A Basis For Semantic-Structural Classification Of Fiction

Articles

A Basis For Semantic-Structural Classification Of Fiction

By Tamar Mebuke
Apr. 29, 2005

The article represents an attempt to trace the mythological archetypes in the the works of different prosaic genres.. The main prosaic genres are considered to be an essay, a scetch, a novel, a tale, a story, ashort novel and a novel. The structural distinction of the epic genres is carried out on the basis of 5 main properties: 1. plotless, one plot, multiplot works,2. the main mode of narration,3. the existence of free narrative motives,4 monothematic or polythematic paragraphs ( as a unit of primary division of the text by the authour), monofunctional or polyfunctional paragraphs.(1). 1. An essay – is a literary work of small size, that represents reasoning to any of those selected by the author themes: it is a plotless genre. Prevailing method of the account of material is reasoning, the elements of narration and description are only parts of separate paragraphs. The absolute majority of the paragraphs of essay are monothematic, all paragraphs are monofunctional. An essay occupies the intermediate position between a scientific article and a fictional text. The tendency of the author toward the logical principle of the account of material draws the essay together with the scientific article. Subjectivity of estimations and the relatively free arrangement of material draws an essay close to fictional works. 2. The scetch is a work, representing the picture of any phenomenon or event in the form of its description. The subjective view of the author on the object of image is characteristic for the scetch. The scetch is a plotless genre. Prevailing method of the account of material is description. The units of narration and reasoning enter into the composition only of a part of paragraphs. All paragraphs of description are monofunctional. Majorities of paragraphs of a scetch are monothematic. 3. The short story is a work, consisting of one expanded narrative line with the main narrative points (exposure, beginning, culmination, denouement), constituting separate paragraphs. All paragraphs are narrative. Elements of description, reasonings and free narrative motives are only parts of separate paragraphs. In the short story the absolute majority of paragraphs are monothematic. All paragraphs are monofunctional. 4. The story is a work, consisting of several narrative lines, expanded to independent short story constructions with the main narrative points, constituting separate paragraphs. The basic method of the account of material is narration. The units of description and reasoning comprise, as a rule, a part of separate paragraphs. A significant quantity of paragraphs is multithemantic. A number of paragraphs is polyfunctional. Narrative lines, those forming parts of a story are built according to the type of short stories, that is, the story is the first complex genre, combining several short story constructions. The presence of the independently designed free narrative motives is not a relevant sign either for the story, or for other multi-plot genres. There is a significant quantity of polythemantic and polyfunctional paragraphs in the story due to intersection of several plot lines. 5.The tale. The work starts with the minimum narrative, consisting of one plot line with the main narrative points, constituting, at least, separate paragraphs, and with as the minimum, one TS (text section - a group of the semantically connected paragraphs)of description or reasoning. The majory of paragraphs are narrative of monothematic. All paragraphs are monofunctional. A quantity of units of description and reasoning for the tale is not limited. Narrative can be constructed as the combination of narrative units of the text with the units of description and \or reasoning. 6.The short novel is a work, that occupying intermediate position between the story and the novel, contains several expanded plot lines with the main narrative points, constituting, at least, separate paragraphs.The narrative lines are constructed according to the type of a short story. As in the tale, in the short novel there are not only separate paragraphs but also paragraph complexes, TS of description and \or reasoning. There is a significant quantity of polithemantic and polyfunctional paragraphs in the short novel, as in a multi-plot genre. 7. The novel consists of several expanded narrative lines, and also free narrative motives. A quantity of units of description and reasoning in the novel reaches the volume of individual chapters. The chapters of reasoning and description in their structure do not differ from the essay and the scetch with the types of paragraphs characteristic for their structure. Narrative lines are constructed according to the type of a short story or a tale.The main narrative points comprise, at least, separate paragraphs. Considerable number of polythemantic and polyfunctional paragraphs is characteristic for the novel. Thus, the novel is maximally synthetic genre, including a scetch, an essay, a short story and a tale, and also all transitional between them forms. Their combination is different in each novel.The novel is the most panoramic of all genres, giving the complete image of the object in all its interrelations from the point of view of the author. The semantic classification of works is accomplished on the basis of the presence of universal archetypes, different methods of disclosure and combination of which is inherent in one genre or another. For this we take one of the groups of the semantically connected mythologemas, since the myth is the structural organization of the very principles of literature, in which mythological archetypes are only modified and to the foreground comes out the idea of the eternal repetition of primary mythological prototypes for the expression of universal archetypes and for constructing of the narration.(2). The myth itself is used as a metaphor. For the present work one of the central cycles of myths connected with the Zodiacal signs was selected. The selection of this closed system of myths is based on that fact, that the myth in its essence is principally cosmic and the space model composes the nucleus of the mythological model of the world. The pathos of mythology is subordinated to the harmonizing and ordering endeavor and is oriented to such an integral approach to the world, in which even the least elements of chaos are not allowed. The transformation of chaos into cosmos composes the basic sense of mythology, the cosmos from the very beginning includes value, ethical aspect. Secondly the selection of this cycle of myths is caused by the fact, that the boundaries of our universe are limited for us by the boundaries of Zodiac. The circle of Zodiac symbolically presents for us the space, to which the God confined Himself, in order to create the world. On the basis of a study of antique and Biblical myths (lying at the basis of not only West European, but also the entire Christian culture ), connected with the Zodiac are located mythologemas and their mapping in the literary works, since nothing other, besides the interpretation of reality, cannot consist in the content, or in the morphology of the myth. Myths preserve and transfer paradigms- imagies and the entire totality of actions for which the man takes responsibility upon himself is achieved in the imitation to them. By the force of these serving as examples imagies are periodically recreated the cosmos and society, since the object or action become real only in that measure, in which they imitate or repeat an archetype.