In “The Story of a Boy Who Went Forth to Learn Fear” by the Brothers Grimm, the protagonist pursues a quest in order to learn how to shudder after being ostracized by those around him. The dichotomy of how the protagonist and his older brother is treated, pushed him to seek the sensation of shuddering as an accomplishment to earn love and acceptance from his father. The usage of Joseph Campbell’s The Hero of A Thousand Faces suggest that the protagonist is a hero through the trials and accomplishment of his goal, however he lacks the noble characteristic of a hero which makes him an antihero. Through the literary devices of diction and irony, it is revealed that the protagonist fearlessness in overcoming obstacles and outstanding achievements …show more content…
was not because of his bravery, but of his doltishness and stupidity. The protagonist indifferent tone through the literary device of diction as he encounters the morbid sightings on his quest, suggest his ignorance to the weight of the scenarios. The Grimm brothers develops the protagonist’s character as being dim-witted with his first trial in learning how to shudder under the gallows; the boy stated, “Those fellows up there did not open their mouths. They were so stupid that they let the few old rags which they had on their bodies catch fire” (3). The text suggest that the boy (protagonist) did not understand the concept of death, or the sufferings that the seven men endured when they were hanged. The boy’s main concern was their disregardance to his company and the fire that caught onto their article of clothing rather than the men being deceased. The protagonist final trial in the castle also reveals this characteristic of doltishness when the man in the coffin attempted to strangle him. The protagonist was more dismayed by the lack of appreciative tone in his attempt of warming the body rather than the resurrection of a dead man when he exclaimed,“‘Is that my thanks? Get back into your coffin!’ Then he picked him up, threw him inside, and shut the lid” (Grimm 7). The scenarios reveals that the protagonist lack of exposure to pain, suffering, and death aided in his accomplishment of shuddering through unconventional or ironic approaches, not his courage. The usage of the literary device of irony fortifies the protagonist’s simple-minded nature seen through his perceptions of accomplishments. Despite the protagonist’s accomplishments of surviving in the castle and attaining riches, marriage to the princess and a noble title, he was still dissatisfied. The protagonist stated, ‘That is all very well, but I still do not know how to shudder” (Grimm 8). The text suggest that the protagonist does not acknowledge the weight and difficulty of his feat that should be praised, but is dismayed by his inability to complete his own quest. The Grimm Brothers utilization of irony projects the character’s simple-minded nature that can only grasp the sensation of shuddering in its most simplistic form - physically; rather than shuddering because of fear that is too complex for the boy to comprehend. It is only when the chambermaid offered her advice of dumping “a bucketful of cold water and minnows onto him, so that the little fishes would wriggle all over him” (Grimm 9) did the protagonist learn how to shudder. The Grimm Brothers portrayal of the protagonist in “The Story of a Boy Who Went Forth to Learn Fear” allows the character to exhibit noble accomplishment through unconventional means that questions the foundation of being a hero.
The protagonist doltishness is present in the beginning of the tale when the father had encouraged him to learn a craft; to which the protagonist responded, “ I do want to learn something. Indeed, if possible I would like to learn how to shudder. I don’t understand that at all yet” (Grimm 1). The text suggest that the boy strives for this accomplishment in order to negate the mistreatment, neglect and criticism from his father. The quest to learn how to shudder reveals the protagonist self-interested motive of attaining acceptance and praises similarly to his elder brother than the moral compass that heroes often possess in their pursuit. In Campbell’s A Hero of A Thousand Faces one of the trials heroes face is “Crossing The Return Threshold” in which the hero must, “... integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share that wisdom with the rest of the world” (Campbell 8). In the tale, the protagonist pursues this quest after his observation that those around him were able to feel the sensation of shuddering through fear, however he could not: “‘Oh, that makes me shudder!’ The youngest son would sit in a corner and listen with the others, but he could not imagine what they meant” (Grimm 1). The statement suggest that the knowledge that heroes seek to attain are exclusive through a heroic feat, however the protagonist quest for the knowledge of learning how to shudder is already known to those around him. Campbell’s A Hero of A Thousand Faces can also disprove the character as a hero through the concept of the heroes ‘Road of Trials’ in which “hero face many tests of courage, resilience, resourcefulness, and intelligence, for which the hero hone his skills and gain focus for his mission” (Campbell 4). The
protagonist accomplishment of his goals were not deliberate and with no agenda besides aimlessly wandering into scenarios that should have threatened his mission, however only aided him to his accomplishment. In “The Story of a Boy Who Went Forth to Learn Fear” by the Brothers Grimm the protagonist is considered a hero through some elements of Campbell’s “The Hero of a Thousand Faces”, however he lacks the characteristic and moral compass that guides him to be a hero. The boy (protagonist) accomplishes great feat from becoming to king, inheriting riches, and learning how to shudder that was possible through unconventional means. The doltish characteristic of the boy seemingly perceived as hindrance towards his success ironically becomes the quality that allows him to reach his achievement. The Grimm Brothers portrayal of this character through the usage of irony and diction strays from the quintessential hero/ heroine, aside his completion of his quest; the character’s stupidity had thrown him into the quest and his stupidity had also aided him at the end of the tale, which does not make him a hero but an antihero.
