Archetypes In The Lion King :: essays research papers

Archetypes In The lion KingJohn Berry Edwards Per. 2 4/18/96The lion King is a twaddle containing many archetypes. Archetypes arepatterns or models of literature that reoccur in many stories. In this paper I ordain discuss three of these archetypes. They are the hero, last & rebirth ofthe hero, and the symbolism and associations of peeing vs. desert. Thesearchetypes can be noticed easily and help things come together.The Lion King has a very evident hero, Simba. Simba meets many of thecharacteristics of an archetypal hero. Among these is the expressive style that he is takenaway from his home, the preenlands, and grows up with Timon and Pumbaa. AfterSimba arrives with Timon and Pumbaa, we see very little of his liveliness until he isfully grown. When the film returns to Simba, he short decides to return to PrideRock and face his past. He returns to save his ground from its desolationcaused by scrape and the hyenas, and to restore it to its glory. The hero of astory commonl y goes through some of these events.Simba faces a common archetypal situation, destruction and rebirth. AlthoughSimba never physically dies, in spirit he does die. The spiritual death ofSimba is when he runs away from the Pridelands into the desert. Everyone in thePridelands thinks that he has physically died. In fact, he nearly does die inthe desert. Luckily, Timon and Pumbaa find him and keep him alive. Thespiritual resurrection of Simba occurs when he returns to his home at Pride Rock.Everyone discovers that Simba is alive. It seems as if he has risen from the dead(a) to them because for such a long time they believed that he was dead. AtPride Rock, Simba returns to his previous life and faces all of his problems.The symbolism of water and desert in the Lion King is very important.Water often accompanies a motley in a story. Water can also be a sign of birthand rebirth. An example of water foretelling a transfer is Simbas lie when hesays that he and Nala are going to the water hole. They really visit theElephant Graveyards. This visit causes Simba to get a view of reality, not fromhis furnish world. When Simba is found by Timon and Pumbaa in the desert,they splash him with water to bring life back into him. Another example of thesymbolism of water is the rain when Simba defeats Scar and assumes his positionon the throne of Pride Rock.