Trickster figures are found throughout literature, religion, mythology, folklore, film, television, and history. They appear in many cultures and in different forms. There seems to be a sort of fascination with these trickster archetypes, who are usually clever, manipulative, selfish, treacherous, untrustworthy, thievish, deceitful and the list goes on. In film trickster characters are there to cross boundary and in doing so they also create boundaries by show us the flaws in our societies and making us question things. The trickster stories are told to enlighten us of the dangers of extreme situations in society, what people can become given certain situations in their lives and to teach us life lessons. They also serve as comic relief and …show more content…
Loki is seen as such a big threat that he is locked in a cell, meant to confine the Hulk, and yet as the trickster always does he eventually gets out of his confinement. His overconfident and unworried attitude alone seems to be taunting the heroes. He knows how to get under peoples skins with/without words and by simple behavior. The power of presence and behavior under even less than favorable condition is really powerful and helps Loki disturb the team. The trickster even fooled the avenger into thinking they had fooled him. He pretends to fall for Black Widows trick and “accidently” reveals his plot to use the Hulks rampage to destroy the place, allowing him to go free. Loki’s true plan is to pit the Avengers against the Hulk and have the controlled Hawkeye come to his aid and distract the avengers. The Hulk does end up rampaging, as Loki planned, and even revealing his plot didn’t stop it from happening. It doesn’t just show how calculating Loki is but how understanding the other characters allow him to use them to his advantages. A common theme of trickster stories is their ability to escape situations using wit and cunningness. Loki is freed and uses his power of illusion to trick Thor into entering the cell, thereby trapping him inside. With tricksters it is never as easy as “seeing is believing”, especially with Loki who is an expert sorcerer with the power of illusions and shapeshifting. The trickster teaches us to always stay one step ahead and not to relax our guard, even when we think things are going our way, but to stay on alert because you never know when someone might gain the upper hand. Loki’s action also brings some good as he unties the avengers, who had previously done nothing but argue and fight amongst themselves. When he “kills” Phil Coulson it motivates the Avengers to work
Le Morte d’Arthur and many other stories have many wonderful archetypes in them. The definition of an archetype is a typical character action or situation that seems to represent universal patterns of human nature. This means that things represent things that naturally happen and will still happen. Archetypes play into Le Morte d'Arthur by showing how the character act and react with other characters and objects. In Thomas Malory´s Le Morte d´Arthur he illustrates the three types of archetypes they include character, situational, and symbolic.
Glasspell, Susan Trifles. Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing 4th Ed.
Archetypes are a common theme in many ancient mythologies across the world, and have become a common characteristic in modern day pop culture. A popular archetype is the Trickster, which has a strong influence in the popular T.V. show Supernatural. The trickster archetype in Supernatural is similar to the tricksters Loki in the Prose Edda and Prometheus in Roman culture because they share similar powers, they experiences a battle of wits with the gods, and the outcomes of the trickster’s deeds lead to their punishment. The trickster in Supernatural is also very similar to the god trickster Loki in the Prose Edda because of their relationship between the other gods.
Flannery O’ Conner’s short story, “A good man is hard to find”, explains emotional reactions, betrayal, and violence. The misfit is an example of a devil figure. This character archetype is best seen when we see the misfit’s true colors shine as he murders the grandmother and her family. O’ Conner uses setting archetypes best when she uses a clear bright sky or an open dirt road, which can mean a variety of outcomes. This helps understand the many plot twists in the story. We best see symbolic archetypes as the three bandits including the misfit. They represent a mock of the holy trinity and represent evil. “The fall” is a good archetype that shows the misfit’s lack of innocence when he betrays the grandmother. This best explains the whole
In modern times, phrases such as “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,” are commonly used. Also, the mere word revenge holds negative connotations as it is seen as immature and unnecessary. The theme of revenge uses archetypes to develop ideas without having to reiterate their meaning. According to the creator of the term, Carl Jung, “archetypes are defined as being a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of thought, image, etc., universally present in individual psyches.” (Dictionary) The Count of Monte Cristo, one of the novels that pioneer this theme, tells the story of a man’s quest for revenge on those who betrayed him. This man spends 14 years of his life imprisoned because of his betrayers, but he manages to escape to avenge his suffering. In the novel The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas uses the archetypes of the byronic hero, the betrayer and the old sage to demonstrate that one’s suffering doesn’t give them the right to seek revenge on those who have failed them.
The Maze Runner is a 2014 mystery/science fiction film that can be viewed from an archetypal perspective. An archetype can be described as a pattern that can and is copied and recurring symbols or characters. The concept of archetypes came from Carl Jung a psychiatrist who believed that all cultures use archetypes to build stories without communicating to each other about them. Two groups of archetypes are the character and symbolic archetypes. The film The Maze Runner should be analyzed through an archetypal perspective because it has character and symbolic archetypes.
