The Roles Archetypes can be considered recurrent symbols or motifs in literature. Archetypes are also common characters, actions, themes, symbols, and situations that can represent the patterns of human nature and can shape the entire structure of a story. In this case, there are three main ways that archetypes can be shown; character, situational, and symbolic. William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a play that was written around 1599-1601 and takes place in Denmark during the Medieval period. It tells a story about a son attempting to carry out revenge against his uncle, Claudius. This is because Claudius murdered his brother so that he could marry Hamlet’s mother and take over the throne. Shakespeare also uses …show more content…
“The Task '' archetype can be described as an act that the hero must complete to fulfill his quest. The task that is being portrayed to us is to trust the Herald. This can be difficult because if it happens to be that the ghost is not Hamlet's father, killing Claudius would have meant that Hamlet would have been sent straight to hell instead of heaven for committing a murder that was not vengeful. This leaves Hamlet with the task of putting an insane amount of trust in the ghost. Continuing forward, Hamlet is still in denial if he should trust the ghost. To find out if the ghost is trustworthy of his accusations, Hamlet fabricates two plans. He first decides to act “mad” for others to start to ignore his ways and how he acts “To put an antic disposition on” (Shakespeare I.v. 192). He then decides to add a few more lines to an upcoming play that is performed in the kingdom. He makes Horatio watch to see if there was any reaction from King Claudius. After Hamlet executes his scene of the possible murder, Claudius reacts in an unmannered way letting Hamlet confirm the Ghosts' acquisitions. It can be interpreted that if I was unsure about situational archetypes, I would not have been able to connect the information that I was given at the time that I read this play. If it happens to be that if Shakespeare's use of a task is not interpreted correctly, it could lead to possible distractions and put one in a state where there might be a fatal accident that is upon