Ashley Greene
Professor Bailey
HUM 130
19 March 2023
Reflection on Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces and Other Theories Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) was a famous mythologist who created many of the common theories mythology students learn today. One of his most famous contributions to this field was a book titled The Hero with a Thousand Faces. This book explains his most known theory, the Hero’s Journey (Thury and Devinney). This literature pattern, or monomyth (CornerTalker), as Campbell calls it, describes the journey heroes in myths, literature, and everyday life, experience grow from (Moyers & Company). The title of the book The Hero with a Thousand Faces gives clues to the meaning and importance of the Hero’s Journey. While
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People follow, or ignore, the calls of this Journey throughout the course of their life (Moyers & Company). While I am still young, and therefore have not experienced the later parts of my Journey, I can see how the Hero’s Journey is part of my life. One of the most prominent examples of the Hero’s Journey in my life is my search, and eventual transition, to a four-year college. As I look for and eventually move to a university, I am leaving the “Ordinary World,” or Act one of the Hero’s Journey, and entering the “Special World,” or Act two, that of college (Nuvotech Limited www.nuvotech.co.uk). Another example of the Hero’s Journey in my life can be found in the “Call to Adventure” section of the Journey. In this stage, the hero discovers what their reason for adventuring into the unknown or “Special World” is (Nuvotech Limited www.nuvotech.co.uk). I believe I have already experienced this stage of my life, thankfully, and have an idea of what I want to pursue during my Journey. After being a tutor and working at a children’s dance studio, I realized that what I wanted to do most with my life was teaching. I enjoy helping the students understand concepts and seeing them learn and grow over the months that I teach …show more content…
One of Joseph Campbell's main concepts he emphasized was how the Hero’s Journey applies to more than just fictional characters, but to ourselves (Moyers & Company). If you can look at your life and accomplishments through that lens, your life’s trajectory makes more sense. As a sixteen-year-old working my way through high school and two-year-college, I know that I will experience many challenges, both physical and mental before I reach the end of my Hero’s Journey. But I learned that I must not hesitate from a beneficial opportunity, even if it means I will face fear, because the only way to bring back the reward, is to answer the
Joseph Campbell’s, The Hero’s Journey, appears in the foundation of modern hero tales, such as drama, storytelling, myth, and religious rituals. The first step in The Hero’s Journey is the Departure phase, it’s where the hero has an unusual birth or early childhood and is forced to leave their everyday life to face the challenges that await them. Next, is the initiation phase, it’s where the real challenges and trials occur. The hero has a mentor or guide who gives them a special weapon or advice so that when the hero faces the darkest part, the temptation to give up or quit, they will transform and achieve their goal. Lastly, the return phase is when the hero returns home and is able to recognize the experiences the hero had in the other world.
Joseph Campbell was an American mythologist and philosopher. He wrote works such as “The Hero With a Thousand Faces”, “The Hero’s Journey”, and “The Power of the Myth”. Also, because this is interesting, he was one of the fastest half mile runners in the world at one point (The Hero's Journey Summary.). Campbell focused on comparative mythology which is when you compare mythology from different cultures and find common themes and ideas (Joseph Campbell Foundation). Joseph created a monomyth that summarized a hero’s journey, it contained seventeen stages (INTRODUCTIONS).
The Odyssey, one of the world’s most famous stories, has been under debate on whether on whether or not it conforms to be a hero’s journey, a type of pattern theorized to be at the core of many myths. To understand its potential monomyth-hood, the story has be understood, as well as the different phases of a hero’s journey. A hero’s journey, by definition, must include a few characteristics: a phase where the hero leaves their home and decides on a quest, a period marked by a discovered conflict, an all-out struggle, the development of the hero, and the hero bettering the lives of those back at home. In The Odyssey, Odysseus, the protagonist, journeys to his home, in Ithaca, from Troy, where he waged and won a war. Along the way, Odysseus
The Hero with a Thousand Faces monomyth that relates to the reader in that they must follow a hero/heroin quest to fulfill, and ultimately it leads to the destiny of each person including J. Alfred Prufrock, Winston Smith and Esteban Trueba in these three literary
A hero, legendary on the battlefront, possessing strength that no meager army could hope to combat. Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero With a Thousand Faces, introduced the idea of the monomyth -the hero’s journey- which states that all heroes and heroines followed a common template. That template dictated their rite of passage. The monomyth continues to dictate a heroes rise and fall, their claim to success, or their terrific downfall. The midpoint of their journey, classified as The Ultimate Boon, is arguably where most heroes begin to stray from their righteous journey, falling back into the hellscape they first emerge from.
