Archetypes and Rhetorical Theory

An archetype is frequently used as a metaphor and is an original ideal or classic model that taps into a primary human experience, such as birth, sex, or death. Prominent archetypes often come in ideographic paired oppositions, for example, light and dark, heat and cold, disease and health. Archetypes are considered to be universal symbols because they are deployed across space, time, and cultures. They help humans make sense of experiences and aid their storytelling. To the extent that public relations has rhetorical groundings, it depends on archetypes.

Archetypes can be either things or ideas. They “exist” whenever a basic commonality can be demonstrated among diverse sets of communicative acts. They link seemingly discrete symbolic acts separated by time, space, and culture and align them into a coherent narrative.

Michael Osborne (1967) argued that archetypes arouse emotion because they provide “a kind of double association…. The subject is associated with a prominent feature of experience which has already become associated with human motivations” (p. 116). An archetype facilitates an audience's understanding and experience of community in situations where ceremonial communication is required.

The light/dark metaphor family provides a particularly salient set of archetypes. Osborne (1967) wrote, “It is most illuminating to think of these sources as kind of a spatial family in which light and darkness occupies [sic] the center, and the sun, heat and cold and seasonal sources range out from it in that order of proximity” (p. 117). Light associates with survival and developmental instincts, whereas darkness is associated with vulnerability and fear of the unknown.

Osborne also noted that no rhetorician was more aware

Archetypes are also widely employed in coalescing communities. Lacking an inventory of shared symbols, rhetors (rhetoricians) call on archetypes in order to accomplish their metaphorical work.

Archetypal analysis begins with creative speculation. The critic identifies a potential archetype that [Page 42]is believed to bring coherence to a series of communication acts dispersed over time, space, and culture. In the exploration and testing phase of archetypal analysis, the critic traces the use of the archetypal motif across those same concepts. If the analyst succeeds in showing that the motif recurs in persistent and important ways, they then move on to identifying concepts associated with the recurring image.

In the evaluation phase, the critic assesses how archetype usage illuminates the rhetorical preferences and practices of a culture. The critic can also examine how the meaning of an archetype shifts over time. Osborne (1977) found that the archetype of the sea accumulated new associations over time. In antiquity, it was conceived as a hostile environment that threatened civilization (i.e., the ship of state). However, by the time of the industrial revolution, the sea came to be seen as a place where one could escape the stultifying conventionality and oppressive working conditions of industrial society. The sea was still a challenging place, but one where an individual could test and prove oneself, or fail in the attempt.

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