Chapter 13: The Meta-Framing Archetype: The Serpent

The third archetype candidate. The meta-framing archetype formalizes the structural pattern of reframing the frame itself: structure that models its own framing operation. The serpent in Genesis 3 is the structural prototype—it does not attack the content of the command but reframes its context. Trickster figures across traditions (Loki, Coyote, Hermes, Anansi) all exhibit the same pattern. The archetype is morally neutral: meta-framing can serve enlightenment (Socratic irony) or destruction (manipulation). What matters is register discipline.