homework English

SOME ARCHETYPES (for Oedipus the King):

THE HERO

· In his simplest form, he (yes, the hero, even archetypally, is a very masculine and patriarchal figure) has a challenging, even daunting or seemingly impossible goal to accomplish, with plenty of obstacles in the way—human antagonists, supernatural antagonists (gods, monsters, femme fatales, etc.), distance, his own moments of weakness and self-doubt.

· This almost always involves some kind of journey, or quest. Along the way, and especially by the time of that quest’s completion, the hero undergoes some kind of personal growth or profound change based upon the acquisition of knowledge/experience.

· Heroism tends to be for (again) the male and the young.

THE TRAGIC HERO

· a hero who, in spite of his success in achieving his goals, MUST FALL (maybe not literally die, but some sort of “fall from grace”)

· This fall is the result of a TRAGIC FLAW (or FLAWS)—some exceptional weaknesses in the hero’s personality or behavior.

THE SCAPEGOAT

· The hero who, even in with the absence of any tragic flaws, must die or fall in order to accomplish his goal.

· He often acts as a representative for the flaws/sins of the community. The term “scapegoat,” after all, refers to an ancient practice of attaching pieces of cloth with individuals' confessions written on them to a sacrificial goat that is then forced out into the desert wilderness to die.

THE SAGE/THE SEER/THE WISE MAN/THE “FAR-AWAY”

· The hero usually meets such a character along his journey and draws some sort of benefit or aid from him/her.

· usually older than the hero; or, in the least, certainly more experienced

· possesses some kind of special gift—talent, knowledge, experience, or supernatural ability

· The “gift” which makes this person special also ISOLATES them in some way—hence, the term “FAR-AWAY.” This defines the often painful “mixed blessing”—“blessed” in the sense of your having the gift, “cursed” in how having that gift isolates you from the rest of humanity or society.

· “Far-away” comes from one of the oldest known ancient epics, the epic of Gilgamesh, in which a character named Utnapishtim the Far-away, along with his wife, are the only human beings to have survived the Great Flood and are allowed to live forever. They must, however, live far away, pretty much on the mythical other side of the world, in the realm of Death. This far-awayness says a lot about the mixed blessing-curse in being different/exceptional/gifted/talented.

· As one might expect, these characters tend to not exactly be the happiest individuals in the world.

The following FEMALE archetypes certainly confess a patriarchal invention, for they seem to reveal the patriarchal male’s inability to deal with woman in her totality; instead, he divides her aspects into separate manifestations:

THE MAIDEN

· the young, beautiful woman whose social value is based upon a LATENT sexuality (In other words, paradoxically, she is attractive for not being sexual!)

· obviously, what is considered socially legitimate and acceptable by patriarchal standards

THE WHORE/THE FEMME FATALE/THE MONSTROUS WOMAN

· the beautiful, SEXUAL woman; magnetically, even supernaturally attractive (“bewitching”)

· often portrayed as a temptress who distracts, hinders, and even destroys men with her seduction (femme fatale = French for “fatal woman”)

· often equated with monsters as obstacles on the path of the hero’s quest

THE (DIVINE) MOTHER

· Through her alignment and allegiance to a SON, this is the closest a woman can get to performing legitimate masculine functions in a patriarchal society.

· very self-sacrificing

· often monstrous for the sake of her offspring (again, especially male offspring)

· Motherhood DESEXUALIZES her, making her once more socially legitimate and nonthreatening to the patriarchal society.

Discussion Questions:

1. ARCHETYPE: THE TRAGIC HERO. Notice how, at the beginning of Oedipus the King, Oedipus’ heroism has already been established. However, Oedipus is an excellent example of the TRAPPINGS of heroism—how it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. This is a big part of what manifests the TRAGIC FLAWS that ultimately lead to Oedipus’ downfall. So what are some of those tragic flaws?

2. ARCHETYPE: THE SAGE/THE SEER/THE WISE MAN/ THE “FAR-AWAY.” “Far-away” comes from one of the oldest known ancient epics, the epic of Gilgamesh, in which a character named Utnapishtim the Far-away, along with his wife, are the only human beings to have survived the Great Flood and are allowed to live forever. They must, however, live far away, pretty much on the mythical other side of the world, in the realm of Death. This far-awayness says a lot about the mixed blessing-curse in being different/exceptional/gifted/talented. Yes, Tiresias has a gift which compensates for his literal blindness, but that gift also comes with an incredible burden. Describe that burden.

3. ARCHETYPE: THE CROSSROADS. How do the crossroads at Phocis (or Phokis) act as an arena for the Faustian pact in the case of Oedipus?

4. FREUD! Famously, Sophocles’ play proved very influential to the “father of psychoanalysis,” Sigmund Freud (the Oedipus complex). We also see a lot of what Freud would come to call “the uncanny” in the play. THE UNCANNY is the terror that arises from the resurfacing to conscious awareness of things in one’s memory that have been long suppressed and willfully forgotten. How do Oedipus’ reasons for leaving his adoptive home of Corinth demonstrate this? A psychological phenomenon related to THE UNCANNY is suggestion, or the “power of suggestion,” which is the basis for things such as hypnosis, curses, and superstition—even OCD. The idea is that someone purposefully or accidentally triggers you into causing your suppressed fear/memory to resurface to a degree that becomes so obsessive that you end up fulfilling it just to get it out of your head. Describe the uncanny, “power of suggestion” moment that possibly led to Oedipus’ leaving his adoptive home of Corinth.

5. ARCHETYPE: THE MOTHER/ THE DIVINE MOTHER. Jocasta provides a rather startling take on motherhood. In patriarchal societies, the mother archetype and the whore archetype are kept separate, reflecting the transformed social role a woman assumes when she becomes a mother. Jocasta is obviously a rather grotesque resolution of the discrepancy between these two archetypes. Nonetheless, she maintains the key distinguishing feature of THE MOTHER—that is, the self-sacrificing obligation to protect her offspring (even from knowledge!). How does she demonstrate this obligation in a rather shocking way?

6. Once he is self-blinded and ostracized, who does Oedipus come to resemble at the end of the play? How does this show how two particular archetypes can be related—rather, how one can develop from the other?