1、 The archetype and western literatureThe concept of archetype is indispensable in collective unconscious, it points out that the spirit of the existence of various certain forms. In general, these forms are always exist in anyplace and anytime. Thats the reason why the impact of the archetype in Gre
2、ek myths on the literature is always there, which guide the literature of western countries into a completely different direction and has great affection on its development. Every time when we study about literature, we can find the trace of the archetype in Greek myths. There are two kinds, one is
3、that we can find some representatives of these archetypes appear in some articles, or some person who has the characteristics the archetypes have, which is called surface shift. The other one is deep shift, its about the Life view, values, cultural view point, love, freedom and human nature and some
4、 concepts smriti from the Greek myths. In Surface shift(表层移位), there are all kinds of archetypes in the literature. There are many famous heroes in Greek myths who have acquired different maverlous successes, such as the famous story about Argonauticas heroes, the story of king Oedipus, the story of
5、 Theseuss getting rid of evil for the people, one of the most famous affairs is the sophocless 12 pieces of the great merit. The archetype of hero has great influence on traditional western literary, it not only affects the whole structure of western literary works order but also affect the lofty st
6、yle of literature and the heroic spirit of character image. According to different kinds of things they have done, these heroes can be divided into several specific types: pirates hero (such as represented in the gorbachevs hero), drifting hero (such as Odysseus), war hero (such as Achilles), busine
7、ss hero (such as Jason, Odysseus), which represent different archetypes in Greek myths. These archetypes of heroes form the hero theme in western history of literature. The development vein of the western literature is as follows: hero in history of Greek myths-medieval knight hero-Renaissance noble
8、 hero (such as Shakespeare)-tramp the heroes- classical heroes in 17th century( such as high in tragedy is the XiDe) - business heroes in 18th century( such as lubin Sun)-the civilians heroes in the early 19th century ( such as Stendhal) hero of psychology experiments in the late nineteenth century(
9、such as Dostoevsky“ crime and punishment)- modern heroes 20 century, such as kafka and Joyce. All these different kinds of heroes are developing from these archetypes of heroes. Apart from this, there are also some other kinds of archetypes in Greek myths, Zeus, Athena, Hera, artemis and so on, all
10、of these image in Greek myths also have their archetype in literature.In deep shift（深层移位）, the literature inherit from the same values toward same things, which is called collective unconscious, maybe the view is not right, but it just because all human beings think its right, then its right. The an
11、cient Greek culture is a kind of desire type culture, the persons nature can get the maximum stretch. It encourages human beings to display their human nature, and endorse mans common life and individuals value. One of the most typical people is Achilles. In Greek myths, he just doesnt care about an
12、yone else except the people close to him. He just thought he was insulted, so he wont go out to fight though so many soldiers died in the field until his good friend died on battle. He is just that kind of person who display his own characteristics. We can also find this in some famous writers work.
13、 For instance, in the play Romeo and Juliet, the two people just pursue their dream, they just love each other very much, they dont care about anyone else. They have showed themselves.In ancient Greek myths, No matter in the time of matriarchy or patriarchy, the difference between the position of me
14、n and women is also obvious. First the matriarchy，later the patriarchy. In the time of matriarchy，they are the core of the world. After stepping into patriarchy，they are no longer that noble ,they rely on man instead of themselves. All this also have great impact on the literature. They are many wor
15、ks extolling womens beauty and noble characteristics, later some works show a kind of sympathy toward these poor women. After the male gods become the main part, the whole American extol the male literature. Among the literature In the 20 century, such as Britains Lawrence, Germanys Thomas mann, the
16、 United States of Theodore dreiser, Hemingway, all these writers works have prominent male consciousness, which is greatly influenced by the Male standard myth.All in all, the archetypes of Greek myths have great influence on literature. This deep shift is really enormous reflected in the literature
17、. The view of universe, nature, ethics, and men and women status concept, power consciousness, revenge consciousness in Greek myths has influenced westerners the way of thinking and behavior for one thousand years, these are the accumulation of collective unconscious. All these views are inherited w
18、ell in western literature. Shakespear exploit the deep shift perfectly in his works. Perhaps in some ways Shakespeare is not consciously pursue these views, but the collective unconscious is in his mind, it will quietly governs his artistic imagination. Shakespeare go with the thought pattern of anc
19、ient Greeks, and attribute these phenomena of nature, which couldnt be explained, to gods arrangement. During the Renaissance, although science has greater success than ancient Greece, but the cognitive ability of people are still limited. Although we human beings know more and more natural, knowled
20、ge is more and more abundant, we can never conquer the nature, Greek myths will always be the guide. The views in it will always affect writers thinking.All in all, the archetypes in Greek myths have great influence on western literature. It was reflected in two ways, in surface shift, and deep shift.参考文献荣格集体无意识的概念（英文版）M.北京：中国社会科学弗莱文学中的原型，威严的均称出版社，1999.朱维之。外国文学史【M】 。天津：南开大学出版社，1997.张薇，外国文学研究 2008 年第 6 期。
