Beowulf's Archetypical Lens Criticism

Before examining Beowulf through the archetypical lens criticism, it must be explained exactly what an archetype implies and how it affects the work being examined. An archetype is a concept that was first defined by Carl Jung, a swiss psychologist who attempted to relate recurring themes in literary works to a collective unconscious that all humans have. Jung theorized that this phenomena of recurring themes of heroes, mentors, heralds, shapeshifters, and so on in literary works could be contributed to the idea that there was a collective set of innate emotions and ideas that resided in all humans. This theory has been able to account for several literary works analyzed through the archetypical lens criticism.
Joseph Campbell, an American

scholar, was heavily influenced by these concepts introduced by Jung’s works. Campbell built on Jung’s works to introduce the archetypes of the hero and the quest that they follow in his work The Hero with a Thousand Faces. This work was then further expanded by Carol Pearson in Awakening The Heroes Within. In this, Pearson divides the heroes archetypes into twelve different categories that all have a quest that the hero sets out on, a motivation that drives the hero, a conflict that attempts to prevent the hero from achieving the quest, a task that the hero must accomplish to achieve the quest, and a virtue gained from achieving the quest. After examining these various archetypes, it can be seen that Beowulf transitions through two major discernable archetypes: starting as the warrior seeking glory, and then aging into the wise old caregiver that seeks purpose through protecting his people.
The archetypical themes driving the plot of Beowulf will first be examined before focusing on Beowulf himself. Christopher Booker, an English author, stated in his book The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories that a story follows seven main themes. Following this depiction of the basic archetypes covered in literature, Beowulf appears to contain two major themes: that of overcoming the monster or evil, which can be seen throughout the story as the great Geat warrior fights off several horrible creatures; and the second theme being that of the outsider in society.