Yeh Shen Archetypes

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The archetypes that were found in the various Cinderella versions are extremely similar. They each involve a heroine, a villain or evil figure, and a mentor or helper. In addition, there were traditional theme archetypes, such as a quest for love. These archetypes represent the similarities between each culture’s version of the story. In Yeh-Shen, the cultural aspects, such as her name, the theme of fish on her shoes, along with her attire help represent the Asian aspects of this version. Similarly, the father in the story has two wives, showing us that China’s laws about marriage are much different than the United States’ laws. In addition, Yeh-Shen shows themes of love, dead advising the living, and good versus evil. The archetypes in this version help convey the traditional story of love and a happy ending by the hero or heroine. …show more content…

For example, the main character’s name, Rhodopis, is a classic Greek name due to the fact that the heroine is a migrant from Greece to Egypt. In addition, the Pharaoh is the King that Rhodopis marries. The housemaids in the story are described to all have black hair, which is another Egyptian trait. There are also mentions of the Nile River in this version which give the readers a geographical image of where the story takes place. The mention of the god, Horus, alludes to Egyptian mythology as well. The archetypes in the Egyptian story are the mentor figure, which in this story is the god Horus, and the outcast, which is portrayed by

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