The Monomyth
Joseph
Campbell
In the Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell
suggests that all myths follow the same pattern (the monomyth), which itself is
the formula of rites of passage:
separation, initiation, and return.
The composite hero of the monomyth has exceptional gifts, but oftentimes
he is neither recognized nor respected by his community, which suffers from
some blight.
The myth begins with the hero at home. The event that pulls him away from this world may take many forms. The hero may blunder onto the adventure, answer a summons, a cry for help, or be carried away from the world he has known. The call to adventure marks the beginning of a spiritual transformation; the worlds familiar and unfamiliar, represent the spirituality of the hero and his potential. The unknown world may take the form of a dark forest, and underground kingdom, a land beneath the waves or across a river, or an island.
The hero may attempt to refuse the
call. If he succeeds, the quest ends
there. In such cases, the hero wastes
away. Ultimately, the refusal to answer
the call is a refusal to sacrifice self interest. The hesitant hero may be tricked or forced to
answer the call.
Once the call has been answered, a
protective figure may emerge to guide the hero through the Threshold
Crossing. At the Crossing, the hero
must overcome powers that watch the threshold.
The hero must defeat this guardian, find a way around it, conciliate
with it. Because the passage across the threshold
is a form of self annihilation, sometimes the hero disappears: he is swallowed and disappears from
sight. The hero appears to have died,
but he is undergoing a transformation.
Although these powers are dangerous, they may be overcome with competence
and courage.
Having navigated the threshold,
the hero passes into an alien world, a world of strange and powerful
forces. At this point, the hero
undergoes a series of tests; these tests take the form of riddles,
battles with monsters, encounters with guides, or temptations. The hero must conquer these forces or win
them over, in which case they may become helpers and provide him with totems.
After successfully navigating the
perils of the quest, the hero comes to the nadir, the supreme ordeal. This ordeal may take one of four forms: apotheosis, elixir theft, bride theft, or
father atonement. If the hero fails,
he may be lost forever in the underworld.
Even if he succeeds, his return may be filled with danger.
Whether or not the hero succeeds,
he must return to the world from which he came.
The quest is not complete until the hero returns with the grail. Some heroes refuse to return, choosing
instead to remain in the world of the myth, others are pursued and destroyed
before they can return to and cross the threshold. The hero who is able to return with his boon
is able to restore the everyday world.
Campbell,
Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand
Faces. 3rd ed. Princeton,
NJ: Princeton UP, 1973.
--- The
Power of Myth with Bill Moyers. Ed.
Betty Sue Flowers. New York: Doubleday, 1988. The Power of Myth is based on a series
of interviews conducted for PBS.
Although the discussions of myth are superficial, the book provides a
glimpse into Campbell’s theories.
Eliade, Mircea.
Myth and Reality. Trans.
Willard Task. New York: Harper and Row, 1963. Eliade’s theories of myth are slightly more
complex than Campbell’s. Eliade focuses
on the phenomenological aspect of myth rather than the structural.
Pearson, Carol and Katherine Pope. The Female Hero in American and British
Literature. New York: R.R. Bowker, 1981. Pearson and Pope suggest that a female hero
undergoes a slightly different quest than the male.