A Hero With A Thousand Faces Chapter Summary

A World of Symbolism

“Whether dream or myth, in these adventures there is an atmosphere of irresistible fascination.”(51) In the book Hero with a Thousand Faces, written by Joseph Campbell, the author tells of a hero’s journey into his adventure of his life. Campbell puts forth the idea of the monomyth as something that every plot line follows this archetype. He portrays this from start to finish beginning with the call, the trials, the help the hero will receive, the eventual conquering, the receiving of the bounty and the return to his life.

The call to adventure according to Campbell usually begins with the arrival of the herald. The herald may consist of a person, an animal, an object or even just a situation that is not dealt with well.

The hero is called to action by what is sometimes considered a happenstance occurrence. "A blunder - apparently the merest chance - reveals an unsuspected world, and the individual is drawn into a relationship with forces that are not rightly understood." (46) It is a call for the hero to begin a journey, whether that is an adventure in the literal sense, a metaphorical trip or even a process of the soul. It is about choices, change and a metamorphosis of sorts, "the awakening of the self" (47). Campbell says "They are ripples on the surface of life, produced by unsuspected springs. And these may be very deep- as deep as the soul itself" (46).
The herald is often an unwanted or undesirable creature that the adventurer is loathe to communicate with yet holds an unwitting appeal that draws the hero in. Campbell illustrates this with the story of the Arapahoe girl who wants the quills from a porcupine and thus follows it far up into the sky even though she was afraid. Even if the first signals are ignored, each successive attempt will become stronger than the last until "the summons can no longer be denied." (51) The hero still has a choice to answer the herald.
A hero may, at times, refuse the call to adventure and oftentimes the refusal is based upon fear. This fear usually revolves around insecurities within ones own head. Campbell points to the example of the story of Apollo and Daphne who fled because she feared the unknown of what chased her. Yet refusing the call to adventure is not always bad, many times the refusal will cause the call to morph into a manifestation of the adventure that can not be refused. Campbell goes on to say that "Not all who hesitate are lost" (58) Eventually the hero will be forced to fulfill their destiny by answering the call. A hero has the ability to refuse the call to adventure but it will not be silenced. The call will fester inside the hero's head. A hero's destiny can not be forever denied, yet he is seldom alone.
Often during the hero's call to adventure he is guided and protected by outside forces.

Usually the adventurer is given special information or tools to aid in the success of his journey. Campbell says "protective power is always and ever present within the sanctuary of the heart and even immanent within, or just behind, the unfamiliar features of the world". (66) The hero may feel alone but there is always strength guiding him when he faces his first challenge. The first passage usually entails a trick of the mind by something the hero either desires or fears. Only when the hero can see through the illusion will he be able to pass beyond into the next challenge. The hero is now “swallowed into the unknown” (83), facing his own mortality. He must release all of his past ego, fears and insecurities yet once he faces these he again will be aided in his trials. The hero must now face a series of tests and

trials.
In these tests the hero must face his own demons and his own deepest fears will come to fruition before his eyes.

Campbell illustrates this with a series of examples of dreams being the manifestation of a person’s deepest inner fears such as the stutterer who had to overcome many obstacles only to lose his breath. Both good and evil can be found within and the hero must face both until “he finds that he and his opposite are not of differing species, but one flesh”. (99) Now the hero is ready to meet the goddess. The goddess represents both birth and death, light and dark, and love and hate “the goddess at once creates, preserves, and destroys.” (105) It is only when the hero can see and accept the goddess for all of her inner qualities and not try to conquer the goddess will he become greater himself and receive many bounties. Yet Campbell then portrays women as great temptresses set out to steal virtue from men. He expounds the idea that if the hero succumbs to the temptress he will lose a vital piece of

himself.
With the father a hero must pass through initiations to prove himself worthy and to learn all that is teachable in order to become what destiny has divined. Campbell portrays the father figure as one of judgment, fear and punishment, yet at the same time benevolence and love and he suggests the hero cling to the image of the mother until the time he finds “the mother and the father reflect each other, and are in essence the same.” (120)
Campbell ties this in with Christianity and the idea that in order to truly conquer the trials a hero must recognize the apotheosis in himself, “We and that protecting father are one. This is the redeeming insight.”(149) Death either in the physical body or metaphorically is necessary in order to be reborn. In rebirth the hero can transcend to a higher level of consciousness.
At last the hero has seemingly survived all the adventures put before him so far. The hero has attained that which he had most desired but care must be taken that desire does not consume the hero or those that he loves “she became, the moment that he embraced her, a pretty golden statue” (176). Care must also be taken to ensure that the hero makes the right choice to return to life.
Many times a hero has refused to return to share his bounty with others because he is too caught up in the wonder and the beauty of the last stage. Campbell tells the story of King Muchukunda and the Kings request to sleep for a long time but once awakened found he no longer fit into the world. In this instance what the hero wished for ended up destroying his whole prior fit into the universe. Other times on his way back to his world an energetic chase may ensue.
The hero’s pursuers oftentimes can include gods, demons, and in some instances the guardian. They pursue him because they are angry or wish to stop him from sharing the bounty with others. Campbell tells the story of Gwion Bach who fled from Caridwen, they changed into many different animals until he turned himself into grain and she turned herself into a hen and ate him. Not every chase ends well or the hero may have to be retrieved.