A Study On The Mythological Archetypes Of Characters In The Longest Journey

E.M.Foster,the famous British novelist and literary critic,wrote five novels through his life,among which The Longest Journey published in 1907 doesn’t have the most public concerns,but the author thinks this is his favorite novel.This book is an autobiographical novel.A large number of mythological archetypes full of metaphors and symbolic meanings are incorporated into the text narrative.It presents a romantic,free,and primitive irrational state to observe the humanity defects and spiritual emptiness caused by the oppression,chaos,and inverted rational alienation of modern industrial civilization.In the 1960 s,the archetypal criticism theory represented by Northrop Frye gradually became a system,which was widely adopted to analyze and excavate the images,structures,character types and related ideological connotations and social significance of literary works.Based on archetypal criticism theory and the reference to Greek mythology,this thesis is written to analyze the symbolic meanings of the mythological archetypes of the three main characters in the novel: Rickie Elliott,Stephen Wangham,and Stewart Ansel.The mythological archetype of the protagonist Rickie Elliott is Hephaestus,who is the god of fire.As a typical character in British society during the transition period,Rickie Elliott reflects the life of those who got lost in the vanity fair,alienated from nature,and mentally distressed.Stephen Wangham is an ideal image with realistic meaning in the novel,and his mythological archetype is God Pan.Stephen is the son of nature in the novel with vigorous primitive vitality,symbolizing the harmony between man and nature.Stewart Ansel is the“prophet” and “philosopher” in the novel,whose archetype is Apollo: the god of prophecy and reason.Stewart is not only the key figure in the novel that promotes the development of the plot and the growth of the characters,but also the representative of the rational spirit of independent thinking and the pursuit of truth.Behind the mythological archetypes of these characters,the various problems of British society in the process of industrialization are presented: industrial civilization continues to erode the quiet and beautiful traditional villages,the connection between man and nature is cut off,the original spiritual beliefs,moral standards,and ethics order has been challenged unprecedentedly,and the value of money supremacy has caused the alienation and turbulence of interpersonal relationships.