OET (OurEpicTales)

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice Remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “We’re all mad here.  I’m mad, you’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat, “Or you wouldn’t have come here.”
– Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Hello, Alice in Wonderland fans out there!  Some of you have wondered about the archetypes represented in (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (a.k.a., Alice in Wonderland, 1865).  Although I am not expert at Jungian psychology or symbolism, I am highly intrigued with children’s understanding of archetypes (Developmental Psychology).  I will keep the psychobabble to a minimum.

For starters, to know what archetypes exist in Carroll’s fascinating world, we have to know what an archetype means!

Skip this line if you DO know what an archetype is, OR if you do not know what an archetype is, please click to show

So, if you are asking “What kind of archetypes are there in the story of Alice in Wonderland?”, I believe you are really asking me “What archetypal FIGURES are in Alice in Wonderland?”

Cool! Now we have an understanding.  You want to know what figures that are archetypal in nature, right?  Here is my interpretation of the archetypal figures in Alice in Wonderland (people loves lists for some reason):

1. Alice – The Child archetypal figure – Alice is our innocent child “type” in the story that falls out of the real world where she would be considered a novice and into a dream world where she seem to be the only knowledgeable (possibly, sane) one (thinking like a grown-up).  Alice retains her youthful thinking in wonderland and braces the complexity (insanity) of the wonderland’s inhabitants.  One could also argue that Alice is also the Hero archetypal figure that undergo change and emerge as a new being (grown-up).
2. White Rabbit – Not necessarily an archetypal FIGURE but represents more of an archetypal EVENT.  Specifically, when Alice follows him down the rabbit hole, our beloved character descends into madness or at least towards a threshold for change or the unknown (the road not taken).  Think of Neo in the movie The Matrix (1999), he “followed” the white rabbit (event) into the series of event that would lead him to “the real world”.
3. Chesire Cat – The Trickster archetypal figure – He is the deviously smiling cat that seems to want to assist Alice but instead only causes more trouble for her in the end.  He is not necessarily malevolent but is driven by a desire for mischief.
4. The Queen of Hearts – Again, not quite an archetypal FIGURE but represents a sort of archetypal EVENT.  Specifically, the queen represents a tyrannical ruling government  (some had suggested that Carroll was referring to Queen Victoria’s time).  This could also translate to a tyrannical form of parenting that children understand readily (regardless of it being from a mother, father, or step-parent, ahem… Cinderella).
5. Dinah - The Cat Figure – Not really.  Just a figure that Alice refers to throughout the storyline (with negative consequences on the inhabitants of Wonderland).
6. The Caterpillar – The Wise Man archetypal figure – The smoking guru of the Alice bunch that pride in patience (and yet anger).

*Keep in mind that a lot of the characters within the story (e.g., Dodo, The Mad Hatter) represents or parody someone that Carroll/Dodgson knew which may not fit into any particular archetypal figure, event, or motif (Source: see Character Allusions).

And, that is my two-cents to the archetypes in Wonderland.

Tags: Alice, alice in wonderland, alice's adventure in wonderland, archetypes, archetypes in wonderland, Carl Jung, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, follow the white rabbit, Lewis Carroll, Queen of Hearts, rabbit hole, The Queen of Hearts, white rabbit, wonderland
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What does your heart say?  Do each beat of the heart whispers a tale in itself that reverberate in dreams as you sleep?  (I’m going to hear a lot of nay’s from my bio friends).  Being a master of the art of the psych, my curious wanderings have led me into searching into the meaning of dreams.  It is part of what it means to be human since we all dream one time or another (and at times when we least expect it!).

Did you ever woke up from a dream that you thought was so real that you had to pinch yourself?  Your heart was beating fast or skipped a beat completely.  You might have been lucky enough to remember enough of it to write it down later in the day or maybe you have a dream journal next to your bed that you jot down ideas, figures, and themes.

One very famous psychologists, Carl Jung, had believed in archetypes.  He also believed that humans as a specie we are connected together from our ancient roots and that we still have this connection to each other through the unconscious.  This connection allows us to see symbolic meaning, realize myths, and much more.  From this theoretical viewpoint, we can express these symbols understandably among our fellow human beings and thus give power to any tale that make use of this.

What are archetypes?

Think of the stories that you have hear in your childhood.  You knew who were the “bad guys”, the “good guys”, and the “weird” (not always, but sometimes).  You knew what the “bad guys” and “good guys” were suppose to do and you knew how they would act towards anything.  ANY child could point out in the story which side each of these “guys” were taking.  Congratulations, archetypes work almost the same way.  They are inherent to every human beings and they are identifiable, universal, and great for tales!

Jung had proposed several universal types and there are more that rose from these concepts:

The archetypes pertaining to the self

1. The Self - this is the unadulterated self that we are not fully conscious about, it is the center of us and the one that influence the other self-archetypes
2. Animus/Anima – for girls, you have an Animus; for guys, the Anima.  It is the image that is projected from within us of the opposite sex
3. The Shadow - the untamed side of us, the wilderness, and the side of us that we try to deny
4. The Ego – your “I” identity and similar in some ways to Freud’s Ego concept and it is the wholly conscious side of the “I”
5. The Persona – the projected YOU.  It is the symbolic “mask” you wear that identify you in the outside world (e.g., “I am a student”, “I am Buddhist”, “I am a man”)

The archetypes seen within storytelling and tales (not complete, but some of the more popular archetypes):

1. The Hero - the representative of the ego and an ideal one, and we tend to identify ourselves with the heroes of story (e.g., Neo from The Matrix)
2. The Child – represents any infant, child, or small creature in the story that represents youth, hope/rebirth, and curiosity (e.g., Ofelia from Pan’s Labyrinth)
3. The Maiden – in most classic tales, there is a maiden or anima-figure that represents purity, innocence, and naivety (e.g., Princess Buttercup from The Princess Bride)
4. The Wise Man – in most classic tales, there is an ancient or animus-figure that represents knowledge/wisdom, something ancient, and discipline or order (e.g., Yoda from Star Wars)
5. The Trickster – represents the trouble-maker of the story and one that tries to mislead the hero (e.g., Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland)
6. The God – represents the divine figure(s) that give meaning to the universe, fate, and why things happen in the world that cannot be explained through conventional means (e.g., take your pick of any of the Greek or Roman gods or goddesses)
7. The Family – represents the individuals of a bloodline or those close enough to represent brother/sister/mother/father to the individual

So, now you have a bit of background in archetypical psychology.  Take a look back to your dream journal or whatever dreams you can remember.  Do you see any running themes?  Archetypes? Maybe your psyche is trying to tell you start writing a tale of your own and you can be sure that others can identify with you through these archetypical representations.  Good luck!

Tags: archetypes, Carl Jung, dreams, Jungian, symbols
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