Shakespeare in Star Wars: Return of the Archetype

     It is no longer any secret that stories composed across millenia share common archetypes and themes.  The idea of common narratives shared across cultures but with different features has been around at least since Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces was published in 1949.  It is only since then, however, that those narrative principles could be consciously applied to new stories to ensure that they would have the same impact as those ancient archetypes.  

     George Lucas was one of the first to do so.  He came across Campbell's work while writing what we now know as A New Hope and intentionally implemented the themes he read about into his script.  Many would point to the power of special effects to transport viewers to another world or to nostalgia for times past as the feature that makes the Star Wars saga so captivating, but it is the ancient archetypes in the story that hold the rest of the film together and form the universe we know and love.  Lucas was both an innovator and a writer who knew the value of ideas that had stood the test of time. This combination of the novel and the ancient is what made the Star Wars saga so impactful on our culture.

     We live in the age of Star Wars, but perhaps the most influential author who ever existed lived 500 years ago.  Shakespeare was another master of combining the new and the old. His plays are full of the archetypes that have dominated storytelling for thousands of years.  It should not be any surprise then that Shakespeare's plays have much in common with Star Wars.¹  Those similarities are precisely what this series will examine.  This is merely an introduction. Future installments will examine each of the categories of Shakespeare's plays and the strengths they lend to the Star Wars saga.  The conclusion will explore what happens when those influences are cast aside.  

     "All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts."  So too is the world of storytelling. One story may be rekindled time and time again through the ages, and those similarities give light into what makes stories meaningful.  The stage is set. Let's meet the players.

1 In fact, those similarities inspired an entire book series.  It is called, fittingly enough, William Shakespeare's Star Wars, and I highly recommend that you read it.