Archetypes In Prose Edda

1067 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Roman influence on western culture

Archetypes are a common theme in many ancient mythologies across the world, and have become a common characteristic in modern day pop culture. A popular archetype is the Trickster, which has a strong influence in the popular T.V. show Supernatural. The trickster archetype in Supernatural is similar to the tricksters Loki in the Prose Edda and Prometheus in Roman culture because they share similar powers, they experiences a battle of wits with the gods, and the outcomes of the trickster’s deeds lead to their punishment. The trickster in Supernatural is also very similar to the god trickster Loki in the Prose Edda because of their relationship between the other gods. The show Supernatural revolves around the lives of two brothers Sam and Dean. Sam and Dean are hunters of all things mythical, evil, or supernatural. When the pair first meet the Trickster in the show, he is disguised as a janitor at a university (Shiban, John). Unbeknown to the brothers, he is wreaking havoc on the school and the town through a series of dangerous jokes and tricks. The trickster in Supernatural is eventually identified as a demi-God, Loki who is very similar to the Norse god Loki in the Prose Edda. They share the power to conjure images and imaginary events up, just for the fun of it. The trickster is able to rebuke Sam …show more content…

The Tricksters main job of joking usually ends up upsetting the god in some way. The Tricksters are seen as inferior creatures to the gods themselves. At some point in the story the Trickster will engage himself in a battle of wits with the gods. However, for each Trickster archetype across all stories, the battle of wits usually becomes their undoing, and they are punished by the gods for their deeds. This defeat of the Trickster only solidifies the power of the gods as well as the perceived superiority of the Christian religion to Pagan

Show More
Related

  • Archetypes In Ethan Frome

    369 Words  | 1 Pages

    Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is designed to be read like a fairytale. The novel contains many archetypes of a classic fairytale. These archetypes are brought to life in Starkfield, Massachusetts by the three main characters: Mattie Silver, Ethan Frome, and Zeena Frome. They can be compared to the archetypes of the silvery maiden, the honest woodcutter, and the witch. These comparisons allow the reader to notice similarities between Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome and the classic fairytale Snow White. The character Zeena Frome from Edith Wharton’s novel, Ethan Frome, resembles the evil witch from the fairy tale Snow White.

    Read More

  • Archetypes In Lightsabers

    295 Words  | 1 Pages

    The different archetypes are the shadow, the mandala, the great mother, the transformation, the hero, the spiritual father, and the trickster. All archetypes were drawn from a part of what makes us human and hidden in our subconscious. Many of the characters in the film often play more than one character. An example of this would be Ben Kenobi seems to play the archetype of Luke’s father, then he also plays the archetype as an old, wise man.

    Read More

  • Archetypes In The Crucible

    1141 Words  | 3 Pages

    Everyone can relate to an archetype character in a movie, book, or television show. An archetype in literature is a typical character with an action or a situation that seems to represent such universal patterns of human nature. Common archetypes of characters are: a hero, caregiver, rebel, damsel in distressed, lover, villain, or tragic hero. In the play, The Crucible, there are several kinds of characters with archetypes. Tragic hero normally are in tragic plays which also can be called tragedy. “Tragedy is a drama in which a character that is usually a good and noble person of high rank which is brought to a disastrous end in his or her confrontation with a superior force but also comes to understand the meaning of his or her deeds and to

    Read More

  • Trickster Archetypes Essay

    1472 Words  | 3 Pages

    Loki is seen as such a big threat that he is locked in a cell, meant to confine the Hulk, and yet as the trickster always does he eventually gets out of his confinement. His overconfident and unworried attitude alone seems to be taunting the heroes. He knows how to get under peoples skins with/without words and by simple behavior. The power of presence and behavior under even less than favorable condition is really powerful and helps Loki disturb the team. The trickster even fooled the avenger into thinking they had fooled him. He pretends to fall for Black Widows trick and “accidently” reveals his plot to use the Hulks rampage to destroy the place, allowing him to go free. Loki’s true plan is to pit the Avengers against the Hulk and have the controlled Hawkeye come to his aid and distract the avengers. The Hulk does end up rampaging, as Loki planned, and even revealing his plot didn’t stop it from happening. It doesn’t just show how calculating Loki is but how understanding the other characters allow him to use them to his advantages. A common theme of trickster stories is their ability to escape situations using wit and cunningness. Loki is freed and uses his power of illusion to trick Thor into entering the cell, thereby trapping him inside. With tricksters it is never as easy as “seeing is believing”, especially with Loki who is an expert sorcerer with the power of illusions and shapeshifting. The trickster teaches us to always stay one step ahead and not to relax our guard, even when we think things are going our way, but to stay on alert because you never know when someone might gain the upper hand. Loki’s action also brings some good as he unties the avengers, who had previously done nothing but argue and fight amongst themselves. When he “kills” Phil Coulson it motivates the Avengers to work

    Read More

  • The Satirical Theme of The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

    813 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... typical archetype. These characters are obviously supposed to mirror the archetypes that are common in fairy tales, but their flaws are contradictions to the archetypes that they are supposed to represent; through this Goldman mocks typical and standard fairy tales.

