Essay by Jorge Luis Borges categorising stories based on ancient myths.
**Plot #1: The Siege (defense/endurance)
Inspo: The Iliad
Core pattern: a city or a group is under attack and must resist
Underlying idea: survival through resistance, humans defending order against chaos
Psychological version: holding your ground against pressure
The defenders know that the city is doomed to sword and fire, and resistance is futile; the most celebrated of the conquerors, Achilles, knows that he is doomed to die before he lives to win.
The essence of the story archetype is to fight something alien, an external enemy. The main task of the hero in such a story is to endure.
Other examples in literature:
- Griboyedov’s Woe from Wit, where Chatsky opposes Famusov and his associates.
**Plot #2: The Return Home
Inspo: The Odyssey
Core pattern: a hero and leaves and struggles to come back
About Ulysses, who, after ten years of wandering the formidable seas and stopping at enchanted islands, sails to Ithaca.
In such a story, the hero experiences a life-changing adventure and, transformed, returns home.
Other examples of it in the world literature:
- Tolkien’s The Hobbit
**Plot #3: The Quest
Core pattern: A hero seeks an object, truth, or goal
Inspo: Holy Grail myths
**Plot #4: The Sacrifice
Inspo: the story of Christ, tragic self-destruction narratives
Idea: transformation through loss