Assignment: Paper- E-C-201. The Romantic Literature.

Topic: Traits of Romanticism in “Wuthering Heights”.

Student’s name: Payal G Patel

Roll no: 18

M.A. Sem – II

Batch – 2010-‘11

Submitted to – Mr. Jay Mehta

Department of English

Bhavnagar University

Bhavnagar.

Traits of Romanticism in “Wuthering Heights”

Romantic Features:

                                 In this novel “Wuthering Heights”, LOVE is at the center whether it is about first generation of Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff, Edgar Linton and Isabella or about second generation of Cathy, Linton and Hareton. The developments of the first generation’s love are similar and mixed with the developments of the second generation, but not completely the same. Because the first generation is not at the rest even at their ends also, but there is the happy ending of the novel with the second generation. We find in this novel the complexity of love like,

                          Catherine                                                                  Cathy

                                                               Edgar                                                                    Hareton      

Heathcliff                                                                               Linton                                 

                        Isabella

Romanticism contains the elements of internal and external conflict like;

 Nature versus Civilization

     Or

 Wild versus civilized, and

Natural  versus  Artificial.

                                        Here, we can easily apply the conflict of wild versus Civilized to the character of Heathcliff, that his nature is somewhat like wild and who has been insulted by many of the civilized persons. But Heathcliff is more insulted by Hindley, Catherine’s brother. Though there are many opposite attributes in the society, the love of Catherine and Heathcliff remains unshaken. But we should not forget Catherine’s ideas about Edgar. He is smart and handsome as well as well-dressed and well-mannered and by all these attributes Catherine is impressed by him at least for a while. And during this time the seeds of jealousy are being sown into the heart of Heathcliff.

Because of her love with Heathcliff and to make him prosperous and successfull person, Catherine decides to get married with Edgar and says to Nelly, the narrator of the novel, as well as the housekeeper at Wuthering Heights, that she loves Edgar because he is rich and graceful, and he would make her the greatest lady in the region. So, here, we find complexity of Catherine’s nature but she also says that she is doing all these only for Heathcliff and also declares that her and Heathcliff’s souls are one. Heathcliff overhears the conversation between Nelly and Catherine and leaves the place. His love converts into hate and this is more important here because it is the cause of the tragedy of all the characters, and the root of it is love after all.

There are also many romantic elements in the very beginning that both Heathcliff and Catherine spend their most of the time with each other especially they visit the Moor and share their love. So, Up till now Emile Bronte has described the pure and innocent love but after Heathcliff’s overhearing the conversation, he disappears for three years and during this time Catherine’s genuine love for Heathcliff can be seen. Through she got married with Edgar, Heathcliff remains in one corner of her heart and waits for him. Definition of love is also given by these both characters Catherine and Heathclifft, what is thwarted love of Heathcliff. He yearns for Catherine but the longing of Heathcliff can not be fulfilled in life. Here, Death is more important element, which unites two souls’ or loving souls.

Wuthering Heights as a Gothic fiction:

The gothic elements like terror, mystery, secrets, deaths, the supernatural, madness etc. are pervaded throughout the novel. For example we feel terror in the very beginning when the dogs namely Gnash, Wolf, in chapter-II, attack on Lockwood. When Catherine’s ghost appears to Lockwood and requests him to let her in.

There are many such examples in the course of the novel. Another thing should be pointed out is the names of the dogs which are very symbolical and also the dogs’ scene also symbolize something heinous will happen. Because to suggest such things there are more than two or three dogs scenes. This element also gives a share in the gothic fiction. Then we also find that in the very beginning the note of something mysterious is presented by the ghost. As far as the elements of secret is concerned, we find that in the characters like Catherine who hides the secret of Heathcliff to Edgar, Nelly who hides the secret of clash which was done by the middle generation to Cathy, even Heathcliff who hides most of the things in his heart and follows the plans made out of his mind. Death is the most significant aspect in this novel, because it is only death which reunites Catherine and Heathcliff. But, in gothic world it symbolizes something that is macabre and disgusting. We find out many deaths of the characters like Mr. Earnshaw, Frances- Hindley’s wife, Mr.and Mrs. Linton, Catherinr, Hindley, Edgar, and Heathcliff,so we may say that this novel is not LIFE but DEATH. The supernatural elements also we may see in this novel that Heathcliff is haunted but Catherine’s spirit. We also see Heathcliff’s madness that he digs out the land where Catherine is buried. So, in a way it suggests his madness of love, thus, these all elements are the part of gothic fiction in this novel.