(3)To the central place of this cycle of myths indicates the fact, that in all cultural traditions there are myths, connected with planets and Zodiacal signs. So people attempt to comprehend their place and role in that closed system, in which they must live, and in which, as in any other closed system, everything must be subordinated to general accordion and sense. These myths and legends, connected with the Zodiacal signs give us the possibility to trace the development of the world, beginning from its creation before the appearance of the man, who was later created analogously with the system of the universe. They also reflect the searches by man of his place in the world and bringing his life in the correspondence with the laws of the universe, which is reflected in different mythologies, and later in literary works.(4). Zodiacal signs also are correlated with the specific stages of human life.In this case they divide the life of man into twelve phases, continuing on the average from six to eight years. Some phases flow rapidly, whereas others, on the contrary, can be very prolonged.These are: (5) 1.Aries ( The Ram). Infancy. A man by himself and his deep aspirations. 2.Taurus ( The Bull ) Material goods and acquisition, connected with the period of the growth of a child. 3.Gemini ( The Twins ). Instruction, relations, small journeys. 4.Cancer ( The Crab ). A young person. Love. Dreams about his own home. 5.Leo( The Lion ). Children, creatures for whom one feels the need to be proud of. It is also a period of creative work and other productive activity 6.Virgo ( The Virgin). It is the house of work and problems with the health, but also the house of cleanliness. 7. Libra ( The Scales ).The time of solving problems.The period when one begins to give practical advice to others. 8.Scorpio ( The Scorpion ). A man begins to think about death and beyond world. The period is characterized by expressions of jealousy in private life, dissatisfactions with social order and the search for the means of its conversion. 9.Sagitarius ( The Archer ). Spiritual life, interest in philosophy and religion. Appearance of the need to think about the sense of life, the appearance of a tendency toward the reflection above philosophical and religious problems.Appearance of the desire to get to know other countries, their customs, standards of living. A person occupies a specific social position. 10.Capricorn ( The Gout ). Reaching a maximally high social position, and also life in the solitude. Aging. A man feels it right to judge everything and to condemn all - by and by he departs to the isolation. 11.Aquarius ( The Water Carrier ). The house of friends and spirituality. It is the time of pension or resignation. A person tries to find for himself a young replacement. He also spends larger time with his friends, considering with them spiritual problems. 12.Pisces ( The Fish ). It is the house of offerings, refusals, tests, and also the house of hidden hostility, treacheries. It is the time of physical weakening, and the time of weakening of physical links with the outer world. It is the time of making the will, in which he is freed from all his acquisitions and goods. One often finds oneself to be abandoned on the hospital bed. This diagram only approximately gives the idea about the general motion of human life, however, significant deviations from it cause in the man dissatisfaction with himself, the surrounding world, and with the life as a whole which leads a man to the internal disorder. Zodiac inspired almost all peoples for the creation of myths and legends, reflecting the inherent characteristics of each of twelve signs. The history of the European religion and mythology also reflects this way. These are: the 12 Olympic Gods, combining in themselves all features ( positive, as well as negative), inherent in different Zodiacal signs, and, consequently, to different types of people. 12 labours of Hercules in the Greek mythology, in which is given the way of overcoming negative aspects and their transformation into the positive ones at each stage of a person`s life. Further on, the Judaism tradition laid the basis of the contemporary concept of the perfection of a man and the way of reaching it(12 sons Jacob, who became the ancestors of 12 tribes of Israel in the Old Testament), which became the basis of the ideal of the development of a man, reflected in Christianity in the images of 12 Apostles in the New Testament. The pantheon of Gods in the Greek and Roman mythologies was connected with the basic spheres of human activity, which these Gods patronized 12 Labours of Hercules in the descriptive form represent that way of a man, which he has to pass, in order to become Godlike (after his death Hercules was added to the assembly of Olympic Gods). King Eurystheus subjected Hercules to twelve tests, which became to be known as the twelve Labours of Hercules. Hercules had to consecutively:(6) 1.To slay the Nemean Lion 2. To kill the Lernean Hydra 3.To catch and retain the Arcadian stag. 4. To destroy the Erymanthian boar. 5. To cleanse the Augean Stables. 6. To destroy the cannibal birds of the lake Stymphalis. 7. To take captive the Cretan bull. 8. To catch the horses of the Thracian Diomedes. 9. To get possession of the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. 10. To capture the oxen of the monster Geryon. 11. To bring Cerberus from the infernal region and free Theseus from Inferno. 12.To obtain the apples of the Hesperides. These twelve labours correlate with the following Zodiacal signs: 1. Leo. 2.Scorpio, 3.Aries, 4.Capricorn, 5.Sagittarius, 6.Taurus, 7.Gemini, 8.Virgo, 9.Aquarius, 10. Cancer, 11.Pisces, 12.Libra.(7) As it has already been stated above, `Zodiac ` in the transfer from Greek indicates `beast circle`. A `beast` in the mythology symbolizes the lowest nature of a man, above which it is necessary to rise, after conquering it in yourself. This is reflected in the Labours of Hercules. The task of a man, like that of Hercules, is to fight with all negative aspects, inherent in each of the Zodiacal signs and to develop in himself all positive aspects. 1.One must fight with wolves and wild boars of Mars (savagery, spite), breeding in oneself the desire, readiness for self-sacrifice, necessary for the germination of the seeds of the Good.( The Erymanthian Boar- Aries). 2. One must conquer materialism and sensuality of Taurus, and to obtain its patience, its aspiration and its force. (Control the Cretan bull). 3. One must fight with the harmful tendencies of Gemini, their intellect, ready to deceive, to criticize and to slander, but to be ready to always fulfill the orders of love and wisdom. ( The horses of Diomedes). 4. One must master, control ones emotionalism, the disorderly and twilight imagination of Cancer, but to become sensitive to the spiritual flows, to have a desire to elevate ones life and to clean ones power. (The monster of Geryon). 5.One must conquer peacockery and pride of Leo, but to develop its straightness, its dignity and merits. (Nemean Lion). 6. One must conquer spiritual limitedness and dryness of Virgo, but to learn her cleanliness, her taste for order and methodicalness. (Amazons. The girdle of Hippolyta). 7. One must conquer laziness and indecision of Libra, but to develop the need for harmony and beauty. (The gold apples of Hesperides). 8. One must muster the jealousy and the sexual fervency of Scorpio and be always ready to die for the lowest nature, as Jesus taught, when he said: - `If you do not die, you will not live.` (The Lernean Hydra). 