ABSTRACT
The use of mythical patterns, divine presences, the discovery of underlying structures of ritual origin, the assimilation of particular literary works to universal archetypes, have all become the commonplaces of modern critical practice. The reasons for this, and the problems which underlie such critical procedures will best appear, I think, through a series of cases in which myth is used as an interpretative device. I shall begin with the simplest kind of case, where correlations are made between an aspect of plot or character and its mythical prototype, with the intention of finding a new dimension or level of meaning in the particular work. I shall go on to more complex cases, and finally to the overall relating of literary genres and mythical patterns in the work of Northrop Frye.