Now, the madness of Heathcliff signifies his psycholodical state of mind. There is the mental chaos in him. So, we may compare Heathcliff’s character with the narrator of the short story “Ligeia” written by Edgar Allan Poe. Because in this short story also we find mental state of the narrator, that he has the strange experience with Ligeia, his first wife and Rowena, his second wife. The short story is based upon the theory of the transmigration of the souls. Ligeia comes back several years after her death to her husband in the dead body of his second wife Rowena. Then, the story also describes the beauty of Ligeia. So, here, we find two types of elements same. First is the transmigration of the souls of Heathcliff and Catherine from their bodies, and another one is concerned with psychological state of mind. Heathcliff’s character is also gothic one.

There are also other important indicators of gothic literature like the themes of –isolation -         Fear, darknes -        Loss of faith in humanity.

These all can also be found in this novel as it suggests the world of gothic elements.

Passionate yet thwarted love between Heathcliff and Catherine:

                                                        Both of them love is genuine. They also show their love at the course of time. Catherine declares that,

“I am Heathcliff’s; he is always in my mind.”

Suggest how much she loves Heathcliff. Even Heathcliff loves Catherine by heart and after her death, he sees everywhere Catherine’s face even in other characters also, that to avenge he concerns with Hareton, he sees Catherine. He can not bear to look at Hareton’s face because when he looks for the resemblance to Hindley, all he sees is Catherine. And Cathy also reminds him of Catherine.

While discussing the element of love, we should not forget the other characters also because in romantic fiction the traits of love are same whether it is of the hero-heroine or any of the others. For example Isabella who has one-sided love for Heathcliff and he uses her as an instrument to destroy the lives of other characters like Edgar and Catherine, and to get power over both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. But what is more important here is Isabella’s love for Heathcliff. Love between Hindley and Frances also has been portrayed because without her love or life Hindley gets him into debt becomes drunkard. Edgar’s love for Catherine is sincere, because throughout her life he loves her. And the love of third generation is also drawn by the narrator. So, these all are the romantic traits of love

Now, the element of love with the reference to gothic aspects can be seen in this novel. When Catherine dies, Heathcliff becomes something like madman. He opens the coffin to have a glimpse o Catherine’s face. Walter Peter saw in “Wuthering Heights”;

“the characteristic spirit of romanticism, particularly in the figures of Hareton Earnshaw, of Catherine Linton and of  Heathcliff – teaching open Catherine’s grave, removing one side of her coffin, that he may really lie beside her in death’ figures so passionate, yet woven on a background of delicately beautiful, moorland scenery, being typical examples of that spirit.”

The scene of locket is in a way significant. Heathcliff and Edgar both love Catherine. When Heathcliff comes in to view Catherine in her coffin, he takes the lock of Edgar’s hair out or her locket and replaces it with his own. Even a simple lock of hair becomes one of the traits of love. But Nelly Dean takes both the locks together and puts them both in the locket, it shows Catherine’s two lovers.

The area of Moors also symbolizes something related with their love. (Heathcliff and Catherine). The severe and wild moors symbolize the unruly nature of their love. In chapter –IX, Catherine declares for Heathcliff that,

“Whatever souls are made of his and mine are the same.”

shows their uniqueness of love. As earlier i have written, Heathcliff sees everywhere or in all the characters the face of Catherine is now reached its climax that he says in chapter -xxxIII,

“In every cloud, in every tree- filling the air at night, and caught by glimpses in every object by day, i am surrounded with her image.”