    Read More

  • The Archetype And The Collective Unconscious

    1265 Words  | 3 Pages

    The author of One Flew over the Cuckoo 's Nest, allows the reader to explore different psychoanalytic issues in literature. The ability to use works literature to learn about real world conflicts allows us to use prior knowledge to interact with these problems in reality. Ken Kesey, the author of the above novel and Carl Jung, author of “The Archetype and the Collective Unconscious” wrote how the mind can be easily overtaken by many outside factors from the past or present. The novel takes place in an asylum that is aimed to contain individuals that have a mental issue or problem. The doctors and care takers are seen as tyrants and barriers that inhibit the patients to improve their health, while the patients are limited by their initial conditions

    Read More

  • Hawaiian Lore: Legends, Myths, And Fairy Tales

    2513 Words  | 6 Pages

    A archetypal fits into folklore many different ways, it depends on what the folklore is talking about. But you can add an archetypal to folklore.

    Read More

  • Archetypes In The Big Bad Wolf

    687 Words  | 2 Pages

    Quite often in life we wish for things bigger than ourselves. Seeming to get wrapped up in our own minds we do not pay attention to reality. As reality comes full force we are not sure how to take it, so we let it take us. In the writing “Where are you going, where have you been?” we see Oates craft archetypes and allegories into the work through detail and word choice in order to help the reader understand the shocking outdistancing of day dreams and the overshadowing sockdolager called reality. These archetypes and allegories provide a way for the reader to join Connie in the story, but also to see the danger of what Connie doesn’t see.

    Read More

  • Archetype In Laurie Anderson's Speak

    539 Words  | 2 Pages

    The book Speak by Laurie Anderson is about how Melinda Sordino--- an “outcast” girl overcome the trouble in her life, her growth in mind and how she learned to speak up for herself.

    Read More

  • Goethe's Faust - Mocking Religion

    758 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout this play religion is constantly mocked. The Devil and God are pretty buddy buddy. I mean they make bets, they have casual conversation (lines 275-302) They are just kind of friends. I am not the most religious person, but I know that the Devil and God are not friends. They do not talk, make bets, or hang out together. An obvious mocking right there. Also it seems that the powerful Devil is not powerful at all. He is repeatedly outsmarted by a mere mortal (line 2715) and has many limitation. If you grow up going to church and being taught religion you are under the impression that the Devil is so powerful, always tempting us mortals and finally buying our souls. God and the Devil are made fun of by showing how much little power they have. God over the Devil and the devil over mortals.

    Read More

  • Archetypes In Trifles By Susan Glasspell And El Santo Americano

    807 Words  | 2 Pages

    Glasspell, Susan Trifles. Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing 4th Ed.

    Read More

  • The Trickster In David Leeming's The Canterbury Tales

    96 Words  | 1 Pages

    But there is another side to the trickster. As David Leeming notes, "he is sexually over-active, irresponsible, and amoral. But it is that very phallicism that signifies his essential creativity" (God 24). Tricksters are also creative liars. They lie in order to obtain sex or food, or the means to cook or procure food. Many of their tricks originate in this quest for food or sex. Lewis Hyde writes, "Trickster lies because he has a belly, the stories say; expect truth only from those whose belly is full or those who have escaped the belly

    Read More

  • Archetypes In Oedipus Complex

    2303 Words  | 5 Pages

    Archetypes have been around for thousands of years, dating back to at least Plato discussing his “Theory of Forms”. In a literary contexts we think of archetypes such as the hero, the mentor, the journey, or the initiation. When looked at from these perspectives it appears that there is nothing original to write about, but these archetypes are used over and over with much success. The reason is because the writer and the reader empathize with the archetypes. Take for example the Initiation archetype, also called the Coming of Age story, in it is the struggle of the young against the old in an attempt to obtain individuality, and freedom that reflects what Jungian psychologists call, a “father complex”, a type of subset to the oedipus complex, in the authors.

    Read More

  • Identity Thief

    528 Words  | 2 Pages

    Even thought there is not a commonly agreed single definition for a trickster, Hydes and Hynes find common ground in saying that a trickster is someone who deceits, tricks , takes advantage of situations and certainly-among other things, disobeys normal rules. A trickster breaks the rules more often maliciously, as Loki for example; however, at the end usually the tricks end up having positive effects. Hynes mentions six characteristics most often found in the trickster. Even though not all of them are always present, in the film “Identity Thief” (2013) Diana (Melissa McCarthy) shows a few of these traits explained by Hynes.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar

    2556 Words  | 6 Pages

    Some examples of archetypes are, the wounded child, the victim, the villain, the rebel, the savior, finding redemption, death, and the happy ending. Now that there is an understanding of what an archetype is we can look at four different archetypes in The Bell Jar.

    Read More

More about Archetypes In Prose Edda

Open Document