This blog is a response to a task assigned by Dilip Barad sir, Department of English (MKBU). This blog is about the essay The Archetypes of Literature written by Northrop Frye. Click here for more details.
Q-1 What is Archetypal Criticism? What does the archetypal critic do?
Answer: In Archetypal Criticism, critics try to find out the similarities in world literature that can be interpreted in similar meaning. For example the similarities among designs, patterns of action, character-types, themes, and images in different literature. For example if there is a negative symbol of hurricane, cyclone, graveyard or any negative season like winter and fall, there would be difficult consequences in the lives of the literary characters.
Archetypal critics try to find out these types of similarities in the literature. There is also a concept of ‘Spiritus Mundi’, also called universal consciousness in which Northrop Frye says that every human being shares a similar memory from their ancestors, when a writer writes something that memory helps that writer to write. Same patterns also can be observed in many traditional rituals too, for example worshipping the natural elements that can be observed in many cultures all around the world. Now critics try to observe that pattern and give it a similar name that becomes helpful to read the text.
Q-2: What is Frye trying to prove by giving an analogy of 'Physics to Nature' and 'Criticism to Literature'?
Answer:
In his essay The Archetypes of Literature (1951), Northrop Frye gives an example of physics as a different discipline. If we look at any discipline, it studies nature not anything else but it has different names for example physics, botany, zoology, chemistry etc. Now in physics the raw material is nature for studying. But in the case of literature, the student of literature has literature as a raw material. Every student is not able to produce new literary work but the subject is identified as a study of literature. Frye says that literature can not be taught but criticism of literature can be taught. So in literature we learn not literature but we learn how to interpret or to read the literature. That is the basic concept Frye wants to convey through giving the example of physics and literature.
Q-3: Share your views of Criticism as an organized body of knowledge. Mention the relation of literature with history and philosophy.
Criticism is also an organized body of knowledge, In the criticism there are different aspects of literature that are also observed applying different theories and evaluating the societal background and hidden aspects. Literature is made out of the concepts first, events and second events which are related to history and philosophy. When we read any literature we find the historical events not as it happened but different aspects and influences of the historical events. Every literature is written for a certain purpose, the reality of the time. Critics have to look for every aspect of literature that makes it an organized body of knowledge.
Q-4: Briefly explain the inductive method with an illustration of Shakespeare's Hamlet's Grave Digger's scene.
In the inductive method first one has to look for any example and after studying the example one has to find similar events and make a generalization. For example in the ‘Hamlet’ we find the gravedigger scene and a soliloquy of the Hamlet, carrying a skull in his hand. When we find several examples in different literary work we connect with that scene. For example in the Haider film there is the same scene, protagonists carrying a skull in his hand. (Bhardwaj)
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Q-5: Briefly explain the deductive method with reference to an analogy to Music, Painting, rhythm, and pattern.
Answer:
In the deductive method one has to go from generalization to particular, where any pattern is already there and one has to apply the theory there to check the pattern. For example in music there is a same rhythm in any song that is observed then we can put that in the same type of archetypal music. In the painting if we find similarities then we can include that in the same archetype.
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