As time passes, Heathcliff becomes increasingly obsessed with his dead love, and he finds reminders of her everywhere. He begins conversing with her ghost. And when Heathcliff dies he is buried next to Catherine’s grave, here, it symbolizes spiritual love rather than physical one. It also symbolizes that after death one may be free like Catherine and Heathcliff from the worldly terms.

 And there is also an occurrence that someone sees the souls of Catherine and Heathcliff together at the Moor. There is also the trait of love in their death that after their death the duet of their grave was mingled which suggests the extraordinary love.

Conclusion:

              As a Romantic Literature contains some of the romantic aspects like love, passion, emotions, feelings etc., we find them in this novel. But at the same time we also find gothic romances, Wuthering Heights does not build to an intense, violent climax before its ending rather its tension quality.

For Heathcliff, the end of life can mean only one thing:

 “THE BEGINNING OF HIS REUNION WITH CATHERINE”

Another thing we may say is the life of Catherine and Heathcliff can be compared with the love life of Romeo and Juliet, of Heer and Rhanja whose love throughout their lives did not fulfill but their deaths made their love immortal.

Assignment: Paper- E-C-202. Indian Writing in English. Post Independence

Topic: “The Shadow Lines “ as a Memory Novel

Student’s name: Payal G Patel

Roll no- 18

M.A.Sem – II

Batch- 2010-‘11

Submitted to – Mr. Devarshi Mehta.

Department of English.

Bhavnagar University

Bhavnagar.

“The Shadow Lines” as a Memory Novel.

                     Before the discussion of “The Shadow Lines” as a memory novel, lets have a glance at Amitav Ghosh's works. He has written many novels as well as non-fiction. He has written the novels like,

(1) The Circle of Reason (1986)

(2) The Shadow Lines (1988)

(3) The Calcutta Chromosome (1996)

(4) The Glass Palace (2000)

(5) The Hungry Tide (2004)

His works like,

(6) Sea of Poppies (2008)

(7) River of Smoke (2011)

Also have been well-renowned by many critics and readers.

 His Contribution to Indian Writing in English (IWE) :

                                            Amitav Ghosh has added a feather of his works on the cap of Indian literature. He has written for many publications also including ‘The Hindu’, ‘the New Yorker’ and ‘Granta’ and taught in the universities in India. In 2007, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian Government for his distinguished contribution to literature. For “The Shadow  Lines” he won the Sahitya Akademy Award and also many other prizes for other works. This is how Ghosh has contributed his greatest aspect of life, his writings.

The Shadow Lines by Ghosh portraits a picture of symbolism and space. The concept of distance and time are very symbolically portrayed that physical borders divide countries while imagery borders divide human beings.

The very title of this novel seems to be a philosophical one which suggests the borders of countries as well as borders of human mind that human mind is also divided into parts like conscious, unconscious and subconscious. In a way it suggests not only human body or shape but also inner struggle to choose between light and darkness. Ghosh through shadow lines seems to suggest that we view or judge ourselves but it is not always the view for us by others, and until we get deeper understanding of ourselves; we remain in the shadow lines of our enlightenment.

The word shadow, itself symbolizes the mixing of both light and darkness. So, by using this word what Ghosh wants to say is the shadow we see is not always the same reflection of that shadow; after all it is the shadow of our own body but not our inner psyche or mind.

In the history of literature also shadow is perhaps the archetype of secrets. This word suggests something hidden part, the same is presented in the novel that in the memory of the narrator which is hidden part in the narrator’s mind; he narrates the story from his own perspective.

The novel is based on the narrator who was English educated but Indian born person. The narrator shares his own views of foreign countries. Though narrator is English educated, his values, ethics and culture is more Indian than American, suggests that crossing the borders and migrates from any country does not mean that one has crossed culture as well as ethics of his country. The narrative technique of this novel is different because the story of this novel contains layers and each layer is the part of private and public events but the significance of these layers is they all are united as a one.

