Three Epic Tales
Romance, drama, horror, comedy, and more but above all are the epics. In many cultures stories have been shared over and over again, and eventually a man named Joseph Campbell began to look at these tails and myths. As he went over these different tails he noticed a pattern that would then be developed into what is known as “The Hero’s Journey.” After looking at three different cultures stories it seems that “The Hero’s Journey” is indeed a pattern that appears in stories from across the world, but further then that is how different cultures all used stories to teach other valuable lessons. Some of the main cultures of storytelling Greek, Norse, and Hindu can be analyzed for their relationship though Campbell’s theory while
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also be separated through the lessons the stories may have intended to teach. In Greek myth there was a hero called Heracles (a.k.a.
Hercules). There have been many tails of his adventures but nearly none were as daunting as “The Twelve Tasks.” In this tail Heracles had murdered his family due to madness, and after his mind was cleared of madness, he sought out atonement. In order to redeem himself he was sent to serve Eurystheus for twelve years. In that time Heracles was sent on a total of twelve tasks: kill the Nemean Lion, kill the Lernaean Hydra, capture the Ceryneian Hind, capture the Erymanthian Boar, clean the Augean stables, kill the Stymphalian Birds, capture the Cretan Bull, obtain the Mares of Diomedes, obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, obtain the cattle of Geryon, obtain the apples of Hesperides, and capture the Cerberus. Overall this story follows Heracles through many ups and many downs, and if often used as an example of Campbell’s “Hero’s …show more content…
Journey.” Through his ups and downs, He learns several lessons about being honest, not taking the easy way out, and being true to ones morals / ideals. This story can be used in many different ways depending on the audience and the goal of the lesson being taught. In Norse myth there was a hero called Thor.
In the Norse myths one story that is used as an example of the “Hero’s Journey” is the story of “The Quest of the Hammer.” This story is very short but still follows the layout of Campbell’s theory all the same. In this tale Thor wakes up to find that his hammer of power is missing and the first person he suspects is his brother Loki. After confronting his brother, Loki agrees to help his brother find the hammer. Loki finds the hammer is with a giant named Thrym who, after a discussion with Loki, agrees to give back the hammer in exchange for Freia to be his wife. After informing his brother of the giants demands Thor, and his family, hatch a plan to trick the giant in order to get the hammer back. The plan works and Thor is reunited with his hammer.
For Thor the lesson was in humility of one’s self to protect others. He has to protect Freia from the giant by dressing himself up like a women, which to him was beyond humiliating, once this were said and done he had a better sense of himself and what it means to protect others he cares for while overlooking
vanity. In Hindu myth there is a hero called Gilgamesh. His stories have been thought to be some of the first and possibly set the bar for how all other hero stories were made. At first Gilgamesh was one to be fear but through one adventure things began to change. “The Epic of Gilgamesh” is a story that follows how Gilgamesh befriends Enkidu, and then the two of them set of to find adventure together. After the two cut down forbidden trees, the gods send a powerful bull to punish the two friends, and this punishment leads to the death of Enkidu. In his grief Gilgamesh set out to find himself immortality. Although he finds the plant he was looking for he ultimately comes back empty handed, but still learned a valuable lesson that shaped him from that point on. Although Gilgamesh did not return with his desired goal, he learned a great deal about finding one’s self while also becoming more humble in his existence. His adventure taught him to be kinder to those around him and to treasure the relationships he has with people.
Assignment details: Analyze the components of the hero’s journey. Basically, support the argument that Jaws follows the epic hero cycle. Name specific examples from the movie and connect them to the hero’s journey. However, this is not a plot summary. You are not retelling the story, but selecting examples to support the analysis.
Watching a film, one can easily recognize plot, theme, characterization, etc., but not many realize what basic principle lies behind nearly every story conceived: the hero’s journey. This concept allows for a comprehensive, logical flow throughout a movie. Once the hero’s journey is thoroughly understood, anyone can pick out the elements in nearly every piece. The hero’s journey follows a simple outline. First the hero in question must have a disadvantaged childhood. Next the hero will find a mentor who wisely lays out his/her prophecy. Third the hero will go on a journey, either literal or figurative, to find him/herself. On this journey the hero will be discouraged and nearly quit his/her quest. Finally, the hero will fulfill the prophecy and find his/herself, realizing his/her full potential. This rubric may be easy to spot in epic action films, but if upon close inspection is found in a wide array of genres, some of which are fully surprising.
