M.K.BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY,

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISHName-Riva M Pandya

Rollno-25Paper-7

Topic- Northrope Frye’s five spheres in his schema.

What is archetypal Criticism:-

According to oxford dictionary a very typical example of a certain person or thing.

It is a type of critical theory that interprets a text by focusing on recurring myths, symbols, images and character types in a literary work.

In Jungian theory a primitive mental image inherited from the earliest human ancestors and supposed to be present into the collective unconscious

Northope Frye’s five spheresHuman

Animals

VegetationMineral

Water

Human Comic human world is representative of wish-

fulfillment and being community centered. The tragic human world is of isolation,

tyranny and fallen hero.

Comic Tragic

AnimalsCOMIC ANIMALS TRAGIC ANIMALS

Animals in the comedic genres are docile and pastoral.

Animals in the tragic genres are predatory and hunters.

VegetationoCOMEDIC oTRAGIC

The comedic is pastoral but also represented by gardens ,parks, roses and lotuses.

The tragic is represented a wild forest or being barren.

MineralCOMIC TRAGIC

Cities, temples or precious stones represent the comedic mineral

The tragic mineral realm is noted for being a desert, ruins, or of sinister geometrical images.

WaterCOMIC TRAGIC The comic water

represented by rivers The tragic

represented the seas, floods or signify sphere.

Conclusion:-

Frye admits that his schema in “Archetype of Literature” is simplistic but makes room for exceptions by nothing that there are natural archetypes it has been argued that his criticism strictly categories. Works based on genres which determine archetype is to be interpreted in a text.

Frye's archetypal criticism focuses with more contemporary literature, Beckett’s waiting for godot is to considered tragic comedy a play with elements of tragedy and satire Frye associated with genres are pitted each other.

Thank you..