Archetypal Spectrum In The Princess Bride And Mister Pipus The King

Archetypal Spectrum
Carl Jung created the concept of the collective unconscious, which theorizes that certain thoughts, beliefs and ideas are shared amongst people on a universal level. An example of which being that individuals all over the world share a mutual vision of what constructs the image of an ideal hero. A few traits that a hero identifies with would be using their muscles and powers for not only the good, but for the better of their collective community. A similar picture is painted universally when thinking about this specific character, thus a hero is categorized as an archetype. Along with the hero archetype, there is also the villain archetype. The villain is thought to be the exact opposite of a hero. Characteristics of the

ideal villain often include darkness, being filled with evil, and using their muscles and powers for wrongdoing. Stories in literature nearly always include these two character archetypes. The Princess Bride, created by William Goldman and Mister Pip, a creation from the mind of Lloyd Jones, both include these stereotypical depictions, without which the plot would lack motive.

Similar to how The Princess Bride and Mister Pip have opposite tones and are different genres, the hero and the villain are also on polar ends of the archetypal spectrum. The villain is characterized as deceptive, selfish and willing to use any power they are in possession of, for self fulfillment at the expense of the collective common good. Meanwhile the hero is selfless and assists others before themselves.
In The Princess Bride, Prince Humperdinck possesses qualities of deception and wickedness that easily associate him with the classic archetypal villain. The prince not only has determination to execute a crime, but also a duplicitous plan to blame another for the sin he commits. He has “a wife to murder and a country to frame for it” (Goldman 255). Taking advantage of a banter between two countries, his country (Florin) and the enemy country (Guilder), he plots the murder of his spouse. His deception is shown as he believes it is “crucial that all of Florin realize the depth of his love, the epochal size of his loss, since then no one would dare hesitate to follow him in the revenge war he [is]

to launch against Guilder” (Goldman 244). He deludes his people into believing he is madly in love with his queen, not because it may be true, but so that when his plan unravels, his people will feel sympathy for him. The prince then plans to manipulate these emotions to a point where all his followers will join him in a political war against Guilder. He is willing to take a whole country into a period of suffering and tragedy due to his own personal experience with an individual from the country, which is also the reason why he despises Guilder. Prince Humperdinck’s true intentions further illustrate his connection to the archetypal villain. In addition to his scheming evil plans, the shameless execution of these plans connects Prince Humperdinck to the ideal villain. The prince “hire[s] the Sicilian...convinced it [is] best that someone else do her in, all while making it appear the work of soldiers from Guilder” (Goldman 244). Prince Humperdinck uses intelligence, knowing that the only way to have his people believe that Guilder truly did murder their queen is to show evidence. His deceptive qualities compose a scheme which will only truly help himself handle a personal battle at the risk of his people. In order to convince the people that it is also their fight, he plots the murder of his beloved and uses intelligence to frame his enemy. The intention of his plans proves his self-centeredness, while the performance of his plan indicates the deceptive quality that is contained in the midst of his villain-like personality.
A mother is known to be a nurturer to her child.

Displaying actions of love and affection towards the child she held inside of her for nine months. However, she may wear a different cape towards the rest of the world. In Mister Pip Matilda’s mother, Dolores, owns qualities that unite her image with the archetypal villain. Comparatively, both Prince Humperdinck and Dolores can be categorized as selfish along with devious. However, they are selfish and devious in their own way. Dolores’ dishonesty costs the entire village to “[lose] things, irreplaceable things” (Jones 110). She allows for the entire village to be burnt to ashes due to her stubbornness and egotistical mentality. When the officer repeatedly asks where and who Pip is, no one gave an answer. When a fellow citizen of Dolores attempts to explain that Pip is only a character of a book named Great Expectations by the legendary Charles Dickens, there is no evidence of this because Dolores conceals the book in a mat at her house. Instead she stands in silence, “silence that [is] meant to destroy Pip and the standing of Mr. Watts” (Jones 109), a man who she sees as a threat to her position in her beloved daughter's heart and life. Matilda’s mother expresses her protection and fear as any mother would, but she allows for others in the village to suffer. She “[keeps] silent when she could have saved the possessions of the village” (Jones 109), only with the excuse of not competing with the imaginary character that Mr.

