Alice In Wonderland Archetype Essay
Hannah A. Mercado
IV Narra
Literature
Alice in Wonderland is a renown classic written by Lewis Carroll from 1865. While on a boat party, Lewis told tales to three children for entertainment. One of the children, Alice, was enamored by the story and requested that he write it down. This is what inspired the story. It is whimsical and caters to children’s delight and to some readers it is confusing at most. To better understand the tale, we will breakdown Alice’s character as an archetypal hero. Now what is an archetypal hero? An archetypal hero is one of the many universal symbols of literature. It is subdivided into hero archetypes: the quest, the initiation, and the sacrificial scapegoat. These are the three things that the protagonist must go through before he could be generally recognized as a hero.
Who is Alice? She is young girl set in the Victorian era of England. In the beginning of the story, she is well mannered and has an iron set of beliefs that come from her education and background. She is not exposed to any distressing or exciting situations and thus found herself bored. In search for adventure, she tumbles down a rabbit hole and encounters situations that would test her belief. …show more content…
Alice, in her monotonous afternoon, found something different: a talking white rabbit and in her curiosity, followed it. The rabbit and the garden symbolize desires or dreams that she would be chasing throughout the story. Her falling into the rabbit hole and into Wonderland is parallel to the first step of initiation. Separation is needed in order to isolate any other factors that would suggest that the hero’s efforts is not his. It also tests the hero’s qualities and is a catalyst for uprising conflicts. Exposing Alice to a whole new different world challenges her character. More so if it is the total opposite of what she believes is
IV Narra
Literature
Alice in Wonderland is a renown classic written by Lewis Carroll from 1865. While on a boat party, Lewis told tales to three children for entertainment. One of the children, Alice, was enamored by the story and requested that he write it down. This is what inspired the story. It is whimsical and caters to children’s delight and to some readers it is confusing at most. To better understand the tale, we will breakdown Alice’s character as an archetypal hero. Now what is an archetypal hero? An archetypal hero is one of the many universal symbols of literature. It is subdivided into hero archetypes: the quest, the initiation, and the sacrificial scapegoat. These are the three things that the protagonist must go through before he could be generally recognized as a hero.
Who is Alice? She is young girl set in the Victorian era of England. In the beginning of the story, she is well mannered and has an iron set of beliefs that come from her education and background. She is not exposed to any distressing or exciting situations and thus found herself bored. In search for adventure, she tumbles down a rabbit hole and encounters situations that would test her belief. …show more content…
Alice, in her monotonous afternoon, found something different: a talking white rabbit and in her curiosity, followed it. The rabbit and the garden symbolize desires or dreams that she would be chasing throughout the story. Her falling into the rabbit hole and into Wonderland is parallel to the first step of initiation. Separation is needed in order to isolate any other factors that would suggest that the hero’s efforts is not his. It also tests the hero’s qualities and is a catalyst for uprising conflicts. Exposing Alice to a whole new different world challenges her character. More so if it is the total opposite of what she believes is