The Seven Basic Plots - Christopher Booker [173]
The first step towards this lies in focusing at last on a crucial element in storytelling which we have so far touched on only obliquely. Up to now we have concentrated on the structure of stories. What we must now look at in the same way are the characters who appear in stories. Just as we have seen how much of the seemingly almost infinite variety of storytelling resolves in the end down to providing variations on just a handful of plots, we now similarly see how all the host of characters who teem through storytelling ultimately resolve down to just a handful of basic archetypal figures. As we see what each of these figures stands for, and the nature of their fundamental relationships to the hero or heroine, so we arrive at the central key to understanding what stories are really about.
`The Shadow is the door to our individuality. Insofar as the Shadow is our first view of the unconscious part of our personality, it represents the first stage towards meeting the Self.'
Edward Whitmont, The Symbolic Quest
It is no accident that many of the stories we particularly respond to in childhood are based on the Rags to Riches plot, because no other type of story so consistently follows the growing up of its central figure from childhood into adult life. We begin with a little hero or heroine who, in the early stages of the story, usually at home, is powerless, ill-treated and unhappy. The main reason for this is that they are cruelly overshadowed by heartless older figures who look down on them with contempt and hostility. David Copperfield is the little orphan who, after losing his real parents, has fallen into the clutches of Mr and Miss Murdstone, who become his tyrannical step-parents. Jane Eyre is the little orphan who, miserable in the guardianship of her dead mother's sister and scorned by her young cousins, is sent off to the orphanage by the tyrannical pillar of rectitude Mr Brocklehurst. The little orphan Cinderella is tyrannised over by her wicked stepmother and ugly stepsisters. Joseph is despised and nearly killed by his older brothers. In fact, if we examine a whole range of Rags to Riches stories, we see how these overshadowing dark figures who surround the hero or heroine at the beginning of the story fall into three main categories:
1. The Dark Father
Firstly there is the older man who stands in some position of power or authority over the hero or heroine, usually in the place of a lost father: e.g., Copperfield's stepfather Mr Murdstone; Jane Eyre's Mr Brocklehurst; Aladdin's Sorcerer, who pretends to be the long-lost brother of the hero's dead father. This powerful, tyrannical figure, representing strong male authority in its most heartless, egotistical guise, is the Dark Father.
2. The Dark Mother
Secondly there is his female counterpart, the older woman who may stand in place of a lost mother: e.g., Copperfield's Miss Murdstone; Jane Eyre's Aunt Reed; Cinderella's stepmother, who has replaced her real, loving mother. This similarly heartless and oppressive figure is the Dark Mother.
3. The Dark Rivals
Thirdly there are the younger characters, of the same sex as the hero or heroine, and of roughly similar age and status, who also act as oppressors: e.g., Cinderella's stepsisters, Joseph's jealous brothers.
As the hero or heroine go out into the world, they may meet with more general scorn or persecution from society at large: e.g., the other animals who heap derision on the Ugly Duckling, or the bystanders who scorn the ragged, uncouth little flower seller Eliza Doolittle. But, as the story develops, the only other serious contender they are likely to encounter along the way is:
4. The Dark Other Half
This is a character of the opposite sex who seems to hold