9.One must fight with the rebellious instinct and the instability of Sagittarius, but to be capable of being raised in consciousness to the God. (Stymphalian birds). 10. One should overcome pride, cruelty and the irreconcilability of Capricorn, in order to achieve with the aid of meditation and contemplation of the highest peaks of spiritual life. ( TheArcadian stag). 11. One must conquer individualism, the need for scandals and riots of Aquarius, in order to be dissolved in the cosmic life. (The Augean stables). 12. One must avoid vagueness and internal constraint of Pisces, but to learn their selflessness, renunciation and self-sacrifice.( The release of Theseus from Inferno.Cerberus). The emposed upon Hercules 12 Labours appear to us in higher light, if we consider that before the eleventh and the most difficult of them he was initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries. (8). He had by the order of the Argive king Eurystheus to bring from to the netherworld and afterwards to lead back the infernal dog Cerberus. On the way to Inferno it is necessary for Hercules to become initiated. Mysteries conducted a man through death of what is transienting, thas is to the netherworld; and they saved him from destruction through initiation. As a mist, he could conquer death. In this way Hercules overcomes the dangers of the underground world. This gives us the right to interpret his other Labours, as internal steps in the development of soul. `For the man, who changed his perceptions and feelings with respect to the reality, it loses its absolute stability, its unconditional value. His perceptions and feelings begin to doubt their uncondition alsupremacy and give place to the sphere of spirits. However, a terrible possibility lies here. A man loses perceptions and feelings of direct reality, and no other reality is opened before him instead. He soars whereas in the void and is a corpse to himself. Old values perished, new for him did not arise. Then neither the world, nor the man exist for him. He reaches the limit, where the spirit shows him any life, as death. Then he is no more in the world, he is in the netherworld, and his journey to the Hell is accomplished. If he does not perish now, then a new world is opened before him. He either disappears in it, or appears completely changed before himself. In the latter case the whole world is restored to life for him from the spiritual flame.`(9) In connection with this it is possible to search for that deeper sense, which is placed in each of 12 Labours and which will give us the possibility to find its reflection in different literary works and to group them according to the principle of their correspondence to one archetype or another. 1.The victory over the Nemean Lion (Leo) and his drive to Mikenia indicates the mastery over purely physical force in the man, its taming.A skin of a beast in the Greek and Hindu mysteries is a symbol of the lowest `self` in a person. 2. The victory over The Lernean Hydra corresponds to the sign of Scorpio, the symbol of sexual force, which is capable of getting new power ( a new head ) each time.It is not possible to deny sexual force, but it should be converted into the highest love. Hercules kills nine-headed Hydra. He strikes it with his blazing charred log and immerses in its bile his arrows, so that they obtain the ability to hit the target without missing. This means, that he conquers low knowledge, the knowledge of feelings by the flame of spirit, and from what it acquired via this lowest knowledge, he gains force, that makes it possible for him to see the low in the spiritual light. 3.The birds of the Lake Stymphalis.It is the victory over everything, that prevents a man from seeing the sky.The constellation Sagittarius, that corresponds to this Labour is depicted in the form of Centaur- half horse and half man, which indicates both the animal and Godly nature in the man. The lowest nature must be overcome, in order for the man to become the connecting link between the Earth and the Heaven, the symbol of which is The Archer. 4.The Arcadian stag.(Capricorn) This sign denotes the obtaining of everything, that can give to human soul wild Nature, understanding, however, that, it is impossible to rule above nature without disrupting its accordion. Only after wounding the stag it was possible for Hercules to catch it, for which the goddess of the hunting Artemis became angry with him. 5.The Erymanthian boar (Aries). The sign indicates the victory above the animal force, overcoming in oneself savagery and spite, capable of leading a man to spontaneous destruction.And transformation of these qualities into the readiness for self-sacrifice. 6.The Augean Stables. (Aquarius).The sign indicates to spiritual waters that come to clean subconsciousness of a man. 7.The Cretan bull (Taurus). The Labour that shows the victory over materialism and sensuality and the finding of patience, aspiration and force. 8.The horses of Diomedes (Gemini). The sign represents intellect, inclined to destruction.By means of his reason a man destroys - he analyzes, criticizes, prepares, but finally the same force, destroying everything around him, destroys the man himself. 9.The girdle of Hippolyta.(Virgo). The girdle is a symbol of authority, presented to Hippolyta by the god of war Ares. After the victory over the Amazons, Hercules presents it to Theseus, for his great bravery. Theseus personifies the soul (The Moon), which Hercules allots by extra force, after conquering the limitedness of the sign of Virgo. 10.The oxen of the monster Geryon. (Cancer).Geryon - means a man, based on three principles - intellect, heart and will, existing at the lowest level of personality and at the higher level- individuality. In the traditional symbolism personality is presented by the Moon, and individuality – by the Sun. Three bodies of Geryon correspond, consequently, to physical, astral and mental spheres, constituting personality, which must be transformed into the individuality. 11.The capture of Cerberus(Pisces). The constellation of the Fish presents universal chaos, primary space, from where all essences left, this is the realm of indifference, unconsciousness, gloom,Hell, wherefrom Hercules released Theseus ( the soul), in order to bring it to the light, to consciousness. 12.The apples of Hesperides (Libra).In order to obtain the apples of Hesperides it was necessary for Hercules temporarily to take the place of Atlas, to hold on his own shoulders the terrestial globe, i.e. to feel on himself the entire gravity of the world and the responsibility for it. The apples of Hesperides ( Hesperus - indicates morning dawn) are the reward to those, who after passing the `beast circle` could find equilibrium (The Scales) and the `dawn` of the new life.It is meaningful that Hercules presents the apples of Hesperides as the gift to the goddess of Wisdom – Pallas Athene. Only after having isolated such meanings for each of the zodiacal signs( which correspond to different stages in the life of a man and his development) and finding their deeper sense, it is possible to speak about their archetypal value and to find their manifestation in different works of fiction. Specific character of exposure of archetypes may be traced in accordance with special features of different genres. If a short story narrates about the events, connected with one of the archetypes, a tale, as a following one plot genre, gives disclosure of one archetype against the background of description and \or reasoning on the connected with the given archetype themes. The story, as the first multi-plot genre, gives