An archetype is a basic story that occurs time and again in literature. It is the original outline on which many subsequent novels, plays, movies, are based.
Take one of your common archetypes: two people enter into a forbidden love, and end up doomed because of their damned passion. Countless stories with this basic plot exist, probably most notably Romeo and Juliet. My favorite example, though, and one of my favorite stories/plays of all time, is Aida.
The title character is princess of a small African country, Nubia. When Egyptian soldiers raid her country, they unknowingly capture the princess as a slave. Knowing that she will be killed if she reveals her royal identity, Aida bravely enters into slavery with many of her people, and acts a source of faith and courage for all her fellow slaves. Through a series of events, she falls in love with the soldier who originally captured her, Radames. Naturally, as the story goes, he loves her in return. But there's one problem: Radames is arranged to be married to the daughter of the Pharaoh. So of course, Radames and Aida hide their passion from everyone around them, Radames avoids his betrothed, Amneris, and eventually they are both sentenced to death when their love is revealed by an attempt to run from Egypt together. And as the archetype would have it, they get to die together. Amneris, still in love with Radames, takes pity on the two lovers and appeals to her father to let the two be buried alive, their execution sentence, together.
With many twists, differing details, jokes, and foreign circumstances, Aida manages to retell an age-old story in a completely new and fresh way.
Side note: This is one of my favorite plays EVER! It's an amazing story, has a great soundtrack, and touches my heart every time I see/listen to it. So basically, this is just a little side note telling you to see it if you ever have the chance!
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