Northrop Frye: The Archetypes of Literature

Northrop Frye: The Archetypes of Literature.

 

1. What is Archetypal Criticism? What does the archetypal critic do?

 

In literary criticism the term Archetype is used to show the recurrent narratives, designs, pattern of action, character types, themes and images which can be seen in wide variety of other literary works as well as in myths, dreams and even social rituals. And after much time reoccurred in works they become universal forms of pattern and symbols. And thus when the attentive reader read it, he finds that pattern. The archetypal critic tries to find this pattern, symbols and myths in present literary works.

 

2. What is Frye trying prove by giving an analogy of ' Physics to Nature'and   Criticism to Literature?

 

  Northrop Frye trying proves by giving an analogy of ‘Physics to Nature’ and ‘Criticism to Literature’. While, Physics is an organized body of knowledge about nature, and a student of it says that he is learning physics, not that he is learning nature. Art, like nature, is the subject of a systematic study, and the study itself, which is criticism. It is therefore impossible to “learn literature”: one learns about it in a certain way, but what one learns, transitively, is the criticism of literature. So, while no one expects literature it self to behave like a science, there is surely no reason why criticism, as a systematic and organized study, should not be, at least partly, a science.

 

 3. Share your views of Criticism as an organised body of knowledge. Mention relation of literature with history and philosophy.

 

 We can say that, criticism as an organized body of knowledge and we finds that literature is the central division of the “humanities,” flanked on one side by history and on the other by philosophy. The systematic mental organization of the subject, the student has to turn to the conceptual framework of the historian for events, and to that of the philosopher for ideas.

 

4. Briefly explain inductive method with illustration of Shakespeare's Hamlet's Grave Digger's scene.

 

 We can say that, Inductive method with illustration of Shakespeare’s Hamlet’s Grave Digger’s Scene. ‘Hamlet’ is a play. In particular, the literary anthropologist who chases the source of the Hamlet legend from the pre-Shakespeare play to Saxo, and from Saxo to nature –myths, is not running away from Shakespeare: he is drawing closer to the archetypal from which Shakespeare

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5. Briefly explain deductive method with reference to an analogy to Music, Painting, rhythm and pattern. Give examples of the outcome of deductive method. 

 

As we know that, Deductive method it means from general to particular. The music, painting, rhythm and pattern there are all arts may be conceived both temporally and spatially. The criticism of painting that is why we are apt to think of narrative as a sequential representation of vents in an outside “life” and of meaning as a reflection of some external “idea”. Similarly an image is not merely a verbal replica of an external object, but any unit of a verbal structure seen as part of a total pattern or rhythm.

 

6. Refer to the Indian seasonal grid (below). If you can, please read small Gujarati or Hindi or English poem from the archetypal approach and apply Indian seasonal grid in the interpretation.

 

 Here, I applied Indian seasonal grid in this poem…….
“Vasantni vasaliyo vagi,
Tahuki uthe paan,
Lachak lahere jumi nache ,
Akhe akhu gaam.”
In India we can find, spring is a season of Happiness. When spring come at that time all person fill Happiness. Same as in literature also gives as pleasure and moral. So in this poem we understand very well…..