either reflection of several interconnected archetypes, or different treatment of one and the same archetype in different plot lines. In the short novel, besides the units of narration,beloning to the relating of the action of interconnected lines, reflecting different archetypes, increases the quantity of units of description and reasoning. In the novel, as in the most panoramic of all genres, is either given the narration about the basic stages in the lives of main characters, corresponding to the passage by them of all the stages, destined for the life of the heros, or with the section in the life most significant for the given character. Besides the basic plot lines into the composition of novel enter a significant quantity of free narrative motives, separate units of description and reasoning reache the volume of chapters which contributes to the most complete disclosure of an archetype or a group of interconnected archetypes. In the present article we will attempt to trace a change of treatment of an archetype in connection with a change of genre specific character of work due to the complication of structural construction of works. In this case we exclude from the analysis an essay and scetch as static genres, in which is given either reasoning on one chosen subject, or a description of one side of life or another. For our analysis we have specially selected the works of famous writers belonging to different lingual traditions and periods for the demonstration of the universality of literary archetypes. The first plot genre, a short story is showing the development of an archetype in the dynamics. For the starting point we take the archetype of the sign of the Fish – the symbol of Christianity and Christian epoch and culture as a whole, which is the sign, under which occurred the cultural development of humanity in the recent 20 centuries and which reflects those ideals and tendencies of humanity, to which it has arrived up to now.(every 2160 years the spring equinox point is moved into another constellation, this coincides with the change in all spheres of life. This is also connected with a change in the religions, predominating in the given epoch and opening to humanity the new sides of God`s wisdom and truth. The era of the Fish was the era of Christianity, corresponding by its features to the sign of the Fish, the sign of renunciation and the spirit of sacrifice. Before the era of the Fish there was the era of the Ram, noted by religion of Moses, and still earlier there was the era of the Bull - Egyptian and Babilonian religions.) The disclosure of the archetype of the sign of the Fish, which in its highest aspect indicates selfless, disinterested love, is possible to trace on the example of the short story by O`Henry `The Gift of the Magi`.(10) This is a story about two infinitely loving each other young people Jim and Della, who secretly from each other sacrifice the most valuable things that they have in order to buy Christmas gifts to each other. And as O`Henry writes at the end the short story: `The magi, as you know, were wise men - wonderfully wise men - who brought gifts to the Baby in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. and here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days, let it be said that of all who give these gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are the wisest. They are the magi `. The same archetype is revealed in another short story by O` Henry `AService of Love`, where two enamored into each other young married people - Joe and Delia, the first of whom is preoccupied by painting, and the second - by music, are ready to endow the other`s career at the expense of their own.The short story consists in essence of monothematic and monofunctional paragraphs of narration with separate paragraphs of reasoning on the theme `When one loves ones Art no service seems too hard` or simply `When one loves`.(11) The following oneplot genre is a tale. In the tale by W.Somerset Maughm ` Rain `(12) the archetype of the sign of the Fish is revealed on the basis of the contrast of this sign to the opposite sign of water - the Scorpion ( another sign of aqueous element ) in its lowest aspect corresponding to uncontrollable sexual passion. This is a tale about two families - the missionaries Davidsons` and Doctor Macphails`, each of them intended to treat the man (the former - the soul, the second - the body) but proved to be unable to help one soul. During the voyage on a steamship they had to stop at one of the Pacific islands .They became friendly not so much because of proximity of oppinions, but because of the hostility which all the four experienced to the remaining passengers, who carried out days and nights in the smoking salon. Their arrival to the island coincided with the beginning the season of rain and with the fact, that in the same house with them was settled a Miss Thompson, whom they noticed dancing aboard the ship with the sailors and who began to accept them at her place and to listen the gramophone with them. Missionary Devidson, whose function was to help people and to turn them intoChristianity, tells his new friends about his activity on the islands, how he leads to ruin and hungry death the merchants and natives who don`t agree to assume the ` moral ` standards, established by him. Under the cover of mercy and Christian love he established his own tyranny among the local population, forbidding the local residents to follow their own customs and traditions and thretening them with fines if they don`t act according to his rules of behavior. After understanding, that Miss Thompson used to dealt with prostitution, he brought her the complete desperation, requiring that she should be sent back to San Francisco and into prison, to suffer for her past behavior, in spite of her desire to go to Sydney and to begin a new life. And even the rain, constantly falling at this time, no longer symbolized celestial moisture, carrying purification, it was merciless and terrible, the spite of the primitive forces of nature was felt in it. `And Dr. Macphail watched the rain. It was beginning to get on his nerves. It was not like our soft English rain that drops gently on the earth; it was unmerciful and somehow terrible; you felt in it the malignancy of the primitive powers of nature. It did not pour, it flowed. It was like a deluge from heaven, and it rattled on the roof of corrugated iron with a steady persistence that was maddening. It seemed to have a fury of its own. and sometimes you felt that you must scream if it did not stop, and then suddenly you felt powerless, as though your bones had suddenly become soft; and you were miserable and hopeless.`However so aggressively preached Christian ` morals `, which in actuality proved to be only the displacement of Mr. Davidson`s own suppressed sexuality, led mister Davidson to the suicide, and miss Thompson to the realization of the fact, that all men are pigs. The plot line of narration, that consists in essence of monothematic and monofunctional narrative paragraphs is enlarged not only by the paragraphs combining elements of narration and description and \or reasoning, but also due to the separate paragraphs and paragraph sequences of description and reasoning. In the tale the description relates to main acting heroes and nature, which harmoniously reflects the proceeding events. Separate paragraphs and paragraph sequences of reasoning represent an attempt of mister Davidson or his wife to explain his behavior and to present his activity in advantageous for him, pseudo-Christian light. One of the most evident disclosures of the archetype of the sign the Fish can be traced on the example of the story by O`Henry `The Last Leaf `.