Blog Entry #10

Andrea Pereira

Professor C. Jason Smith

English 102

25 November 2013

Stardust Essay

In the film Stardust, many of the characters are great examples of archetypes. Archetypes are important in a story because an archetype is the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form; prototype. There also is an example of a monomyth in the story which is the main character, Tristan. Tristan is a lover and innocent archetype due to the fact that in the beginning of the story he is only a local store boy that isn’t the richest or strongest boy in town who is in love with a materialistic girl named Victoria. He falls head over heels in love with her without knowing much about her. We see his lover archetype show when he takes her away from her house late at night for a nice picnic. Tristan’s innocent archetype also is demonstrated in him because he is very naïve to the concept of love and believes that he can win over Victoria’s love by just giving her whatever she wants. Tristan being an innocent and lover archetype shows when he goes on a quest for Victoria to bring her a star. He goes above and beyond for her to win her hand in marriage.

On Tristan’s quest to get Victoria the star that she wishes to have in order for him to have her hand in marriage, Tristan lights a Babylon candle given to him by his mother which he never met and lives on the other side of his town in a magical kingdom after the Wall. In this we also see Victoria’s archetype which can be a seeker. She is very self-centered and all she looks for is a way to improve her life, in other words the man that can give her the most to offer is the man she will want to marry. She also can be described as a seeker because she provides energy for Tristan to find himself and go through a big deal of traveling just for her.

While Tristan is on his quest to find the star for Victoria he meets Yvaine, a star. Yvaine can be an innocent archetype due to her being so naïve to the world. The witches are out to get her so that they can have eternal youth and little does she know they are plotting against her. On Tristan’s quest to give Victoria Yvaine, a star, there are evil witches plotting to kill Yvaine and drink her blood in order to have eternal life and youth.

 The main witch, Empuesa is the destroyer for she will do anything in her power to destroy young Yvaine in order to satisfy he own needs. Empuesa can be best described as a destroyer primarily because now since she has lost her youth and is now an old witch she wishes to steal Yvaine’s life to make her own life better. Empuesa is very mean, unkind and ruthless in her mannerisms and in how she is even willing to lie about feeling bad for her own blood (her sisters) in order to have the eternal youth for herself. While her sisters were being killed in front of her face she pretended to feel bad in Tristan’s face when in reality she was extremely happy so that she doesn’t have to share the youth.

On Tristan’s quest to bring Victoria the star he meets Captain Shakespeare while attempting to escape from one of the witches plots to capture Yvaine. At first Captain Shakespeare appears to be giving them both a hard time and even threatens to kill them by throwing them over the boat. Captain Shakespeare even goes to the extent to make his crew believe he has killed Tristan and is keeping Yvaine as a slave. In reality it was all a scam to show to his crew members on his ship that he is tough. Captain Shakespeare in reality is the caregiver archetype. He shows his caregiving archetype is a strange way because he tries to hide it from everyone in order to keep his tough reputation. Captain Shakespeare takes Yvaine and Tristan in his ship where he feeds, clothed and provided shelter for them. He gives them a fresh new wardrobe and even gives Tristan a new hairstyle.  He finds satisfaction in caring for them and is extremely generous. He even protects Yvaine due to the fact that he knows she’s a star and denies to anyone knowing that there was a star in town. Although to the world Captain Shakespeare is a tough and cruel Captain, in all reality he is a very kind and generous man which is completely harmless. He even dresses up in tutus and dances around in his free time which also shows a sense of innocence. Captain Shakespeare also focuses on the needs of Tristan and Yvaine making sure that everything is okay with them. He also provides entertainment for them by teaching Yvaine how to dance. He also does something very important for Tristan by showing him how to swordfight well. Although everyone believes he is a ruthless Captain in all reality he is a generous caregiver.

After Tristan and Yvaine leave Captain Shakespeare’s ship in order to return to wall we see how much Tristan has transformed and how Yvaine’s feelings have changed. Tristan is now a brave strong and confident man compared to the beginning of the movie. This transformation also changes Yvaine’s feelings for Tristan and she is in love with him. Her lover archetype shows because she now is vulnerable to Tristan and while a witch turned him into a rat she now describes to him all that she is feeling and how much she truly cares for him. When Tristan gets transformed back into a person he also tells her how much he cares for her and even goes to the extreme of going to Victoria and telling her that he is in love with someone else.  While he is gone he realizes that if Yvaine was to cross to the town Wall she will vanish. This causes him to run to catch her before she even arrives.

              Although Tristan tries to make it in in time to save Yvaine from turning into stardust. Empuesa arrives when Yviane is right about to cross to the town of wall and kills another witch that happened to enslave his mother. Here we see Tristan's caregiver role come into play due to his high concern for Yvaine and his willingness to go to the lengths of dropping everything and saving Yvaine.

                Although Tristan just missed Yvaine and his mother by a few minutes he grabs a horse in search of them because he knows the evil witch Empuesa took them from the boarder due to them leaving tracks. In Tristan's quest to search for Yvaine regardless of the danger we see him as a warrior archetype. He is very bold for even going to the extreme of going to the evil witch’s castle. When he arrived at the castle Tristain didn't even know it but he was fighting the witches with his uncle that was trying to get the diamond and be king of this magical kingdom. Tristan was a warrior due to his strength to fight off Empuesa after the other witches were dead with his weapon and his drive to do so. He was very heroic and took his knowledge to defeat the witch once and for all.

      At the end when all is done and Empuesa was finally defeated we see the great changes that Tristan has come to terms with. He started off the story being weak young boy and ended the story being a strong man. He is just an ordinary small poor shop boy in the beginning of the story and then he enters this unknown magical kingdom. In this unknown magical kingdom he must face all these tasks in order to save Yvaine and himself. He survives through all these dangerous tasks and in the end turns out to become a king in this magical kingdom. We see Tristan as a monomyth due to his journey of becoming a boy to a hero.

Works Cited
Pearson, Carol S., and Hugh K. Marr. What Story Are You Living? Gainesville: Center
        for Applications of Psychological Type, 2009. Print.