In “The Classic Fairy Tales” by Maria Tator and “Mad Shadows” by Marie-Claire Blais, both texts deal with the idea that suffering and understanding are deeply connected. The authors aim to prove that suffering and understanding go hand in hand in order for change to occur. In “The Classic Fairy Tales”, Beauty and the beast, Snow White and Cinderella, will explore the relation between understanding suffering via transformation, desire, and physical injuries, when compared and contrasted with Mad Shadows.
As the story comes to its conclusion, the hero has endured his hardships; he went from the one that started fights to the one that thought of what could make everything work. An ordinary person in an ordinary world faced his share of trials and tribulations to come out as a new person. Defining the hero myth—he struggled and still was able to triumph to his prize at the end ; individuals relish these type of stories, they can
The human need to be relatable is unquenchable. We love to be able to see parts of ourselves in others, and to be able to feel like our idols are not untouchable. The Hero’s Journey format is one that can be found in almost any story, even in real life. Overall, it is the perfect recipe for keeping readers engrossed. Another place the journey has shown up is in Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Odyssey by Homer. These two stories—one a biography, the other, an epic poem—are so effective in their storytelling, it is easy to see how authors today continue to use the same method to make stories that grab the readers’ attention. What makes them most alike, however, is the emotions and thoughts they have the power to provoke.
Antonio Márez, the main character of Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, begins the Departure element of Joseph Campbell’s Hero Cycle when he initiates his journey to adulthood. He questions whether he belongs to his mother’s family, the Lunas, who live as farmers, or his father’s family, the Márezes, who freely wander the land. His care for his family demonstrates his maturity in attempting to always do the best he can for everyone. Although his parents each want him to follow their families’ paths, they remain absent from Antonio’s true journey of understanding his own thoughts and beliefs, leaving him “frightened to be alone” (Anaya 7); the lack of parental support through his personal conflict leads him to have trouble knowing how to address his confusion, but it also causes Antonio to develop an independence that most people do not possess.
An Analysis of the Ten Stages of the Hero’s Journey in Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces
the theme of bravery in the novel, by showing how bravery is different in every
Heroes in literature and history, more often than not, meet tragic ends, unless they were created by Walt Disney. These particular people are often seen as someone who is apart from the masses in morals and attempt to accomplish a higher calling for the common good. The problem with this type of hero is that they are destined for suffering.Two such characters exist in classic literature, Winston Smith of George Orwell’s 1984 and Hamlet of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.” Hamlet is the true classic tragic hero, though, because he is of noble birth, possesses high moral standards, completes the task he is given to better the world, and causes tragedy in both his life and the lives of others.
A building is ablaze and a crowd of people stare helplessly from the streets, listening to screams coming from within. A single person runs in to rescues whomever he or she can find. Whether or not that person emerges with a child in their arms, empty handed, or not at all, does nothing to alter our society’s perception of their heroism. Today’s society would classify such an action as heroic, regardless of outcome, for one reason: intentions. During Anglo-Saxton times the interpretation of such an act, based on the tale Beowulf, would not be so understanding of what was intended, but rather of the outcome. If one perished and failed in an attempt of such a heroic act words like weakness might arise. It is here that the clash of what a hero is occurs between the Anglo-Saxton tale Beowulf and John Gardner’s Grendel. Beowulf in Beowulf is a hero for he defeats evil and restores order to and for the common people. Unferth in Grendel however is unsuccessful in his campaign against evil, but like the man who emerges empty handed he is by no means any less of a hero. For heroism, as demonstrated in the Anglo-Saxton tale Beowulf, is altered in Gardner’s Grendel to convey the idea that intentions define a hero as opposed to actions.