This novel tells the story of the generation of the narrator’s family which is spared Dhaka, Calcutta and London. The narrator has covered fact and fiction that he has described two or three riots with historical background and some incidents are described through imagination or through his way of perspective.

“The Shadow Lines” as a memory novel

The Shadow Lines is basically a memory novel that covers past and present, childhood and adulthood, India and Bangladesh as well as Britain, Hindu and Muslim. It contains social and political aspects. Memory is an integral part of our psychological process. Auden has said,

“All our intuition mocked

The formal logic of the clock.”

That means reality clock does not restrict your biological clock. It is a scientific clock. Here, in the novel, there are many narrators like Grandmother, May Price and the main narrator who narrates the story with reality and imagination. According to Oxford English Dictionary realism is defined as “clock resemblance to what is real:’’ fidelity of representation, the rendering of precise details of the real thing or scene. This seems to suggest that realism is a representation of someone’s reality which may not get someone others reality. Amitav Ghosh   in his book “The Shadow Lines” presents both reality and imagination.

For example, by placing the text in a real historical time that is post Colonial India with the reference to several historical circumstances like the partition and riots which were really happened and these situations involve the characters around them in the novel. Thus, with these facts the fictional characters are portrayed. He also uses dates as a mean to create a timeline history of the characters to match it with the actual history or historical timeline. For example, the story is also placed in a very real culture, London and Bangladesh with the reference to real places in these cities like Gole Park, Dhakuria Overbridge and Gariahat Road in Calcutta. (pg-8,9) and Lymington road in West Hampsted also adds to the reality effect.

We also may see the concept of borders in the conversations between the characters like Grandmother says to narrator’s Grand father about crossing the borders like,

“Once you start moving you never stop. That’s what I told my sons when they took the trains. I said I don’t believe in this India-Shindia. It’s all very well, you’re going away now, but suppose when you get there they decide to draw an other line somewhere! What will you do then! Where will you move to! No one will ever have you anywhere. As for me, I was born here, and I’ll die here.” (216)

From, this, we may have a question that Do borders exist? And perhaps the answer we may get borders do not exist as far as the geographical area is concerned. Even for some people philosophical borders do not exist, for example Tridib’s (narrator’s uncle), and May’s love has its own reality; it crosses all boundaries and shadow-lines. The narrator’s borders of mind also do not exist because he discusses about the childhood and adulthood and here, we find the mixture of both in his story. Tridib has rightly said,

“We could not see without inventing

What we saw, so at least we could try to do it properly.” (37)

What Tridib here, wants to suggest is we se the things which we have invented but what about those things which are under the darkness. We also see some aspect through imagination also which are not really in existence. Through the characters of Tridib and May the narrator’s perception is perhaps of cosmopolitanism.

“The whole world is a man’s birthplace.”

This quote by the Roman poet Publius Papinius Statius shows us the basic idea of cosmopolitanism. If we discuss this term deeply, we would find the true sense of the narrator. This term, cosmopolitanism is the theory that a person belongs to no country or nationality but to the humanity, and the world as a whole. For example, when the narrator’s cousin Ila discusses, for the first time, of Nick Price, the child of their age in English family, the narrator wishes to be like him. He also admits “After that day Nick Price...became a spectral presence beside me in my looking glass...always bigger and better, and in some ways more desirable.” (49). It suggests that when Ila describe s Nick, the narrator sees Nick as his mirror image. Here, also we do not find any type of border neither philosophical nor geographical.

The novel is simply the recollection of memory. Here, the faculty of imagination plays a very crucial role because generally we that fact can not exist without fiction. What is the core issue of this novel is the National identity and the events, incidents are the shadow- lines. We better quote here Shelley, as he says,

“We look before and after,

and pine for what is not

our sweetest songs,

with pain are fraught.”

