U1A2- Archetypes in Literature
- Khyati Thapar
- Jul 5, 2017
- 6 min read
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy books written by J.K Rowling, that use extreme magic and other supernatural phenomena. The story revolves around a young ordinary boy nameD Harry Potter, who has been orphaned since birth by two potent wizards. Later in the Story Harry learns that he is indeed a wizard as well. The main plot is based on the struggles that Harry and the rest of the students of Hogwarts face against the dark wizard, Lord Voldemort whose intentions are to kill him and to essentially become immortal.
Character Archetypes: patterns that characters are based on.
1. The Initiates: The initiate is usually the protagonist or the hero that has a specific task to complete and is faced with many complications throughout the task by entering a new challenging world.
Harry Potter: In the movie Harry Potter, the initiate is Harry Potter as his unusual birth circumstances originate when Lord Voldemort murders both his parents and tries to kill him while he was a baby. These tragic events begin his journey of adventure. He is raised by his aunt and uncle who despise him for being a wizard. His journey begins when the friendly beast Hagrid warns him about Voldemort's plans of assassinating him. The crucial wizards at Hogwarts provide him with the training and magic spells required to conquer Voldemort. Harry Potter eventually enters the unfamiliar world of magic and risks his life to save Hogwarts and his friends.
2. The Mentor: The mentor is an important and necessary character in the heroes journey. The mentor is usually an older and wiser guide who helps the initiate survive through and accomplish the tasks by serving as a role model.
Harry Potter: In this movie the mentor is Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, who is a legendary wizard and has tremendous knowledge about magic. He very well knows about the intentions of Lord Voldemort and so throughout the movie, he offers guidance and support to Harry. He guides Harry through the dangerous tasks as he is much more manipulative than other classic mentors. However, despite being the mentor, he would renounce Harry to overcome his own difficulties rather than providing him with assistance at every step to prepare him for further complicated tasks.
3. The Shadow: The shadow who is typically the villain in the story is a troubling opponent that the hero must face and potentially destroy.
Harry Potter: In this movie, the shadow is Lord Voldemort who is portrayed as the devil figure. Both Harry and Voldemort share similar childhoods with their families leaving them at a young age and being oblivious to their magical powers. Voldemort's character opposes all the good and everyone fears him as he is referred to "he who shall not be named". He attacks the hero in the beginning and they continue to have minor battles throughout the movie and a major battle at the end where Voldemort is destroyed. Voldemort's ultimate goal is to rule over the wizarding world and become immortal, therefore he sets out to destroy everyone he considers secondary. Eventually, Voldemort and his followers are killed by Harry Potter in an enormous battle and good conquers evil.
Situational Archetypes: These are situation that appear regularly throughout different stories.
1. Battle between good and evil: Often occurs when the portrayal of good is opposed by the evil. It is usually between the hero and the shadow and the ultimate triumph of good
Harry Potter: The battle between Harry and Voldemort begins when Harry is an infant and survives the attack. Harry Potter is the hero that everyone in Hogwarts relies on whereas Voldemort is the evil force that is the cause of the destruction. It is clear from the beginning that the entire series will lead into the extensive battle between the two. In each movie they constantly have battles in which Harry appears to save himself, but is unable to fully destroy Voldemort until the last movie. As expected, Harry ultimately kills Voldemort and indeed good does triumph over evil.
Likewise, J.K Rowling shows the sides of both evil and good between several other characters in the movie. For example, between a student and teacher such as Harry Potter and Snape who is the evil figure with ultimately a good heart. Snape continuously creates hardships for Harry and his friends, but as the series progresses the audience learns that he was actually protecting Harry as he loved his mother Lily. Therefore, good wins over evil and Snape's character proves that evil can change into good.
2. Death and Rebirth: This is a cycle of nature and shows patterns of everyday life as it is present in society.
Harry Potter: Unique creatures known as Fawkes are eminently intelligent Phoenix and in the movie they are Dumbledore's animal companions who defend him. They aid Harry and his friends by defeating the several monsters that he encounters such as the basilisk. However, they have a special magical ability which is immorality. They burst into flames and die periodically and are reborn from ashes. They are a symbol of faith and loyalty as in the second movie 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets', Harry admits his honesty and Dumbledore's Fawkes arrive to save him from the basilisk.
3. The Unhealable Wound: The unhealable wound is a physical or psychological wound that symbolizes loss of innocence. It usually involves the protagonist and leaves a scar which cannot be healed.
Harry Potter: The most obvious example of an unhealable wound is the physical scar on Harry's forehead which has an emotional meaning attached to it. The lightning shaped scar symbolizes the loss of his parents when Lord Voldemort murdered them and left him with a scar when he attempted to kill Harry. This curse scar is extremely helpful to Harry as it alerts him when Voldemort is near since it aches his forehead. Throughout the series, Harry struggles to accept the loss of his parents and the abundance of moments that remind him of his parents.
This scar never heals throughout his lifetime however, when he defeats Voldemort it stops stinging him, but the pain of his parents death still remains. Furthermore, the scar represents his identity as people recognize him through this scar.
Symbolic Archetypes: Symbols that posses a specific meaning and may be familiar to the audience
1. Light vs Darkness
Harry Potter: The Patronus charm in Harry Potter is the most famous spell which produces a bright white protector and it takes the form of an animal. This is an extremely powerful charm and represents happiness and hope as it is the most relevant charm against the dementors who hurt the soul of a person. In the third movie, Harry is attacked by the dementors who create darkness all around him and take away the light and the soul of every living creature. The dementors are about to attack Harry when a bright light shone from across the lake which took the figure of a deer. The blinding light pushed away the dementors and Harry was saved. The darkness represents fear and death whereas the bright light represents hope and happiness.
2. The Magic Weapon
Harry Potter: The elder wand is the most important weapon originally owned by Dumbledore, Harry requires it to complete his quest, but he cannot not inherit it as it is under Voldemort's possession. Harry's own wand has the same core that was in Voldemort's original wand which made their wands "brothers". Harry performs many powerful spells with his wand specifically the patronus charm which only some wizards could perform. However, when Harry and Voldemort have their first duel both wands rejected each other and a reverse spell was put on them. During their last battle, Voldemort is the owner of the elder wand and he put a killing curse on Harry which eventually rebounds and kills Voldemort himself because the elder wand is loyal to Harry.
3. Spiritual Intervention
Harry Potter: During Harry and Voldemort's first battle at the graveyard, they both caste a spell on each other. This creates a protective bubble around Harry and the ghost of his parents along with the innocent people Voldemort had previously killed are released from his wand. They protect Harry from Voldemort's spell which allows him to safely return back to Hogwarts.
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