Four Archetypes and Their Impact on Writing Excellence
Narrative & Story Topics
A short discussion of the four archetypes and their role in writing complex characters.
Carl Jung was a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and father of analytical psychology. Carl Jung had many ideas about the universal patterns of the human psyche. He broke them up into four main archetypes and twelve mythological characters live in the collective human unconscious. These concepts are important because the human psyche allows us to predict behaviors followed by emulating them. The four archetypes of Carl Jung should expose you to thinking four layers deep within a character’s core nature. Your cast of characters are all involved in the major conflict of the plot in some form. Each character will come to the situation with different eyes, which will create different potential resolutions. When writing a cast of characters, they must represent a portion of yourself or society at large. Understanding how others many interpret actions and dialogue of your characters provides north star to writing complex characters that entice the reader to delve deeper.
The four archetypes server as identity and personality. These aspects go four layers deep. The deeper you drill within this framework, the more you can discover about yourself and even the character you're trying to emulate. These four types are the persona, the shadow, the anima, or animus and the self.
The Persona
Definition of the Persona: The metaphorical mask in which people develop to shield their ego in groups or situations outside of themselves.
Personal Thoughts of the Persona: Society cultivates the mask of the individual, which persists as long as society exists. Everyone has a mask, whether they realize it. There’s nothing wrong with keeping it on. A mask can be protection. To bare our soul to others who may not have our best interest at heart will use it as a manipulation tool.
Using the Persona: You must start with the outwards facing of the character you want to personify towards the cast of characters. A person is useful because not everyone is aware of their own persona until they have done inner categorization of themselves. Masks have different shapes and styles. Paint the mask in which the character displays. Hide the meanings within the mask. The best masks tell a story when they are cracked by the sight they see whenever that may be.
The Shadow
Definition of the Shadow: The repression of ideas, weakness, desires, instincts and shortcomings within a person. Which form out of cultural norms and expectations.
Thoughts on the Shadow: We perceive our shadows and evil within ourselves. We can attribute evil to selected weaknesses of a deadly sin or socially unacceptable behavior that we inherit or are born with. A person who harbors no shadows is lying to themselves. Having a shadow is human. It holds our violent delights. It’s a beast who holds primal instincts, but even beasts must be subdued for the greater state of a community.
Using the Shadow: The shadow should be your character’s biggest flaw. So place that flaw in a room of all the things they claim they desire. Use the shadow as a catalyst for the poor choices that have ever lasting effects around the people they know and society. The shadow is a tool for drama and excitement. Forcing the character to pick the worst option that may give them unbounded pleasure only they fantasize about is powerful in the most capable writer’s hands. A bright room will hide a shadow. A fairly dim room will give the shadow the maneuver and chatter with other shadows around it.
Diligent Rectifier
Persevering Honesty
Resilient Leadership
Authentic Creativity
The Anima & Animus
Definition of Anima/ Animus: Anima represents the masculine side of a woman, the Animus represents the feminine side of a man. A dualistic concept that transcends the psyche.
Thoughts on the Anima / Animus: They are both needed in any relationship that is formed. Both can stoke to soul’s essence into alternative forms, whether it be radiant or tragic. A person should learn how to shift from both sides of the dualistic concept. You cannot be both at the same time. That is trying to be a perfect god, which is just as false as a character without shadows. Here are some examples of the good and evil versions of anima and animus. I refer to the good as Radiance, as the Evil is Tragic.
Radiant Anima
Connective sensitivity
Emotional Wisdom
Nurturing Intuition
Mystical Foresight
Radiant Animus
Tragic Anima
Vindictive Hysteria
Selfish Escapism
Jealous instability
Manipulative Dependency
Tragic Animus
Dishonest Rigidity
Cowardice Pretense
Stagnating Intellect
Impatience Tyranny
Using the Anima / Animus: Find which your character identifies, then what they truly long for. Do this before they can find the truest version of themself. If a person walks a path, vindictive hysteria presents that person with a resilient leader who calms that nerves and chooses righteousness. Let them push and pull on what they hate and lack to further push your characters into the dungeon crawling of thy self. Change the lense in which one of your characters sees another. A mask blinds vision therefore, your character may see a false projection because of it. The mask required by society muddles your character’s preceptive reality. But for the reader and you, the mask is unnecessary and you can see with full totality the miscalculation being made. Narration is key for this element to be used properly.
The Self
Definition of The Self: The unification of the consciousness and unconsciousness in a person. The totality of a person’s being.
Thoughts on the Self: To dig into the self is a never-ending journey. It’s an endless source. The self is the manifestation of wholeness many will never gain in a lifetime. The self will change and mold itself into a new adversary that you must acknowledge and hone for another day when it’s needed. We are all connected to the self in a way because on any given day I could be you or you could be me depending on all the steps and mechanism at work before reaching this deepest layer.
Using the Self: When a character masters self in a story, it usually means they are both masters of the spiritual world in which they ventured to and the physical world in which they return. The failing of the self or the accomplishment of combining aspects of the character’s life into a perfect self should be the final product of the story. Having a character unsuccessful in reaching their self and watch their shadow consume it can be a horrifying tale for those in similar positions. Meanwhile, having a character take every lesson sent upon him by the writer and realizing they could be better will provide the same feeling to the readers as a phoenix rising from the ashes of its own burnt flames.
In conclusion, delving into Carl Jung’s four archetypes offers writers a profound tool for crafting complex characters that resonate with readers on a deep psychological level. Through the journey of characters grappling with their shadows, longing for their true selves, and ultimately achieving mastery, storytelling becomes a mirror reflecting the complexities of the human experience, inviting readers to explore the depths of their own souls alongside the characters they encounter.