                          [Ode to Skylark]

This novel is about “seeing” and “not seeing”. This also involves the stream of consciousness. The boy narrates everything out of his memory. When we remember the things we are reinterpreted, and whenever we try to interpret any part of our memorial event we have or there may be some different points of view. So, it is all about the way of perceptions.

Another thing should be noted down is its structure. As our memory part is not in a coherent manner, similarly the structure of the novel reflects the thought process of the narrator which also is not systematic. Thus, the sequence of the novel reflects the thought process. Here, the narrator tries to picture the exact process of his memory perception. Memory and imagination work together. They not only co-exist but also work together.

We also may have a question like, is memory imaginative? And the answer is related with the experiences and incidents of one’s memory. For example when we imagine the things, we recall experiences, events, incidents through our memory which already exist. Imagination fabricates our memory means we make up facts that are not true interpret of memory. We do not know the exact location but still we imagine the things. Memory is divided into certain categories like consciousness and unconsciousness. When we have not enough control over consciousness we go to unconscious parts and which touch to the surface of the conscious part. In this novel most of the events are imaginative except two or three riots as earlier it has been discussed. Memory is collective consciousness and archetype as well.  For example to make this novel universally acceptable he uses archetypes. We find shadow lines existing in existing theory. So, what is conveyed here is categorization is purposeless process because borders do not exist.

One should not avoid the different technique of Amitav ghosh. It is the systematic study of Narratology. The narrative technique relives the way of narrator’s perception of the things here. The role of memory is important because nations, religions, wars, violence, partition etc divide people but memory does not divide. Imagination creates a world that cannot be divided. The shadow lines between people and between countries have merged and become one. Borders did not exist in the countries ever but in our mind.

The division of the novel into two parts- “Going  Away “ and “ coming Home” – is itself a conscious attempt of the novelist to break down some of the time-  tested notions of experiences. For example the Grandmother of the narrator was born and brought up in Dhaka and now living in Calcutta, recalls her childhood days and mentions to her son that in those days before partition there were no borders,

“I could come to Dhaka whenever I wanted.”(152)

All that time the narrator experience his views over coming and going.

“ Tha’mma, Tha’mma! I cried. How could you have ‘come’ home to Dhaka? You don’t know the difference between coming and going!”(152)

There are two possible interpretations like one is the process of coming and going and another thing is the nation without boundaries. Throughout the novel what is more important is the clock whether it is biological clock or reality clock. As earlier the idea has been derived, the reality clock has been restricting your biology clock.    

              

Conclusion:

                      This novel is open-ended, so reader may give any of the interpretations.  One of them is, Amitav Ghosh seems to suggest the borders in the minds of human beings and humanity.

Assignment: Paper- E-C- 203. Literary Criticism: Western & Indian Poetics-2

Topic: Northrop Frye’s Archetypal Criticism.

Student’ name: Payal G Patel

Roll no: 18

M.A.Sem- II

Batch:  2010- ‘11

Submitted to – Prof. Dilip Barad.

Department of English

Bhavnagar University

Bhavnagar.

 Northrop Frye’s Archetypal Criticism

First, the question may rise what is Archetypal Criticism? And the answer of this is in literary criticism the term archetype suggests narrative designs, patterns of action, character types  themes and images which are known to a wide variety of works of literature also to myths, dreams , and even social rituals. Carl G. Jung (1875-1961) says it the “collective unconsciousness “of the human race and are expressed in myths, religion, dreams also in works of literature. Thus in literature it becomes an archetypal criticism.

It is generally said that there are many practitioners of various types of archetypal criticism like G.Wilson Knight, Robert Graves, Philip Wheelwright, Richard Chase, Leslie Fiedler and Joseph Campbell. They have emphasized on the events of mythical patterns in literature. They believe that myths are closest to the archetypal literature rather than the writers who write only for the sake of their fame.

