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The Fall Archetype

The Fall Archetype

  • A situational archetype which represents a person first having a higher state of being, but then descending to a lower state of being.

  • The person’s experience involves a loss of innocence, and the fall is often accompanied by an expulsion from a kind of paradise as penalty for disobedience and moral transgression.

  • Examples of stories that portray this archetype is Adam and Eve, Prometheus, Batman, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Definition

Interpretation

  • On a literary level, the fall archetype represents a story character, typically a protagonist or antagonist, falling from a higher status to a lower status.

  • This can be represented as the character undergoing a punishment for making poor choices. Usually, in some stories, the character realizes his/her mistake and reforms to bring out a positive result.

  • Sometimes, the person will make poor choices and fall to a lower status, and he/she will never realizes his/her mistake, so they end up staying in the darkness leading to negative result.

  • For example, in the myth of Prometheus, Prometheus ended up being punished in a cruel way(getting his liver eaten by an eagle).

  • In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice realizes the cruelty of the chaotic world and is grateful for staying in her own normal world, which is not chaotic.

Quotes from Experts

Many experts have studied the fall archetype closely and have different opinions on its function and symbolism.

Quotes from Experts

Greenfield City Schools

"THE FALL—This archetype describes a descent from a higher to a lower state of being. The experience involves a loss of innocence and bliss. The fall is often accompanied by expulsion from a kind of paradise as penalty for disobedience and moral transgression. (Adam and Eve, Lancelot and Guinevere, Paradise Lost, etc.)”

Greenefield City Schools

Springfield Public Schools

"This archetype describes a descent in action from a higher to a lower position in life. This fall is often accompanied by expulsion from a kind of paradise as a penalty for breaking the rules."

Springfield Public Schools

Ancient Stories

The fall archetype has been used in numerous stories over time. Two of these stories represent how it has been used in ancient times.

Ancient Stories

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve

  • Adam and Eve, the first humans on Earth, were forbidden by God to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

  • Satan, a conniving serpent, tempted Eve to eat fruit from the forbidden tree.

  • Eve's punishment was bearing children with great pain.
  • Adam's punishment was that work would be very hard and toilsome.

  • Adam and Eve spiritually separated from God.

  • Humans have an evil side.

  • Humans have to age, get sick, and die.

Prometheus and Pandora

  • Prometheus, a titan who was the god of forethought and crafty counsel, was given the task of molding mankind out of clay.

  • For mankind's lives to be easier, Prometheus stole fire from heaven and also went against Zeus's orders to hide fire from mankind. Prometheus did this so that mankind might live.

  • Zeus punished Prometheus by chaining him to a cliff, and an eagle would eat his liver every day, and the liver would grow back.

  • Zeus also created women as punishment to men as weaknesses and curiosity (one of them Pandora)

  • Pandora opened Pandora's Box, which released all fears of world

  • Last thing that came out was hope.

Modern Stories

Now onto modern stories. There are hundreds of modern stories in the world. Two of those stories represent how the fall archetype has been used in our modern times.

Modern Stories

Batman

  • In Batman, Bruce Wayne, when he is a kid, was depressed and was undergoing trauma from his parent's brutal death by a street thief.

  • Bruce, one day, while walking in his mansion graveyard, inadvertently falls into a confined cave.

  • Little did he know it was loaded with bats.

  • When Bruce discovers bats, he develops a fear for them and then gets inspired to save Gotham City from villains.

  • Bats become ally to Bruce, and he becomes Batman, making his fall having a positive outcome.

Batman

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

  • In this story, Alice notices a rabbit rushing to his rabbit hole because he is "late for something."

  • As she falls down his rabbit hole, peculiar things start happening to her, including meeting Cheshire Cat.

  • She then regrets this chaotic world and wants to go back to the normal world.

  • In the end, everything was a dream and Alice is grateful for the luxuries of her world.

Bibliography

https://prezi.com/yfw-865zjm3z/the-archetype-of-the-fall/

http://www.gcschools.net/gms/sandel/dates/SYMBOLS%20AND%20ARCHETYPES.htm

https://www.sps186.org/downloads/basic/682084/archetype%20notes.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman

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