Archetypal Characters

Archetypal Characters:

What Are They? Where Do They Appear? And How Do They Behave?

Hello there.

The purpose of this article is two-fold: a) I have recently discovered this topic of "archetypal characters" and have found such amazing information that I desire to share this newfound knowledge with my fellow writers and b) I have been meaning to write up a list of these characters and their myriad manifestations. No time like the present, right?

I am sure you are probably wondering what I mean when I refer to an "archetypal character." It may seem to you that I am simply speaking in the unmistakable tongue of Gibberish. If you ever met me, you would already be aware of the fact that I am quite fluent in that dialect! :)

For the sake of clarity and comprehension, I will really quickly give two definitions to this word "archetypal."

First, a more technical definition, courtesy of good old Dictionary.com:          

(From the World English Dictionary)
Archetypal or Archetypical

1. perfect or typical as a specimen of something
2. being an original model or pattern or a prototype
3. constantly recurring as a symbol or motif in literature, painting, etc

Of these definitions, I personally prefer the latter two. Simply put, an archetype is a basic pattern that can be seen occuring again and again.

Now I will give a somewhat more personal definition.

Before I do this, however, I must stop and give credit to Glen Strathy and his wonderful article off of which I am basing this work. Here is a link to the original article (http://www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com/archetypal-characters.html) and I strongly suggest you visit his site; it is incredible and, best of all, has many, many, many wonderfully helpful articles for writers. Go check it out...after you finish reading this page of course! ;)

Okay. I will now attempt to clearly and concisely define this gloriously enigmatic word "archetypal."