mythic story of the questing hero is a metaphor of the inward journey to self-knowledge, that
(200)This mythic study will define the first ten stages of the hero’s journey as defined by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Campbell defines the various stages of the hero’s journey within the context of a universal mythic "cycle” found in world ligature. These similar events define the universal stages of the hero’s journey in (1) the call to adventure, (2) refusal of the call, (3) supernatural aid, (4) the first threshold, (5) challenges, (6)revelation (7) abyss (rebirth), (8) transformation, (9) atonement, and (10) the return in the gift of the goddess. These ten stages define the cycle of the heroic journey, which
The Hero’s Journey describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of the group, tribe, or civilization. After reading the epic poem The Odyssey, by Homer, and watching the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?, by the Coen brothers, they both show evidence of the Hero’s Journey. The Hero’s Journey is based on Joseph Campbell’s A Practical Guide to The Hero With a Thousand Faces. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is projected as the “hero” while in O Brother, a man by the name of Ulysses Everett McGill can be seen as the “hero”. Elements of The Odyssey and O Brother are shown through the stages in the Hero’s Journey like the Approach to the Inmost Cave, The Supreme Ordeal, and Threshold Crossing.
In this world that we live on there are a plethora of cultures and people but one thing that brings all these cultures together is a certain story base, the hero’s journey. The hero’s journey has been around for the longest time and many commonly known stories that we know today are based off of the hero’s journey.
Joseph Campbell made himself one of the chief authorities on how mythology works when he published his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. In this book, Campbell describes what he believes to be the monomyth, known as “The Hero’s Journey.” Campbell wrote that this monomyth, the basic structure of all heroic myth, has three basic stages, which in turn have subcategories themselves. The heroic story of Katniss Everdeen, told in the movie Hunger Games, follows Campbell’s monomyth outline quite well.
The next step of Campbell’s hero’s journey is receiving supernatural aid. This comes from a figure “who provides the adventure with amulets against the dragon forces he is about to pass” (57). This is done in the East African tribe story about Kyazimba. Kyazimba is a traveler who feels lost in his search for the land where the sun rises when he runs into a little woman who transports him to where he needs to go. Symbolically this shows that everyone needs help and someone to give strength to those who need it. Even heroes that are strong themselves still need this help, like all human beings in real life
What is a hero? To our understanding, a hero is a person who is admired for great or brave acts. Joseph Campbell, an American mythologist, and writer wrote The Odyssey. In this novel he talks about The Heroes Journey which are twelve different stages of adventure known as the Ordinary World, the Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Meeting the Mentor, Crossing the Threshold, Test/Allies/Enemies, Approach to the Inmost Cave, Ordeal, Reward, the Road Back, Resurrection, and the Return With The Elixir. The Odyssey is about a legendary hero named Odysseus, who fought among the Greeks in the battle of Troy and went through the stages of The Heroes Journey. Odysseus lived in Ithaca, Northwest of Greece, with his wife Penelope and son Telemachus.
“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”.
Throughout the years, certain writers were able to set off a deep sympathetic resonance within readers by their usage of archetypal patterns. One of those patterns is known as the hero's journey, which Joseph Campbell gave an understandable idea of in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. According to his book, while comparing world's mythology, he found that no matter how far cultures are from each other, they will still have the same structure of hero's journey in their legends (Voytilla vii).
Joseph Campbell defines a hero as “someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself ” (Moyers 1). The Hero’s Journey consists of three major parts: the separation, the initiation and the return. Throughout a character’s journey, they must complete a physical or spiritual deed. A physical deed involves performing a daunting and courageous act that preserves the well-being of another person. A spiritual deed calls for action that improves another individual’s state of mind. 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
From the beginning of time, mythology has appeared to be one key method of understanding life’s confusions and battles. Within these myths lies a hero. From myth to myth and story to story, heroes experience what may be called a struggle or a journey, which lays down their plot line. Bearing tremendous strength, talent, and significant admiration, a hero holds what is precious to their audience, heroism. Over time however, no matter the hero, the hero’s role remains indistinguishable and identical to the position of every other hero.
Stephen Richards once said, “When you do what you fear most, then you can do anything.” Joseph Campbell has written a three stage theory that every hero in a story goes through, a journey if you will. Every journey is different, but it's always structured around his formula, a hero will: separate from his/her known world into a new one, they'll challenge opposing forces or complete a series of tests, and lastly they return to their world again with a gift. Going along with this formula I've gone through my own hero's journey, and succeeded.
One well-known example of “The Hero’s Journey” from popular culture is the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling. In the novel, Harry Potter, the main character, is the chosen one and “The Hero’s Journey” applies to his life from the moment he is attacked by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as a baby. Joseph Campbell calls the initial phase of a hero’s development the “Call to Adventure.” The call is the in... ...