Villains today are typically shown wearing dark colors, large capes, mean eyes, and maybe a pointy-nose. The villain has their evil cackle that suggests that they know what they are doing is evil, but they love doing the evil things. For the most part, they are never regretful of their actions. Take Gargamel, from the movie The Smurfs. Gargamel is the evil wizard and enemy of the smurfs, whose main goal is to destroy them. He wears a dark cape, has a pointy nose, and an evil laugh. Throughout the movie, he never changes his views on his actions or questions his reasoning for attempting, what we would call murder. In the end he is defeated by the hero of the movie, while still coming back in follow-up movies to attempt his goal again and again. This archetype is not quite the villain archetype presented through Claudius of the novel
Throughout life individuals face many challenges testing their values and personality one situation at a time. In the evocative novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton themes of growing up and innocence are shown. Ponyboy is not your average 14 year old he is part of a gang known to many as the Greasers. He encounters many situations testing his values and beliefs. Having lost both his parents recently he and his brothers stick together like a true family but this relationship is tested when Darry hits Ponyboy. He also experiences the loss several close friends in a very short period of time. Throughout this novel, Ponyboy encounters many life changing experiences that prove he is a dynamic character.
Ken Kesey the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest, allows the reader to explore different psychoanalytic issues that plague the characters in his novel. Carl Jung disciple of Sigmund Fraud created “The Collective Unconscious” his theory based on how the mind can be easily overtaken by many outside factors from the past or present and even those that one is born with. The novel takes place in an asylum that is aimed to contain individuals that have mental issues from schizophrenia to repressed memories that are causing insanity. The nurses are seen as tyrants and actually worsens health of the patients turning some from acutes to chronics (incurable), while the patients are limited by their initial conditions or their developing conditions
Comparing the Villains in Much Ado About Nothing and Othello & nbsp; The two villains in Much Ado About Nothing and Othello share much in common, despite their numerous differences. It is evident that Shakespeare framed the second piece of literature to be similar to the first. Although shorter, the plot of “Othello” is definitely more complex. The villains play a major part in the novels, and are very much alike in their line of thinking. The comedy, “Much Ado About Nothing” depicts the story of a group of high-ranking soldiers who travel through a town called Messina.
Many would perceive madness and corruption to play the most influential role in Hamlet. However, it could be argued that the central theme in the tragedy is Shakespeare's presentation of actors and acting and the way it acts as a framework on which madness and corruption are built. Shakespeare manifests the theme of actors and acting in the disassembly of his characters, the façades that the individuals assume and the presentation of the `play within a play'. This intertwined pretence allows certain characters to manipulate the actions and thoughts of others. For this reason, it could be perceived that Shakespeare views the `Elsinorean' tragedy as one great puppet show, "I could see the puppets dallying".
The Joker, Sauron, Plankton, Lord Voldemort, Kronos, Shego, and Hades are all very well-known villains in today’s world (at least in the U.S.). But, what makes them villains? A villain is made out of who the person is and what he or she does with his/her life. A villain is a person who is evil, hates people, gets even/gets revenge, is conniving and/or sneaky, a person who is manipulative, and a person who can (and does) keep up a false reputation. The character Iago, the main antagonist of William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice definitely qualifies as a villain under these circumstances because he is manipulative, conniving, and keeps up a false reputation (that he’s honest and trustworthy).
There are many literary works that contain villains who play an essential role in the development of the work as a whole. However, I believe that the ultimate villain of this kind is Iago in Shakespeare’s play, Othello. Through manipulation and scheming, he beguiles the other characters of the novel.
Furthermore, the main rising action and plot twist of the film are also products of Loki’s antics. The instigating moment which causes Thor to visit Jotunheim is in fact caused by Loki. Loki manages to sneak Giants into Asgard in order to create tension between Thor and the Giants, ultimately leading Thor to his banishment. This is consistent with events in Ragnarok, also known as the Doom of the Gods, where Loki is seen to side with, and even lead, the Giants and against the gods (Somerville and McDonald 51). The unanticipated plot twist in the film is that Loki initially betrays the gods and cooperates with the Giants, but is revealed to have double-crossed the Giants in order to gain Odin’s favour. All this treachery leads one to question Loki’s loyalty, as that is a very important quality of a warrior. This would usually bring up the subject of honour, but it is known throughout mythology that Loki is an eccentric character, and like Odin, transgresses boundaries. He has sacrificed his honour on many occasions, such as dressing up as “Freya’s” handmaiden, or seducing a horse, and fathering monstrous offspring (Lindow 217). Therefore, the fact that Loki misleads the gods and deceives the Giants in Thor is not
For thousands of years, across incredibly diverse cultural, religious, and societal systems, people have created tales of intriguing trickster figures. The stories of these character’s exploits were told and retold, passed down through the oral tradition to the following generations. These tales are told primarily to amuse the audience, as the trickster’s actions are typically both hilarious and shocking, but the folktales serve an even greater purpose. The duplicitous tomfoolery and irreverence of most tricksters highlight the culture’s most vital social values and focuses attention on the nature and importance of those value’s. According the Joseph Campbell in An Open Life, a trickster “…breaks in, just as the unconscious does, to trip up the rational situation. He’s both a fool and someone who’s beyond the system…The mind structures a lifestyle, and…the trickster represents another whole range of possibilities.” In their original context the actions of a trickster have dual meanings, those within the story and those conveyed to the audience. In this essay I will explore, the paradox of the West African and Afro-American trickster Anansi the Spider, whose existence as a literary figure resulted far more heroism than within the stories