While we most often speak about archetype in relation to the arts, the concept was first articulated and popularized by Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung, who understood archetypes as manifestations of the collective unconscious, as themes and patterns that underscore all experiences, regardless of space or time. He originally referred to the archetypes as “primordial images.”
Jung understood not only common figures—such as the mother, the father, the trickster, the child, the lover, the king, etc—as archetypes, but common experiences as well—birth, death, marriage, enlightenment, plague and so on. However, his theory was not rooted in figures but in four central archetypes at the center of all identity—the Self, the Persona, the Shadow, and the Anima/us.
As the graphic depicts, the Self is the sum of all identity, our Persona is the mask we consciously put forth for others, the Shadow falls behind the Persona as a subconscious expression of our faults, and the Anima/Animus which characterizes our understanding and incorporation of traits more typically expressed in the opposite sex.
I am more interested in the play between ancient figures than I am in my Animus, but I do think working to understand my shadow self will make me a better person. My favorite actor Jeremy Strong talks about reading Robert A. Johnson’s Owning Your Own Shadow, a book on the Jungian shadow self, to create his characters.
WARNING: If you look up Jung’s archetypes, the most popular search results discuss “12 Jungian Archetypes” which are taught as a schema for marketing students, to characterize the different identities a brand can adopt. These were not created by Jung himself, but rather by two marketers, basing their ideas of Myers-Briggs personality theory, which is derivative of Jung’s theories.