NCHS AP English Language

Archetypes and Ishmael by Cailin Loyd

In the Jungian sense, an archetype is not only a representation of a certain "type" of being or character manifestation, but a representation of life that is present in a spiritual sense, which is most prevalent in things such as art, the study of the mind and learning, but is also present in things that are strictly organic and inorganic. Jung stressed the existance of the archetype as an entity, not an intellectual concept, and is genetically present in all forms of life biologically and not so much ideologially. Jung's idea of the archetype stated that it was not only an instinct, but that instinct's perception of itself. Jung goes on to rationalize an archetype, or primordial image, as both unconcious and concious in a human being. A certain archetype will group different groups of people together who unconciously have the same perception of different instincts, and that in turn will affect the actions of those individuals. To put it simply,these differences in instinctive perception group different people together in groups (archetypes), and each group will act based on their perception. This Jungian archetypal hypothesis can be related to current and historical cultural groups, and is also prevalent in movies and literature.

In Moby Dick, the protagonist, Ishmael, is an example of the archetype "outsider," which the reader can determine initially by the Hebrew meaning of his name. Other, physical aspects that categorize Ishmael as an outsider are his lack of social comfort, his nomadic lifestyle and his intense yearning for a life out at sea, away from civilization. His physical archetype makes him conciously make the decision to join the crew of the Pequod, yet the unconcious instincts that are present in the Jungian archetypal hypothesis also play a role in that decision making. The unconcious instinct that make Ishmael an outsider, which could be a yearning for solitude and internal growth instead of social needs, plays a huge role in Ishmael's decisions, but he doesn't realize it because his unconcious instincts are not present in his concious mind. Jungian's idea of the archetype can be directly associated with Ishmael in Moby Dick because of the parallelism with the ideas of the concious and unconcious instincts which make up a certain archetype, and the coexistence with the unconcious instincts and the physical decision making.

By CAILIN LOYD

posted by Lisa @ 1:56 PM