Mythological Approach.

Mythological Approach. A mythological critic examines a work for repeating patterns that show thereasoning for various aspects of human life. In other words, upon analyzing a piece ofliterature, one will discover the "why's" of the human race. This could be anything frombirth and death to defeating death itself.A story that contains these aspects would be "Young Goodman Brown" byNathaniel Hawthorne. In this story, Goodman Brown has to take a spiritual journey on awalk through the forest. He encounters the Devil and he tempts Brown with all sorts ofways to 'leave the path.' The exact opposite of the Devil is represented in Brown's wife,Faith. Faith represents Brown's faith in God.An excerpt that best represents the Mythological Approach to Criticism is asfollows: "'Dearest heart,' whispered she, softly and rather sadly, when her lips were closeto his ear, 'pr'y thee, put off your journey until sunrise, and sleep in your own bed to-night. A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts, that she' s afeard ofherself, sometimes. Pray, tarry with me this night, dear husband, of all nights in theyear!(2186)" This is a prime example of Faith's relying on premonitions.An example of the use of Archetypal Approach to Criticism would be the pinkribbons found in Faiths hair. There is a point in the story where Brown can't turn backfrom his journey, and because of this, Brown sees Faiths' ribbons fall from the sky."There was a scream, drowned immediately in a louder murmur of voices, fadinginto far-off laughter, as the dark cloud swept away, leaving the clear and silent sky aboveGoodman Brown. But something fluttered lightly down through the air and caught on thebranch of the tree. The young man seized it, and...