Product Code Database
The wise old man (also called senex, sage or sophos) is an archetype as described by Carl Jung, as well as a classic literature figure, and may be seen as a stock character.Northrop Frye9780691012988 ISBN 9780691012988 The wise old man can be a profound philosopher distinguished for wisdom and sound judgment.
The wise old man is often seen to be from a different culture, nation, or occasionally time, from those he advises. In extreme cases, he may be a liminal being, such as Merlin, who was only half human.
In medieval chivalric romance and modern fantasy literature, he is often presented as a wizard.Frye, p. 195. He can also or instead be featured as a hermit. This character type often explained to the Monomyth—particularly those searching for the Holy Grail—the significance of their encounters.
In storytelling, a few times the character of the wise old man is in some way removed for a time in order to allow the hero/heroine to develop on his/her own.
In Jungian individuation process, the archetype of the wise old man was late to emerge, and seen as an indication of the Self: "If an individual has wrestled seriously enough and long enough with the anima (or animus) problem...the unconscious again changes its dominant character and appears in a new symbolic form...as a masculine initiator and guardian (an Indian guru), a wise old man, a spirit of nature, and so forth'.
The antithetical archetype, or enantiodromia, of the senex is the Puer Aeternus.
Many attitudes toward old age in the Western world have origins in the Old Testament and New Testament. Age has been associated with prudence, experience, insight and wisdom,Sirach 25,4-6; Job 8.8 ff. and 12.12; Wisdom 4,8 f .; Daniel 13.50; Job 12.12. but also weaknesses such as declining physical health and sensory performance.1 Kings 1,1 ff., 14,4, 15,23; 2 Samuel 19.36 f. Biblical references state that although wisdom is a gift of old age, even the elderly are not protected against youthful folly andJob 12.12 and 32.9; Sirach 25.2. that "gray hair is a splendid crown / one finds it on the path of righteousness."
As a child, Jesus debated religious issues side by side with wise elders. Recovering Jesus: the witness of the New Testament Thomas R. Yoder Neufeld 2007 p. 111
"Senex" is the name of a wise old character in the novel A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle.
Around the 1850s, the antiquarian Robert Reid used the pseudonym "Senex" when contributing articles on local history in the Glasgow Herald. These were later published in a series of volumes. Sir Alan Lascelles used the penname "Senex" when writing to The Times in 1950 setting out the so-called Lascelles Principles concerning the monarch's right to refuse a prime minister's request for a general election.
|
|