Watts introduces her daughter to. Exactly how Prince Humperdinck acts selfish with allowing his country to go to war because of a personal conflict with an individual from Gilder, Matilda’s mother acts selfish with permitting the village being burnt down because she hid the key to safety due to her own personal battle with Mr. Watts. Both Prince Humperdinck and Dolores inner motives show their egocentric mindset, while their plan itself is sneaky. Together, both characters demonstrate the length they will go to allow other people to suffer while they are content, indicating their mental attitude to only think of the benefit of themselves. Their ways of betrayal and falsehood embellish their personal villain persona.
Contrastingly, the hero archetype is acknowledged with selfless behaviour and is often the saviours of others. In The Princess Bride, the opposing persona of Prince Humperdinck would be Westley, whom demonstrates altruistism on numerous occasions. He unhesitantly risks his own life for the safety and well being of Buttercup, saving her not only from three kidnappers, but also through the dangers and trials of the infamous Fire Swamp. The only thing Wesley knows is that “Buttercup [is] down at the ravine bottom beside him” (Goldman 192) and that is enough for him to enter the lethal swamp willinging. He values Buttercup’s life above his own when he commits to going into the Fire Swamp, which enlightens the heroic figure within him. Not only is he willing to go into the danger of the Fire Swamp in order for his beloved to escape Prince Humperdinck, but he is willing to save Buttercup through her encounters in the Fire Swamp. As Buttercup is sinking in the Snow Sand, Westley fearlessly jumps in to save her. Knowing that when she comes out she will be “upset and hysterical and possibly even brain tumbled. But alive. And that [is], in the end, the only lasting fact of lasting import” (Goldman 204) to Westley. And thus, Westley jumps in to save her, risking his life to attempt to save Buttercup. His heroism is explicitly shown when the only thing that matters to him as he thinks about saving his love from the Snow Sand, is at least she will be alive, but not a thought about himself. If, hypothetically, Westley was to be classified with the villain, then he would have thought of how the Snow Sand would affect him and if he was to come out alive. His worries are directed towards how this experience will affect her and how she will feel afterwards. His selflessness contributes to being Buttercups saviour-both from the Fire Swamp, but also from the villain. These traits and events allow for him to be seen as the ideal hero.
A hero is not always filled with mystery or with muscle. Mr. Watts, from Mister Pip, is proof that a hero can be an ordinary person. Similar to Westley, Mr. Watts is selfless towards Matilda, the protagonist in the novel. He psychologically rescues Matilda rather than physically rescuing her from hardships. Mr. Watts allows for the children to escape the civil war within another dimension through the book he introduces them to, Great Expectations. But, it is not only the book that allows for Matilda to detach from her islands warfare. It was how the book is specifically read to them. Mr. Watts gives the “kids another piece of the world. [Matilda] found she could go back to it as often as [she] like[s]” (Jones 24). Mr. Watts imitates the voices of all the characters and created a performance while reading that allow the children to believe that for just for a small duration of time, they were apart of another time period in another place far away from their troubles. He gives Matilda hope of a world filled with gentlemen, individuals like Magwitch and friends like Pip. He saves Matilda from being completely psychologically damaged by the conditions of her environment. Comparatively, both Wesley and Mr. Watts save the protagonist in their individual novels, but both save their protagonist from a different perspective. Westley physically saves Buttercup from situations occurring in the real world, while Mr. Watts rescues Matilda’s frame of mind from real world problems. Mr. Watts concern of Matildas future associate him with the ideal archetypal villain. He acts in a magnanimous way when privately informing Matilda that a boat that invites anyone on the island to their freedom is coming. Informing her that she is able to escape with him. However, the action that shows the true nature of Mr. Watts is when he offers for the enemy psyche (known as Matilda mother) to come along. Heros and villains are always considered to be opponents in a literary world, but Mr. Watts is able to blur any personal debate with the villain in order to do what is in the best interests of any individual, which would be to get out of a war zone. Just as Wesley was able to place higher amount of value on Buttercups life than his own, Mr. Watts is able to place what is morally right above his own personal opinion. Both Mr. Watts and Westley’s identities are composed of the elements that define a archetypal hero, thus concluding that they are the ideal archetypal hero's.
The archetypal villain and hero are known to rest on opposite ends of the archetypal spectrum. The villain is identified with qualities of deception and selfishness, while the hero is diagnosed with qualities of selflessness and saving others. Both these universally known characters will always remain on opposite ends of the archetypal spectrum, as what they stand for is contrastive towards one another. However, both these archetypes contribute towards building a plot with motive.