(13) This is the story about two girls - artists and an the elderly artist, who took upon himself the role of their patron. And when one of them - Johnsy, fell ill with pneumonia, the selfless nature of other two main heroes of story - Sue and the elderly artist Behrman, is revealed. Each of them attempts in their own way to return Johnsy to life, in spite of her thought that when the last leaf from the ivy falls ( it was autumn), she will pass away too. And at the culminating for the life of Johnsy moment, the old artist, who during the entire life awaited his hour, in order to create his masterpiece, and understanding, that there is no larger value, than human life, creates his masterpiece – at the price of his own life he painted on the wall on a rainy night a leaf, rejecting to fall off, which causes in Johnsy the desire to fight with her illness, which was the only guarantee of her recovery. The story consists of two parallel plot lines with intersected culmination points. If one of them - the history of the disease of Johnsy and the devoted love for her of her friend Sue, possesses not only units of narration, but also description and reasoning, the second line - the story of the elderly artist is given maximally compressed – it consists only of the unit of narration; indeed when it is necessary for a man to act at a critical moment, everything except his ideas about the good and the duty move away to the background. The majority of the paragraphs of the story are monothematic, some paragraphs are polyfunctional due to the two intersected narrative lines in some of the paragraphs. Opposite to the sign of the Fish is the sign of the Scorpion, in its lowest aspect it is manifested by uncontrollable sexual love with its tendency toward possession, and frequently by the tendency toward violence and crime through the disregard of conventional standards of human behavior. A large number of literary works is built on the contrast of these signs. A short novel by Antoine Francois Prevost (1697 - 1775)`Histoire Du Chevalier Des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut `(14) is an example of the development of the archetype of the sign of Scorpion in literature. The novel is the demonstration of the assumption, that not all people can overcome their passions. This is the theory of a Dutch theologian Jansenius (1585 - 1638), consecutively denying the freedom of will and placing salvation of a person exclusively in God`s hands. According to Jansenius's study, a man, deprived of God`s aid is powerless in the fight with the evil. A.F.Prevost proceeds from the assumption about the good origin of people`s nature. This is a story about a young person, who belonged to one of the best families of Amien and allotted by many talents and virtues. At the age of seventeen he had already concluded the course of philosophical sciences in Amiene and the teachers placed him as an example to the entire college.He was prepared for entering the academy, when on the eve of departure he met with a young girl - Manon Lescaut, whose parents were sending her to a convent, as we can consequently see, for her vicious inclinations. The passion, flared up in the cavalier de Grieux to Manon proved to be fateful for him. After kidnapping the girl, they went to Paris. Soon it became clear, that for Manon exist only the passion for money, luxury and entertainment, for which she is prepared to do everything. ( The archetype of Taurus, characterized by the inclination to materializm and sensuality. ) In the essence, each of the plot lines, forming parts of the novel, are the stories of her adulteries for the acquisition of wealth and those difficult situations, in which young people find themselves, attempting to get out of them. Cavalier de Grieux, blinded by his love for Manon is capable to see only her fascination and positive qualities and shuts eyes to everything else. The novel consists of a sequence of short stories, that is has a chain structure, in which the end of the previous short story is the beginning for that which follows. These are: 1. the story of the acquaintance of the Cavalier de Grieux with Manon Lescaut and her adultery with Ms. de B. and the subsequent confinement to quarters of the Cavalier.2. His entering the seminary. Second appearing of Manon, flight from the seminary, acquaintance with the brother of Manon, a rough and dishonorable man, who introduced Cavalier de Grieux to gambling, which became the source of their existence, the robbery of the young people by their servants, the agreement of Manon to the liaison with Mr. de G... M..., the attempt to deceive and rob the latter with the subsequent conclusion of the Cavalier de Grieux into prison of St.Lazar, and Manon into asylum. Their flight from there when Cavalier de Grieux killed one of the guards.The death of Manon`s brother. Agreement of Manon to the liaison with the son of Mr. de G... M..., the attempt to deceive the latter. The Cavalier de Grieux gets into prison, and Manon - for the second time into asylum.The father of Cavalier de Grieux helps him to leave the prison, however, he negotiates with Mr. de G... M... and his son about the dispatch of Manon to America. 4.The Cavalier de Grieux follows Manon to America. Their turning to religion, their wish marry. The desire of governor`s nephew to secure Manon for himself, his duel with Cavalier de Grieux, the flight of the Cavalier and Manon from the settlment, the decease of Manon on the way, freeing Cavalier de Grieux from his passion. Return of Cavalier de Grieux to France. During the whole course of narration the cavalier is accompanied by his loyal friend - Tiberzh to whom the cavalier turns only in case of need ( the archetype of Gemini, which in one of its aspects is characterised by faithful friendship). An important role in the life of Cavalier de Grieux plays his father – a virtuous, responsive, man, who, however, can do nothing with the fateful passion of his son. The novel is the illustration of that fate, which, in the opinion of the author, can hang upon a man in spite of all his good tendencies and inclinations. It is the demonstration of the fact that a separate stage of human life can be passed under the negative sign, in spite of the entire tendency of a personality toward the good, because of his failure to subordinate his will to the reason. So Cavalier de Grieux, in spite of the fact that at each stage of his amorous history he underwent only further degradation, behaving as otherwise he would have never done in view of his natural decency and noble origin, was not capable to be freed from his ruinous passion till the decease of the source of this passion - Manon Lescaut. The novel consists in the essence of the elements of narration. Separate paragraphs, and paragraph sequences of reasoning appear only after the cavalier de Grieux begins to think about the nature of his beloved and about his own fate. There are practically no elements of description which indicates to the dynamics of narration. In the short novel the basic content can relate to one archetype, whereas the turning point of the development of the plot line - to another. The short novel by Mary Shelli, the ancestor of science fiction `Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus `is the clear example of how destructive intellect can be when it is absorbed by search and new discoveries and does not foresee the consequences of its activity. (15) ( The archetype of the Twins, which represents intellect capable of destruction )The main hero of the novel Victor Frankenstein, absorbed by natural sciences creates a homunculus and is himsel horrified by the monster, whom he had created. Created by him artificial man, of unnaturally large size and deformity, tries to find his place in the life and to identify himself with other people, however, he causes only aversion and panic in all, who sees him. He requests Frankenstein to create him a friend, in order not to be lonely in the world. `Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam; But I Am Rather A Fallen Angel, whom thou drivest from joy for misdeed. Everywhere I see Bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good,misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, And I shall again be virtuous.