The MonomythThe Monomyth

The Hero’s Journey

Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth

Monomyths (one myth) look surprising alike.

A cyclical story – Hero undergoes a transformation – Offers a sacrifice to save the world

The cycle has multiple steps that most heroes follow.

The hero learns the truth about his world and himself.

The journey symbolizes the search for individual identity and the culture’s concept of the idealized member of society.

The Broad Stages of the Monomyth

Departure (Separation) from the real world

Initiation into a symbolic, psychological shadow world

Return to the real world – with some kind of transformation that will help that world

Departure (Separation)

Call to Adventure Helpers/Amulets The Crossing of the first Threshold The Belly of the Whale

The Call to Adventure Hero is introduced In a relatively safe place (though we recognize he

cannot stay there forever). – The hero doesn’t fit or is ostracized, or danger is

lurking. – Though we see some obvious good traits in our hero,

he is also imperfect. – We recognize that he has some growing to do before

we can accept him as an ideal member of society.

Examples of the Call to Adventure

The Lion King

Simba in The Lion King is a rather doted upon and bratty prince, therefore he is imperfect – not our idealized concept of a hero, a productive member of society.

We also see that the Pride Lands are not safe for him, since Scar is determined to remove Simba from the line of succession; therefore, the real world is only relatively safe for him – the danger of Scar is lurking.

Other Examples of the Call to Adventure

Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz

- happy with Aunt Em, but the nasty old lady down the street wants to get rid of her dog, Toto.

 Odysseus in The Odyssey

- happy in Ithaca

- is called to rescue Helen from Troy.

cannot refuse the call, since he is a

tributary king to Agamemnon who

swore allegiance to Menelaus

John Cotton in Bless the Beasts and Children

- capable of being the leader of the Apache’s

- as a Christ-figure, he chooses to gather the lesser people of the camp into his group.

- he is safe, but the people he cares for are not

- Note: Christ also follows the cycle of the monomyth, so of course, Cotton will as well.

The Call to Adventure Begins The Herald arrives

– a character or event that entices the hero to leave his real world.

– Hero may accept the invitation or he may refuse the call.

– to achieve heroic status, he must accept the call, even if, like Frodo, it is an unwilling acceptance. 

The Herald as an Event

The Twister pulls Dorothy out of Kansas and lands her in the land of Oz

  The Golden Apple incident forces

Odysseus away from Ithaca

In Bless the Beasts and Children both an event and character act as the Herald.

- the slaughter of the buffalo (event)

- Lally 2’s urging (character)

forces Cotton to leave the camp to rescue the buffalo

Helpers/Amulets

hero encounters helpers, (inanimate and animate)

these help hero achieve his goal (saving his world) and help him find his sense of self

Amulets (Inanimate helpers)

magic device that confers supernatural power on Hero

famous amulets

- Dorothy’s shoes

- Harry’s invisibility cloak

- Odysseus’ bag of winds

Characters (animate helpers)

either human or nonhuman help Hero achieve goal. (Some of these

characters may die in their efforts.) helpers include

– Timon and Pumbaa, – Tinman, Cowardly Lion, and Scarecrow– Goodenow, Lally brothers, Teft, etc.

The Herald (Helper)

a powerful mentor who helps the hero both physically and mentally.

Sometimes an ominous character that can be scary (Gandalf)

Heralds include – The Fairy Godmother in Cinderella– Rafiki in The Lion King– Glinda, The Good Witch of the North in The

Wizard of Oz – Athena in The Odyssey

The Steadfast Friend

hero’s constant friend

keeps Hero’s spirits up and helps Hero stay focused on achieving the all-important goal

Well-known steadfast friends include

– Sam Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings– Ron in The Harry Potter series– Toto in The Wizard of Oz

The Corruptible Everyman

fairly rare, character is quite important symbolically represents flaws within the hero starts out on the side of the hero, eventually

betrays Hero redeems itself by sacrificing itself for the hero or

quest Corruptible Everymen include:

– Boromir from The Lord of the Rings– Judas from The New Testament– Judas Truck from Bless the Beasts and

Children