Northrop Frye’s Contribution to the archetypal criticism:

 Frye has written “The Archetypes of Literature “in 1951 and then “Anatomy of Criticism “in 1957 which is his on e of the well- renowned works. In his book “Anatomy of Criticism “Frye has covered most of the archetypal approaches in the theory of literature and the practice of literary criticism.

In his “ Archetypes of Literature” Frye outlines a theory of the arts in general and literature in particular which would be developed more fully in his celebrated “ Anatomy of Criticism”.

Frye’s project is to identify and classify the archetypes of literature. The four ‘mythoi’ that we are dealing with like, comedy, romance, tragedy and irony or satire.

Frye uses the season in his archetypal schema. Each season is attached with a literary genre, for example; comedy with spring, romance with summer, tragedy with autumn, and satire or irony with winter.

The information of season how they deal with these literary genres is as under;

(1)   Comedy:

                       It is aligned with spring because comedy suggests the birth of the hero, revival and resurrection. It also suggests the new creation as well as the power over the darkness. Similarly spring symbolizes the defeat of winter and darkness. In spring also there is the new creation in trees which symbolizes the similarities between comedy and spring.

(2)    Romance:

                  It is aligned with summer because summer is the culmination of life in the seasonal calendar, the western countries. Similarly romance, the genre, culminates with some sort of triumph, especially in a marriage.

(3)    Autumn:

                 It is aligned with tragedy. As autumn is the dying stage in the seasonal calendar, similarly the genre, tragedy symbolizes the ‘fall of hero or heroine or protagonist.  Autumn itself symbolizes the fall and which is considered to be melancholic.

(4)   Satire :

            Satire or Irony is paralleled to winter as they symbolize the ‘dark’ genres. Satire is one type of mocking act. It is noted for its darkness, dissolution, and the return of chaos and the defeat of the heroic figure. Like satire, sometimes, the winter is very cruel in western countries as they are similar by work.

Now Frye gives the context of a genre determines how a symbol an image is to be interpreted. He gives five different views of different fields like human, animal, vegetation, mineral, and water.

(1) Human:

             The comedic human world is representative of wish –fulfillment. In its contrast, the tragic human world is of isolation, tyranny, and the fallen hero. Thus, in different world, the roles of different humans do not change.

(2) Animals

              The comedic animal world suggest the docile and pastoral animals (for example cow, sheep etc.) whereas in the tragic animal world they are like hunters, predatory (for example wolves, leopard etc.)

(3) Vegetation :

                     The comedic realm of vegetation is pastoral as well as gardens, parks also symbolizes roses and lotuses. And the tragic realm of vegetation is like a wild forest or sometime a sterile or barren place.

(4) Mineral:

              The comedic mineral realm represents cities, temples or precious stones. The tragic mineral realm represents desert, ruined places.

(5) Water:

              At last, the comedic realm of water is represented by rivers. And in tragic realm by seas, especially by floods. Thus from all these, we may say that structure approach is based on archetypes (for example flood, sea etc.)

There are two ways to proceed: (1) inductive

                                                               (2) Deductive

The word inductive suggests looking for patterns, or, making educated guesses.

The word deductive means to look for consequences look for coherence and try to categories.

So, in this way, this section deals with deductive way.

 Archetypal Criticism as “a new poetics”

                                                                 For Frye, this, ‘New Poetics’ is to be found in the principle of the mythological framework, which as come to be known as “archetypal Criticism”. Essentially: “what criticism can do? According to Frye “is awaken students to successive levels of awareness of the mythology that lies behind the ideology in which their society indoctrinates them.”  (Stingle 4)

Unlike Freud’s concepts, myths are collective and communal and so bring a sense of wholeness and togetherness to social life. People and the whole civilized have their own mythologies, but there may be the common Jung called ‘archetypes’.

