Archetypes are a huge part of any form of literature, especially in William Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar”. In this story, the archetypes are very easy to identify, mostly the character archetypes. The archetypes that I chose to identify are the “Stormy Night” symbolic archetype, “The Deceiver” character archetype, and “The Fall” situational archetype. All three of these archetypes play huge roles in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, as I will explain in this essay.
For the first archetype, I will go into detail about “The Fall” situational archetype. This “fall” in “The Tragedy of Julius Caesar” happens the moment of Caesar’s death, and society went into a period of civil war. “The Fall” represents a huge change in society, or a “fall” of the old ways. This usually happens in a bad way. Another show with this same archetype is Tokyo Ghoul, when the ghouls, which are hated by humans, start a war against them, which causes a decline in society. The city was all but destroyed, and many lives were lost on both sides. This fall obviously being a bad one.
The second archetype I will talk about is “The Deceiver” character archetype. I’m pretty sure everyone reading this knows who this archetype applies to. Of course, I am talking about Caesar’s long-time friend Brutus. Brutus is the one who delivered the final blow to Caesar in the stomach. But hey, you know what they say, true friends stab you in the front. Greek Mythology also has this archetype in it, as to where Zeus, the God of the Sky, tricked Hades into ruling the underworld. I’d probably give him the title of worst brother ever.
For my last archetype, I chose the “Stormy Night” symbolic archetype. This of course, is on the night of Caesar’s death. Even after the soothsayers told him not to go anywhere, and to “Beware the ides of March,” stubborn ol’ Caesar decided to go anyways. The stormy night usually represents, sadness, depression, or sometimes even death. In The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, during the Battle of Helm’s Deep, a stormy night comes just before the orcs show up to rein terror upon the protagonists’ army. Of course, the stormy night in this situation represents death, sadness, and depression.
So, archetypes are pretty cool huh? They put even more to think about in already huge storylines, and it’s fun to talk with your friends about what archetypes you identified. It makes the story more interesting, and it may even help you relate to your favorite characters even more. I strongly recommend identifying archetypes in works of literature that you read. Comment if you used any of these archetypes and what you related them to!