`(16) However Frankenstein fears to increase generated by him evil and only now thinks about the consequences of his creation. As a result the monster passes to the vengeance to people, first of all to the vengeance to his creator, as the source of his sufferings.( The manifestation of the lowest aspect of the archetype Aries, characterized by savagery and spite.) After the involuntary murder of Victor`s brother, as a result of which an inncent girl Justine Morits was executed, the monster kills the closest friend of Victor, and his wife Elizabeths. The elderly father of Victor dies of the grief. And the purpose of Victor`s life becomes to find the monster and to destroy him. The novel places before us the most important question about the responsibility of a scientist for his creation and activity as a whole, which have already driven the world to verge of self- destructions. The structure of the novel is annular. The letters of the ship capitain to his sister, who picks up persuing the monster Victor, are framing the entire short novel. The novel consists of three narrative lines, expanded to independent short story constructions in composition of which are also included the units of reasoning and separate paragraphs of description.The first line is the line of the creator of the monster – Victor Frankenstein, beginning with the narration about his family and childhood.The second line represents the life of the monster himself. The culmination for both lines is the refusal of Frankenstein to create another monster. The third line is inserted into the second narrative line. It is a story about the life of the family of Felix, by which the monster is enraptured and with which he desires to come close in the attempt to find in them love and understanding, of which he was deprived otherwise. (To archetype of the sign of the Fish - the incapacity to find love and responsiveness in people lead the monster to the realization of his exception from that sphere, which makes the life of any human beeing comfortable and correlates him with the beeings of the same kind. The fact is the turning point for the narration of the whole novel. Inability to find love and sympathy drive the monster to revenge his creator - the manifestation of the lowest aspect of Aries characterized by expression of savage force which causes evil to everyone around as well as self destruction ). The inserted short story is a story about the rescuing by Felix an erroneously accused Turk and about ingratitude and insidiousness of the latter, which served together with other reasons as an example for the further behavior of the monster.(Craftiness and insidiousness are the negative qualities of Gemini. Just as devotion in friendship – the example of Victor`s friend Henry – are their positive quality). The majority of the paragraphs of the basic narrative lines (1 and 2) are polyfunctional. Separate paragraphs and paragraph sequences of free narrative motives, units of description and reasoning enter into the composition of the novel. In novel- biographies the whole cycle of human life with the passage of the main hero through all signs of Zodiac can be described, for example, in the novel by John Galsworthy ` The Forsyte Saga `, Thomas Mann's ` Buddenbrooks `, Charles Dickens's novel ` The Personal History of David Copperfield `. However a separate section of human life, including only some of the stages (houses), appearing, in the opinion of the author, the most important for molding the nature and determining the path of life of a hero, may become the theme of a novel. An example of such novel is a novel by James Joyce ` A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ` (17). The novel consists of five chapters and is built according to the principle chain short story construction. There are separate paragraphs, paragraph sequences and complex syntactic units (sequences of the semantically connected paragraphs) of descriptions and reasoning. The first chapters of the novel correspond to the archetypes of those Zodiacal signs, through which a man is to pass in his childhood.In the first chapter the narration corresponds to the first three stages of the life of the main hero. These are recollections about the infancy, the concern of the family about the well-beeing of the child and efforts to give him good education, and also the first school recollections. Separate episodes are built as short story constructions. These are: 1. recollection of how Wells had shouldered him into the square ditch with subsequent illness in the infirmary, 2. recollection about the first celebration of Christmas together with the adults at home, 3.a story about broken glasses because of which Stephen was punished. Later he went to the rector to prove his innocence. The second chapter is completely dedicated to the description of events, characteristic for the fourth house – these are family, transformation into a young person, love.It also tells about the ruin of Stephen`s father and moving of the family to Dublin. In spite of all family difficulties, they attempt to give Stephen the best possible education, thinking about his future. At the same time the physical growth of the body causes in him the need for love and the searches for the object of this love (Mercedes) lead him to brothels.(Manifestation of the sign Scorpio). If the events of the external life of the hero correspond to separate houses of Zodiac, correlated with the stages of any human life, the events of internal life can be correlated with the specific signs only on the grounds of the deep sense of archetypes of a sign in correlation with the stages of internal development of a man. Thus, the third chapter of the novel relates to the sign of Aquarius, spiritual waters of which come to clean subconsciousness of a man. This is the realization by Stephen of sinfullness of his behavior and at the same time the sensation that the sin thus far did not affect the cleanliness of his soul. `A cold lucid indifference reigned in his soul. At his first violent sin he had felt a wave of vitality pass out ofhim and had feared to find his body or his soul maimed by the excess. Instead the vital wave had carried him on its bosom out of himselfand back again when it recedeed: and no part of the body or soul had been maimed but a dark peace hadbeen established between them. The chaos in which his ardour extinguished itself was a coldindifferent knowledge of himself.`(18) At that point Stephen turns to the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. `If ever he was impelled to cast sin from him and to repend the impulse that moved him was the wish to be her knight. If ever his soul, re- entering her dwelling shyly after the frenzy of the body`s lust had spent itself, was turned towards her whose emblem is the morning star, bright and musical, telling of heaven and infusing peace...