Everyone remembers the nasty villains that terrorize the happy people in fairy tales. Indeed, many of these fairy tales are defined by their clearly defined good and bad archetypes, using clichéd physical stereotypes. What is noteworthy is that these fairy tales are predominately either old themselves or based on stories of antiquity. Modern stories and epics do not offer these clear definitions; they force the reader to continually redefine the definitions of morality to the hero that is not fully good and the villain that is not so despicable. From Dante’s Inferno, through the winding mental visions in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, spiraling through the labyrinth in Kafka’s The Trial, and culminating in Joyce’s abstract realization of morality in “The Dead,” authors grapple with this development. In the literary progression to the modern world, the increasing abstraction of evil from its classic archetype to a foreign, supernatural entity without bounds or cure is strongly suggestive of the pugnacious assault on individualism in the face of literature’s dualistic, thematically oligopolistic heritage.
In every culture, there are stories that get past down from generation to generation (Campbell 1). Tales of knights who slay dragons and princesses who kissed frogs are a part of every culture. All over the world, stories share comment characteristic. Joseph Campbell introduces a theory based on this idea called the monomyth, the idea that stories all share the same narrative pattern, in the book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Overall, this theory shows the same narrative pattern in stories throughout the world, which symbolically reveals all humans must tackle difficulties and overcome them many times throughout life (5). Specifically, Campbell’s hero’s journey is comprised of six steps, which, collectively
“The journey of the hero is about the courage to seek the depths; the image of creative rebirth; the eternal cycle of change within us; the uncanny discovery that the seeker is the mystery which the seeker seeks to know. The hero journey is a symbol that binds, in the original sense of the word, two distant ideas, and the spiritual quest of the ancients with the modern search for identity always the one, shape-shifting yet marvelously constant story that we find.” (Phil Cousineau) The Hero's Journey has been engaged in stories for an immemorial amount of time. These stories target typical connections that help us relate to ourselves as well as the “real world”.
Most of us have heard of modern day heroes such as Spiderman, Superman, and the Hulk. Each is a hero to many children. Heroes are introduced to people early on in life usually as fictional characters, but as children grow older their perceptions of heroes alter. The characteristics of a hero are usually based around the ideas of a society or culture. In the epic Beowulf, the main character is thought of as a hero. Beowulf, a pagan warrior and the main character of the epic, shows certain characteristics such as bravery, loyalty, and generosity, which portray him as a hero. It is interesting how modern day heroes show the much of the same qualities as Beowulf.
While fulfilling their journey, a hero must undergo a psychological change that involves experiencing a transformation from immaturity into independence and sophistication. Campbell states that these events are what ultimately guides a hero into completing their journey by, “leaving one condition and finding the source of life to bring you forth into a richer more mature condition” (Moyers 1). She first enters her journey when she learns about invisible strength from her mother, “I was six when my mother taught me the art of invisible strength. It was strategy for winning arguments, respect from others, and eventually, though neither of us knew it at the time, chess games”(Tan 89).
After Campbell studied a lot of the great myths and realized this pattern, he published his findings in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Ever since then, authors have used “The Hero’s Journey” as an outline to tell their stories. “It is important to note that not all of these individual steps are present in every hero’s tale, nor is it important that they be in this exact order” (Vogler 20). The Hero with a Thousand Faces gives a sense of significance as it looks into the inner mind and soul. The author, Joseph Campbell, performs two extraordinary accomplishments: compelling his readers that myth and dream, those are the most effective and everlasting forces in life and a unification of mythology and psychoanalysis with a gripping narrative.
In Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant and passionate scientist, seems to be in constant conflict with his own mind and his own creation. The internal and external struggles he suffers are due to the battle between his five bones—desire (knowledge), fear (failure), strength (persistence), weakness (egotism), and action (hunt for revenge). Frankenstein’s five bones help to define him as a tragic hero; a character (normally a protagonist) who makes errors in judgment that inescapably leads to his own demise. Despite the struggles, Frankenstein seems to persevere as he pursues his creation in an attempt to right his mistakes until his eventual death. Ultimately, through his failed efforts to destroy his own creation (the monster), Frankenstein evolves convincingly into a tragic hero.