered across cultures and throughout history. In stories, these archetypes show up as pivotal moments that direct the course of the plot.
For example, the death archetype is oriented toward the loss of an aspect of one’s identity. This archetype reflects the reality that a human life goes through various stages. Our identities must occasionally transform to fit new or shifting circumstances.