The mythology of the classical world provided themes for some of the world’s greatest drama, and similar themes can be found in Renaissance literature through to modern Poetry. For example; Hamlet, is often seen as the reluctant hero who must sacrifice himself to purify a Denmark which is made diseased, impious by the murder of its king. In our Indian myth, we have also a character like Hamlet named ‘Arjuna’ in “Mahabharata” who feels the same hesitation to fight with his relatives, thus, the myth is carried on by the skillful writers. Even Yeats, Pound and Eliot employ the myths of history, rebirth and fulfillment through sacrifice, as other do.

There are Frye’s four essays titled,

(1) “Historical Criticism”- A Theory of Modes.

(2) “Ethical Criticism” – A Theory of Symbols.

(3) “ Archetypal Criticism” – A Theory of Myths and

(4) “Rhetorical Criticism” – A Theory of Genres.

From all these we are concerned with Frye’s “Archetypal Criticism” which suggest a theory of myths. This third essay has possibility been Frye’s most identifying the four seasons with four main plots or ‘mythoi’ as we have seen earlier.

Archetypes fall into two categories: Characters and Situation / symbols. With examples these categories will become easier to understand. There are some common archetypes in each category of the characters which are as under;

Characters:

(1)    The Hero:

             The courageous figure, good character than the villain. For example Hamlet, Macbeth, Tom Jones, etc.

(2)    The outcast:

                He or she has been out casted from society. For example in Indian myths there are characters like Pandvas, Ram- Sita- Laxman, Sugreev, Vibhishan etc.

(3)    The Scapegoat :

                        The scapegoat figure is the one who gets blamed for every thing.  No one try to understand whether he or she is really at fault or nor. For example Tom Jones, Ophelia in “Hamlet”, etc.

(4)    The Star-Crossed Lovers:

                               This is a young couple joined by love but unexpectedly parted by fate. For example Romeo and Juliet, Heer and Ranjha, Heathcliff and Catherine from “Wuthering Heights”, etc.

(5)    Femme Fatale:

              A female character type who brings upon disastrous events. For example, Eve in “Paradise Lost” , Sita in “ Ramayana”  also Surparnakha, Draupadi in “ Mahabharata”, Catherine in “ Wuthering Heights”, etc.

(6)    The Shrew :

             This is that nagging, bothersome wife always battering her husband with verbal abuse. For example; Lizzy’s mother in “Pride and Prejudice” , Lady Macbeth in “ Macbeth”, Mrs. Bumble in “ Oliver Twist”, etc

(7)    The Journey :

        A narrative archetype where the protagonist must overcome a series of obstacles before reaching his or her goal. For example; Oliver Twist, Tom Jones, Rama, etc.

 Now, the category is of situation or symbols. There are many archetypal symbols than the characters and which are deep rooted in a culture’s mythology, such as a forbidden fruit in “Paradise Lost”, similarly the poison apple in “Snow White”. There are many others like,

(1)    The Task:

         There is a situation in which a character or characters have to complete some duties. For example; the task to bring Helen back from Troy, Kurukshetra Battle for Arjun, Savitri’s desire to get back Satyakam’s life etc.

(2)    The quest :

        The characters search for something whether consciously or unconsciously. Their action, thoughts, feelings are centered around the goal of completing this quest. For example Rama’s search  for Sita, Nal- Damyanti’s search for each other,  Savitri’s search for Satyakam’s life, etc.

(3)    Water :

         It is symbol of life as well as death also rebirth. It is also strong life force. Symbolizes creation, purification and redemption also fertility and growth.

(4)    Sea/ Ocean :

           It symbolizes death or rebirth, timelessness and eternity.

(5)     Sun :

    It symbolizes creative energy like fire, thinking, enlightenment, wisdom, spiritual wisdom, piousness, dawn etc.

Rising sun symbolizes birth, creation, enlightenment.

While setting sun symbolizes death.

(6)     Colors :

(a)  Red : Symbolizes sacrifice, passion, disorder

(b) Green: symbolizes growth, hope, fertility.

