Mythological criticism

It started as anthropological approach close to psychological criticism because it is also concerned about behaviour but mainly deals with religion, mythology and anthropology. JOSEPH CAMPBELL in his work Masks of God deals with mythology of primitive tribes, researching animal behaviour he discovered with freshly hatched chickens who, although fresh-born, are afraid of hawks, even the artificial model of a hawk but do not react to other birds = assumption we are born with certain common pre-knowledge which shows also in literature as motifs that appear in all cultures.

This approach was influenced by JAMES FRAZER and his book The Golden Bought which is a comparative study of primitive origins of ritual and compares gods of China and Egypt. Even though their gods had different names, they represented the same things and certain rituals connected to these gods that were basically the same, concentrating on crucifixion (killing of the king, primitive tribes seen him as a half-god responsible for cycles of nature so they had to kill him if he was sick so that the whole country would not get sick as well) and resurrection. The scapegoat sacrifice is a motif appearing across all cultures.

Myth is a prototype story for educational purposes and, unlike dreams, myths are collective, serve the community, explain things, provide pattern how to behave and in what to believe. The myth is an organizing principle and structure of literature is based on a myth. Literature tries to describe human path from birth to death and rebirth the same as myths did. Some thinkers claim that a myth is only the verbal explanation of ritual and the actors impersonate supposed inventors of the rite, therefore, all myths have a ritual origin.

Freud talks about the primordial parricide which established the human condition and opened the way to religious creation when brothers killed their father, ate him and took his women to finish their identification with father. For him, myths are a fantasy repetition of a real act, the original parricide and shows repressed desire. For Lévi-Strauss, a myth has its purpose to provide a logical model used as rigorously as modern science. Propp considers a myth to be a special form of a folktale.

Myths were considered absolutely truth, actors are gods or other supernatural beings. By knowing the myth, one could know the origin of things. Often myths teach how to perform something like fishing, showed originally by Gods, but possible now by humans because they know the myth. Myths talk about: 1. The creation of the world. 2. The creation of humankind. 3. Modifications of the world (Prometheus's fire, Eve’s apple, Pandora’s box). 4. The Golden age (myths about heroes). 5. Destruction, apocalypse (every beginning has the end, the wrath of God).

Archetypes = motifs and images that occur in mythology of various nations but have basically the same meaning and create the same psychological response. Coined by Jung.

Spring – cleaning of the house is still done everywhere. Water = power, life but also danger, brings both death and life (baptism with water), sea as a mother of all life, sea as unconsciousness. Some colours have the same connotations, for example, red: blood, war, aggression, violence; green - nature, poison, fertility; blue – coldness, sea (Christianity likes blue = colour of spiritual truth); black – death, power, unknown, chaos, hiding in dark; white – purity, innocence, coldness, loneliness, light,  divine, ghosts, but also a symbol of death. 7 – considered the most perfect number (the world was created in days, 7 deadly sins, 7 days of week). Spring – comedy, summer – romance, fall and winter – tragedy. Antagonist brothers – sun and moon.

Archetypes of women = good mother, supportive, wisdom, fertility VS evil queens, witches, sirens, prostitutes, dark magic, death. Archetypes of men in 3 stages of initiation = 1. Separation: A hero/warrior goes on a quest on long journeys. 2. Transformation: He battles monsters, overcomes obstacles and becomes a man, sometimes had to make a sacrifice for the good of the land (Bruce Willis in Armageddon) but mostly 3. Hero returns.

The most famous representative of this approach is CARL GUSTAV JUNG and what Freud was trying to find in a human mind of individuals, Jung applied on the mass of people. He was not as sexually oriented as Freud and even criticized him for being too negative. He believed we are not born totally empty as tabula rasa but there are some pre-established forms of behaviour and these archetypes are stored in the collective unconsciousness shared by everyone and all cultures, impersonal possession. He did not consider them to be repressed as they never been conscious in the first place.

Archetypes are not inherited patterns after our ancestors but rather a pre-disposition to certain responses, more like instincts. Jung believed that myths do not describe anything external but it is projection of eternal mental phenomena. The best artists would be someone with sensitivity to archetypal patterns and using these images to describe the inner world in art.

Persona = as a mask used in Greek theatre means who we appear to be in society, totally necessary social face. It is not negative, flexible persona must stand in harmony between ego and the external world because if it is too artificial and unable to change, the result is neurosis.

Anima (feminine features)/animus (masculine features) = life force, usually an image of our ideal partner we want, stands between ego and unconsciousness. We need a bit of both to understand the opposite sex.

Shadow = all our negative aspects, the dark side of unconsciousness. Shadow must be accepted into personality otherwise neurosis appears and we project these negative parts into everybody else (the devil in literature).

Self = the complete person with all these, what makes us original, individual. All these aspects must be in balance otherwise there is trouble.

Archetypal criticism of Young Goodman Brown

Persona are people coming to Sabbath because they wear masks in society, hiding behind them. Anima/animus is the couple, how they perceive each other is not in harmony which causes troubles in their relationship. Shadow is represented by the devil with serpent staff but he can be also animus, the life force that persuade Brown to action.

Stage 1 separation: Brown leaves home and goes on a quest to the woods with potential danger and is supposed to battle with obstacles but he faints and avoids conflict. Stage 2 transformation: He becomes someone completely different, untrusting, lonely. His initiation failed. Which archetype failed him the most? Brown suspects the shadow but it is anima that betrayed him – his Faith. He sees her as a good mother figure but it is not true which creates problem. Also Goody Cloyse is supposed to be his teacher but she is a witch in fact. The fact that all females turned against him shows the problem with anima.