`(19) This period coincides with the celebration of the day of saint Francis Xavier, the patron saint of the college in which Stephen learned. At this time the sermons on death and the Day of Judgment, on the sin of pride, that led to the fall of Lucifer are read, which produced strong impression on the consciousness of Stephen and his thoughts turn to the love of his childhood - Emmas and the image of infinite rain, which after flooding all sins will clean the Earth. Stephen goes to the confession after which, he hopes, the life of chastity and happiness will begin for him.( The archetype of the sign of the Fish – as a tendency toward the ideal). The fourth chapter narrates about the effort of Stephen to efface sin from his life, his successes in studies, renunciation and constant prayers, which were noted in the college of Jesuits and involved the proposal to be ordained. At this point Stephen faced the main choice of his life - to serve spirit, or to go round the circle of sansara.(20) However for the young person, with the soul of a rebel, life seems to be full of colour and unknown, attracting fascination to understand and experience it in his own way. It is significant that the surname of Stephen - Dedalus – is the name of a legendary artist, sculptor and the architect of Athens, who built on the island of Crete the famous labyrinth from which no exit could be found, and in which king Minos concluded the son of his wife, terrible Minotaur, a monster with the human body and the head of a bull. Desiring to find freedom and to leave from the king Minos, who didn`t wish to release him, Dedalus contrived for himself and his son Icarus wings from feathers, fastened by threads and wax. (21). ` A symbolic hint to the ability of a man to fall into error is put in construction of a labyrinth.It is the image of the bends of the brain as the tool of the personal thoughts of a man, in which the carrier of these thoughts can be lost.`(22). So Stephen Dedalus feeling in himself power and thusfar not having found his vocation, desires to fly to the sun on his own wings. As the epigraph to the novel, which is taken from line from `Metamorphoses ` by Ovid, says: `Et ignotas animum dimittit in artes ( And to the craft unknown the spiritit strives). This represents the manifistation of the archetype Sagittarius, which is characterized by search of the meaning of life, tendency to religious and philosophical reflections. Stephen decides to leave the college of Jesuits and enter university. The fifth chapter of the novel is dedicated to the life at university. This is the period of disputes with the friends about the nature of beauty, the elevated, tragic, compassion and truth. And in spite of his internal riot, the basic argument in the disputes remains the reference to one of the fathers of church – Saint Thomas. Stephen`s searches are thus far uncertain; they include his wish to write an essay on aesthetics, his denial of God, which comes to the conflict with his mother, and the search for clean love (return to the childhood love - Emma) and the solution to leave home and to go in search of his true destiny. `Welcome, o life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of myrace `. And nevertheless, when the trunks are already packed, the soul of the rebel turns to God as to the only real support and sole purpose, to which it can be fixed: `Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead `. One of the best examples in the world literature of the labyrinth into which a man can be led by his consciousness and that only spiritual waters and selfless love can bring him out of it, is the novel by F.M.Dostoyevsky ` Crime and Punishment `.(23) Originally incorrect conclusion, made by the main hero of the novel Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, on a difference in people, consisting of that, `... people according to the law of nature, are divided generally into two classes: into the low ( ordinary ), in other words, to the material, used only to originate similar to themselves, and strictly into the people, those having gift or talent to say a new word. ... the first class, that is, material, speaking generally, are people conservative and sedate by nature, they live in the obedience and love to be obedient. ... the second class, all transgress law, destroyers, or are inclined to that, judging by the abilities. Crimes of these people, of course are relative and different, they require, in diverse statements, the destruction of present in the name of better future. But if it is necessary, for the idea, to step over a corpse, or blood, the man may according to his conscience, in my opinion, give to himself the permission to step over blood,- however, according to the idea and according to its size `. On the example of Napoleon he sees, that to the real hero everything is permitted ,and on his death he is idolized. After arriving at the conclusion that, it is possible ` to permit blood on the basis of conscience ` Raskolnikov attempts to imagine how many good deeds and undertakings it is possible to arrange on the money of the old woman-usurer, how many people could be helped , families, rescued from the misery, from the loss, from the lewdness, from hospitals, - and all this with her money.` Kill her and take her money, in order to dedicate then yourself to the service to entire humanity and to common cause.`The chief problem for him is the determination of his own position in this gradation of people: ` Shall I be able to step over or not? Shall I dare to bend and to take or not? Am I a creature or have I the right ... ` However, after killing Alena Ivanovna, and together with her, her innocent sister Lizaveta Ivanovna, Raskol'nikov has no power even to look at the stolen money or things. Following the fever subsequent to the murder, begins the punishment with his own conscience, when suffering the crime commited by him, he at the same time rejects to recognize the falsity of his theory. He is not capable to accept why to kill ` a nasty, harmful useless old usureress `,must be considered a crime, at the time when he sees around him so much grief, suffering and the misfortunes of worthy people, caused by their misery. And he himself is ready to give all he has to facilitate their lot. Subconsious acknowledgement by Raskol'nikov of sinfullness of murder, as of any other crime, lead him to Sonechka Marmeladova, who has also stepped over the permitted to rescue her family. After understanding the depth of `hell` into which his consciousness was plunged as a result of the murder and desiring to find from it a way out, it is to this ` lost` soul that he goes for support, realizing that she, who has also transgressed the permitted, will more easily understand him and have less rights to condemn. It is her whom he requests to read a fragment from the fourth Gospel about the revival of Lazarus, like whom he wants to rise again after being introduced to spiritual life. And from her he takes his cross in order to ascend his Golgotha - to confess his crime and to suffer before the people his punishment for it. The novel consists of eight plot lines, giving to us a panoramic idea about the background, on which is developed the action of the main line - the line of Rodion Raskol'nikov. The line of Sonechka Marmeladova is annular for the structure of the entire novel. About her Raskolnikov hears from her father at the beginning of the first chapter and the love for her, who followed him to the exile in the epilogue of the novel, revives him for the new life. The remaining plot lines, which can