(c)  Blue: symbolizes highly positive, secure, tranquil, spiritual purity.

(d) Black: symbolizes darkness, chaos, mystery, the unknown, melancholy, death, evil, danger.

(e) White: symbolizes light, purity innocence, in negative sense symbolizes death, terror, supernatural.

(f)   Yellow: symbolizes enlightenment, wisdom.

The characters like snake symbolizes energy and pure force, evil, corruption, destruction

Numbers like 3 symbolizes light, spiritual awareness, unity (the Holy Trinity)

‘4’ number symbolizes four seasons, earth, nature, life cycle etc.

‘7’ number symbolizes religious things perfect order, union of three and four etc.

Wise old Man: symbolizes savior, redeemer, guru, represents knowledge, wisdom, insight and morality. Even in “Doctor Faustus” there is the appearance of an Old man. In Indian myth Bhishm “Mahabharata” as an old wise man.

Garden:  Symbolizes paradise, innocence, unspoiled beauty.

Trees: Symbolizes life, growth, immortality etc.

Desert: Symbolizes death, hopelessness.

Season: we have already seen the symbols of the seasons before.

Thus, these are the archetypal symbols. One thing we may add is there may be different cultures and myths. For example, we hare, have different symbolic meanings in Indian culture 13 number is considered to be unfortunate and with some bad impact upon the person. Similarly red color symbolizes piousness foe example red Swastika.

Archetypes in Indian Literature.

                                    The concept of Indian literature is both old as well as new. It is as old as Bharata and it is as modern as Tagore. And it is better to see Indian literature not as a process.

 Dr. K. Chellappan writes,

“The myth is the central information power that gives archetypal significant to the rituals and archetypal narrative to the oracle.”

In the Indian tradition also there is the quest myth as an archetype, through there are significant differences. For example Rama’s quest for his wife Sita is parallel to the quest of Adam for Eve and finally it symbolizes the quest of Christ God for man. Rama was both a hero and a God, but the emphasis changes. In Valmiki he is more a hero than a God. In Tulsidas, on the other hand we see more of a God in Rama.

In a sense, Rama is self and Ravana, the ego and Sita is the Jeevatma represents the yearning of the soul for the greater soul, just as all the devotees represent the same division and longing for union at him has noble qualities; but after a sage he becomes frozen beyond redemption like Dr. Faustus and Victor Frankenstein.

In all modern versions of the “Ramayana” and the “Mahabharata” the myth we find Panchali (Draupadi) and Sita are protesting against the male tyranny.

Arjun in “the Mahabharata” is the archetype of the hero unable to act because of attachments and in Karma, we see the tragic hero seeking identity and dying a heroic death because of his very generosity. Arjuna’s situation is some like of Hamlet’s. Thus, the archetypes are the same, through the realizations are different.

Even in the poem “The Voice of a Poet”, written by Praveen Gadhvi, there is the concept of ‘Drinking’ to which we can relate with the myth of creation. For example, in the “Ramayana’s Baalkanda, in canto 45, written by Valmiki, there is the incident of “ Samuda Manthan” which says after churning of the Ocean both nector (amrita) and venom (Vish) erupted. Gods (devtas), enjoyed nector and Shiva consumed the poison. Which significantly suggests, in modern time, the poet can digest the things like Shiva, another possible interpretation is that after churning of life we can get different troubles, sufferings etc. But only few people can digest the things. Thus, these are the possible interpretation of the Indian myth with the archetypal criticism.

 Conclusion:

                 To sun up, Richter explains that for Frye:

“Each generation rewrites the stories of the past in ways that make sense for it, recycling a vast tradition over the ages.” (641)

 About mythology, as it is the third theory of the essay ‘Archetypal Criticism’, Frye points out there are only a few species of myth though there are an infinite numbers of individual myths. For example, these species or archetypes of myths include “myths of creation, of fall, of exodus and migration of the destruction, of the human race in the past or the future, and of redemption,” (23).