Plato's Forms II

A form is an idealized character or concept, which can be followed or modeled after. This works in two basic ways. I’ll use the Proverbs 31 woman as an example. Sometimes, this Proverbs 31 woman is talked about as a stereotype, she is someone who has characteristics that all women possess as they mature and so she is an embodiment of a generalization applied to all women. When other women do similar actions as her, you could comment that they are like the Proverbs 31 stereotype.

The other use of a form, or archetype, is to use the image as a model or the epitome of what all women should be. I’m personally a little put off by this use of the Proverbs 31 archetype. Of course that last chapter in Proverbs has something to teach women, but its elevation has caused unnecessary confusion, just as the deification of Mary, or Jael would cause complications. While every female character in the Bible has something to teach about femininity, there are really only two sweeping forms throughout Scripture, and one is far less spoken of than the other.