Symbolism in Northop Frye

Topic: Symbolism in Archetypal criticism of Northrop FryePaper Name: Literary theory and criticismPaper No.: 7Name: Bhatt UrviRoll No: 32Std: M.A.Sem: 2Submitted to: Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

Introduction

• Herman Northrop Frye (1912-1991) was Canadian literary critic.

• Literary Theorist• Most influence of

the 20th century

What is Archetypal criticism?

• “Archetypal criticism looks in literature for patterns and traces them through works of classical antiquity into modern texts, and interprets those reverberations as symbols or manifestations of universal human conflicts and desires.”

• Archetypal symbols • Narratives or characters types

Human

Comic Human

•Wish fulfillment •Being community centered

Tragic Human

•Isolation•The Fallen Hero

Animal

Comic genre

Tragic genre

Docile and pastoral

Predictors and

hunters

vegetation

• The comedic is pastoral but also represented by garden, park, rose and lotuses.

• The tragic is of a wild forest

Mineral

• Cities, Temples are represents comic mineral

• Tragic mineral realm is noted for being a desert

Water

• Symbol of life• Cleansing and rebirth

comic River

Tragic Flood

The Hero

• The courageous figure, the one who’s always running in and saving the day .

The Outcast

• He or she has been cast out of society or has left it on a voluntary basis.

• Figure can oftentimes also be considered as a Christ figure.

Sun

• Rising Sun: Birth and Creation• Setting sun: Death

Numbers

The Holy Trinity

stage of life: childhood, teenage, middle age and old age

The completion of a cycle, perfect order, perfect number, religious symbol.

Seasons

Seasons

Spring,

Rebirth,

comedy

Summer,

Life,Romance

Winter,

Death,

Irony

Other symbols

• The Task• The Quest• The Loss of Innocence• Colors• Serpent • Wise old man• Garden • Tree• Desert• Creation• The great fish