ARCHETYPAL APPROACH SIMPLIFIED It is an approach of literary criticism that attempts to understand a text by focusing attention on the myths and archetypes that keep recurring in the narrative. There may be certain symbols, images and types of characters who keep reappearing again and again in the literary texts. An archetype is a statement, a type of behaviour, a prototype or a model that others emulate, imitate or copy. Archetypal criticism became very popular in the 140s and 1950s. The most important critic associated with archetypal criticism is the Canadian literary critic Northrop Frye (1912-1991). Archetypal criticism is also known as “the totemic, mythological or ritualistic” and it involves a very close reading of the text under consideration. More than a mere appreciation of the language and the way it is used to create the text, archetypal criticism focuses on the psychological effect of the work on the minds of the readers. It is sociologica...