This book, along with being a utopian fiction, follows the Hero’s Journey archetype. Even though this book may not have purposely been made as an example of the Hero’s Journey the book and many others follow the paradigm. It may not be a perfect example, however, it definitely has it’s moments. The first three steps of the Hero’s
A hero’s journey is not necessarily an explosion filled, action packed, kung fu filled story that has a happy ending. It is “the pattern of life, growth and experience,” (The Hero’s Journey). Paul Baümer, young german soldier, goes on true hero’s journey of his own even though he lacks encaptivating superpowers, stunning physical features, an attractive damsel in distress, and a super villain to fight. Paul Baümer, the protagonist of All Quiet on the Western Front, goes on his own hero’s journey by incorporating the same steps of a traditional hero’s journey, though divaracates slightly from the traditional hero’s journey when Paul actions contradict that of a hero.
Lilly Tran Mr. Sandefur Honors English 10A - 5 20 January 2023 The Hero’s Journey The hero's journey described by author Joseph Campell in his book The Hero With a Thousand Faces talks about the archetypal path that many heroes in myths take to become one. From the departure, the initiation, and the return home, many familiar stories follow the hero's journey. One such story is from the movie The Clash of the Titans which follows the journey of Perseus as he searches for a way to defeat the fearsome Kraken that threatens to destroy humanity.
Joseph Campbell’s theories about “The Hero’s Journey” can be seen in many pieces of literature including mythological and superhero stories, such as in the movie Spider Man (2002) and in the book Theseus by Plutarch. Spider Man, a well-known and loved modern hero, follows almost every step of the “hero’s journey” exactly how Campbell intended for them to. The Ancient Western hero, Theseus, is also another great hero that follows Campbell’s steps closely. Spider Man, Theseus, and Campbell’s steps share many similarities, such as the “Call to Adventure,” “Crossing the Threshold,” and the “Road of Trials.” Theseus and Spider Man, in my opinion, are two exemplary models of heroes that most accurately represent Joseph Campbell’s steps of “The Hero’s
A hero was a figure in a literature who went beyond the human’s limitation. Among countless heroic literature that were published, The Epic of Gilgamesh was the first Western Literature that portrayed an epic hero. Since the epic was written between 2150 and 1400 BCE, Gilgamesh was the Western Literature’s first known hero. Although each hero had similar characteristics, each hero had different situations and personalities, which led to different heroic archetypes. Depending on each situation and journey, the hero had different roles in literature such as either an epic hero or a tragic hero.
When creating a story, many great minds will use a pattern to enthrall readers and shape them into a hero. Established by Joseph Campbell, The Hero 's Journey is the iconic template many utilize to plan their imaginative tale. The Hero’s Journey is the cycle in which the protagonist ventures into an unknown world where he or she will go through a series of adventures and learn moral lessons. Heroes in ancient myths such as Homer 's epic poem, The Odyssey follows this formula since the protagonist, Odysseus, faces hardships throughout different regions that ultimately change his once arrogant character. Throughout Homer 's monomyth, Odysseus undergoes challenges that teach him the importance of humility.
The concept of “The Hero’s Journey” plays a major role in nearly every piece of fiction humanity has created since its inception, from epic poems to blockbuster movies. In many ways, works of fiction and some pieces of nonfiction could not exist and would not make sense without the concept of a Hero’s Journey; it allows the reader to comprehend and follow the progression of characters over the course of the story. While Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road may not display most of the archetypal qualities found in classic Hero’s Journeys such as J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit or Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad, it most clearly exemplifies the qualities of a Hero’s Journey through the Boy’s character in relation to the mentor, tests and enemies, and the
Everyone has heard a good hero story, because they are everywhere, in the media, in history, and in even with each other. Tales of action and adventures have been around since humans have known how to tell stories, but every story has a similar journey that they embark on. The tale of the hero has many variations, but they each follow the same basic pattern that Joseph Campbell describes in his book A Hero with a Thousand Faces. Some stories only follow the basic outline of a hero, and others can be traced along the route exactly. An example that follows the outline exactly is The NeverEnding Story (1984) which is a movie based on a German book by Michael Ende.
• The hero’s journey: Harry’s narrative follows an age-old pattern found in numerous myths and stories. American mythologist Joseph Campbell analyses this storyline of the journey of an archetypical hero in his book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” (Campbell, 1949), a work that has inspired many writers and artists. Classic examples of Campbell’s archetypical hero include ancient Greek myths such as that of the hero Odysseus, the story of Moses and Star Wars’ protagonist Luke Skywalker (cf. Colbert, 2008, 208).
According to Joseph Campbell, a person should undergo a quest away from his or her comfort zone to unleash one’s capability through challenges and temptations. If a person becomes successful in the given quest, it goes to show that the intending hero