be isolated in the novel according to the main characters, and are structurally expanded to at least separate short story constructions, are developed in parallel with the main plot line. These are: 3. the story of the life and death of Marmeladov, 4. the story of the life of his wife Caterina Ivanovna, 5.the story of the sister of Raskol'nikov - Avdotya Romanovna, 6. the story of Raskol'nikov`s friend - Razumikhin, coinciding in its denouement with Avdotya Romanovna's story, with whom he connects his life, 7.the story of Svidrigaylov, who tried to attain illegal connection with Avdotya Romanovna, and after being convinced of the impossibility of the realization of his desire commits suicide, preliminarily ensuring the future of Marmeladov`s orphans and a sixteen-year girl to whom he proposed and whose parents agreed to this marriage because of their poverty, 8. the story of the first fiance of Avdotya Romanovna - Peter Petrovich Luzhin, who is ready to ruin another person for achieving of his goal. Besides the basic plot lines, into the composition of the novel enters a significant quantity of free narrative motives and the units of description and reasoning. The latter, as in any psychological work, play significant role and are designed as separate paragraphs and paragraph sequences. From a semantic point of view the novel relates to the combination of several archetypes. The main line of the novel - Rodion Raskol'nikov's line, relates first of all to the archetype of the sign Gemini, manifested in the novel in two aspects. a\ It is correlated with the eighth labour of Hercules -subordination to oneself of inclined to destruction intellect, and b\ analogy with the selfless friendship of ancient heroes - Castor and Pollux in honor of whom this constellation was named ( in the novel the part of Pollux is taken by Razumikhin, whose selfless friendship repeatedly saves Raskol'nikov). Secondly there is the archetype of the sign of the Fish in the correlation with the eleventh labour of Hercules. In this case the sign of the Fish represents that chaos, the world of unconsciousness and gloom, the Hell, from where Hercules released the soul ( Theseus ), in order to bring it to the light, to the consciousness. Other two archetypes - the archetype of Aquarius, spiritual waters of which come to clean subconsciousness of a man and the archetype of the sign of the Fish - in its highest aspect symbolizing elevated love for people, manifested in self-sacrifice and characteristic for Christianity as a whole, which developed under this sign, symbolize in the novel the spiritual purification of the hero and the beginning of his new life. The action of other plot lines of the novel is built on the opposition of two signs: the Scorpion and the Fish. In its lowest aspect the Scorpion symbolizes passion, capable of thirst for possession, jealousy, and tendency to violence. These are the plot lines of Peter Petrovich Luzhin and Arkady Ivanovich Svidrigaylov. The latter, after realizing the senselessness of violence and not having found in himself the ability to rise above his instincts, tries at least to be charitable before his suicide. The plot lines of Sonechka Marmeladova, Caterina Ivanovna Marmeladova and Avdotya Rom – novna Raskol'nikova relate to the highest aspect of the archetype of the sign of the Fish, characterized by selfless love and self- sacrifice, in each case revealed differently. The line of the father of the family Marmeladov demonstrates unsuccessful passage by a man of such houses as Cancer, Leo Virgo, connected with domestic affairs, children and concern about them, productive activity and concern about the cleanliness and health in every respect. This leads Marmeladov to the internal disorder, dissatisfaction with himself and life as a whole, to alcoholism and death under the hooves of a horse, symbolizing the inexorable motion of life. On the basis of the complication of genre construction of works we can trace a change in the treatment of one archetype or another in the works of fiction. A study of the taken archetype gives us possibility to trace possible combinations of archetypes. Thus, if we take for the basis the archetype of the sign of the Fish, the most probable for it combinations will be combinations with the sign of Gemini - in the highest aspect - the sign of devoted friendship and the sign of Aquarius - the sign of spiritual purification of subconsciousness. If we take the opposite to the sign of the Fish, the sign of the element of water - Scorpio in its negative aspect, then the most probable combinations of archetypes for it will be the sign of Taurus, as the sign of aspiration to materialism and possession (in its lowest aspect) and the sign Aries (in the lowest aspect capable of being manifested in the form of savagery and spite). Structural changes in the works of different prosaic genres occur not only due to the crossing of plot lines, relating to the development of different archetypes, but also due to their more detailed and more many-sided comprehension and consideration in proportion to the complication of the structural construction of a work, related to one genre or another, which finds its reflection in an increase in the structural- components of the units of description and reasoning, a quantity of narrative units of the text relating to different plot lines, and also in an increase in the quantity of polyfunctional and polythemantic units of text, in which the basic archetypes of work are examined in their interrelation.

B I B L I O G R A P H Y.

1. For more detail, see T.Sh.Mebuke, Structure of Paragraph in the Genres of Epic Prose (on the material of English language Literature). Tbilisi, 1986 2.E.M.Meletinskiy, Poetics of Myth. M., 1976g. N.Frye, Anatomy of Criticism , New York, Atteneum, 1967. R.V.Chase, Quest for Myth . Louisiana State Univ. Press, 1963. 3. Eliade, Mircha. Cosmos and History. Moscow, 1987 4. T.Sh.Mebuke "Zodiacal Signs and the System of Universal Archetypes" State University of Tbilisi, 2005 ( in print ). 5.Ayvankhov, Omraam Mikayel, Zodiac, Key to Understanding of the Man and Universe. Moscow, 1997 6.N.A.Kuhn, Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece. Moscow, 1957 7.Ayvankhov, O.M. Op.cit. 8.Steiner, Rudolf, The Mysteries of Antiquity and Christianity. St.Petersburg, 1990 9.Ibid. p.59 10. O`.Henry, 100 Selected Stories.Wordsworth Classics, 1995 ( pp.1-5 ) 11. O`.Henry. Op.cit. ( pp.21-25 ) 12.W.Somerset Maugham "Rain" Moscow, 1997 ( pp.25- 85) 13.O`.Henry. Op.cit. ( pp.178-183 ) 14.A.F.Prevost, Histoire du Chevalier Des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut. Moscow,1964 15. Shelly, Mary, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus: English Prose of Romanticism Moscow, 1980 ) pp.45-292 16. Ibid. p.148 17. James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man. Moscow, 1982 ( pp.220-441 ) 18. Ibid. p.308 19.Ibid. p.310 20. Sansara (wandering, the flow of life, existence) - in the Indian religion the world, in which occurs the regeneration of entire living, the wandering of soul, eternally passing of one terrestrial form to another. 21.N.A.Kuhn. Op.cit.(pp.179-181 ) 22. Shtayner, Rudolf, The Spiritual Leadership of Man and Humanity. Kaluga, 1992 23.F.M.Dostoyevsky. In 10 volumes. Volume 5. `Crime and Punishment `, Moscow, 1957

------------

About the author: Tamar Mebuke is Assistant Professor at the Department of the English Language at Tbilisi State Technical University of Georgia.

Email: mebuket@yahoo.com

Tell a friend about this site!

------------

All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal).