Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth

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Joseph Campbells Monomyth
The Heros Journey
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Joseph Campbell

• An American professor, writer, and orator best
  known for his work in the fields of comparative
  mythology and comparative religion.
• In 1949 Joseph Campbell made a big splash in the
  field of mythology with his book The Hero With a
  Thousand Faces. This book built on the pioneering
  work of German anthropologist Adolph Bastian, who
  first proposed the idea that myths from all over
  the world seem to be built from the same
  "elementary ideas."

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Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875-1961) named
these elementary ideas "archetypes," which he
believed to be the building blocks not only of
the unconscious mind, but of a collective
unconscious. In other words, Jung believed that
everyone in the world is born with the same basic
subconscious model of what a "hero" is, or a
"mentor" or a "quest," and that's why people who
don't even speak the same language can enjoy the
same stories.
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Campbell's contribution was to take this idea of
archetypes and use it to map out the common
underlying structure behind religion and myth. He
proposed this idea in The Hero With a Thousand
Faces, which provides examples from cultures
throughout history and all over the world.
Campbell eloquently argues that all stories are
fundamentally the same story, which he named the
"Hero's Journey," or the "monomyth." This sounds
like a simple idea, but it suggests an incredible
ramification, which Campbell summed up with his
adage "All religions are true, but none are
literal." That is, he concluded that all
religions are really containers for the same
essential truth, and the trick is to avoid
mistaking the wrappings for the diamond.
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George Lucas had already written two drafts of
Star Wars when he rediscovered Joseph Campbell's
The Hero With a Thousand Faces in 1975 (having
read it years before in college). This
blueprint for "The Hero's Journey" gave Lucas the
focus he needed to draw his sprawling imaginary
universe into a single story.The Wachowski
Brothers' film The Matrix is also carefully built
on the same blueprint.
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• Campbell sites three stages of the Heros
  Journey. Each stage contains various elements
  that build the protagonists character, bringing
  him closer to his (her) self knowledge the true
  purpose of the quest.
• Stage I Departure
• Stage II Initiation
• Stage III Return

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I. Departure (or Separation)The Call to
Adventure

• The quest begins with the hero in a state of
  neurotic anguish. The quest is often announced to
  the hero by another character who acts as a
  "herald."

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Refusal of the Call

• In many stories, the hero initially refuses the
  call to adventure. When this happens, the hero
  suffers somehow, and eventually chooses the quest.

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Supernatural Aid

• Along the way, the hero often encounters a
  helper, usually a wise old man, who gives the
  hero both psychological and physical weapons.

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Crossing of the First Threshold

• The hero eventually must cross into a dark
  underworld, where he will face evil and darkness,
  and thereby find true enlightenment. Before this
  can occur, however, the hero must cross the
  threshold between his home world and the new
  world of adventure. Often this involves facing
  off against and quelling a threshold guardian.

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Belly of the Whale

• Having defeated the threshold guardian, the hero
  finds himself in a place of darkness where he
  begins his true adventure, perhaps discovering
  his true purpose. This belly of the whale is a
  frightening and restricting place, from which the
  hero must somehow escape. The name for this stage
  of the monomyth is based upon the story of Jonah.

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II. Initiation The Road of Trials

• Once in the other world, the hero is repeatedly
  challenged with mental and physical obstacles
  that must be overcome. Often these take the form
  of a test, by which the hero improves his skills
  and proves his worth.

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Meeting with the Goddess

• After overcoming the Road of Trials, the hero
  often encounters a goddess-like woman beautiful,
  queenlike, or motherly. The hero faces the
  goddess and in doing so, faces his anima. By
  uniting with the goddess, he becomes a whole
  person, reconciling his feminine nature with his
  masculine nature. This can also be a negative
  encounter when the goddess is replaced by The
  Temptress. Campbell cites the lure of the woman,
  leading the hero astray (the hero is assumed to
  be male).

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Woman as Temptress

• In some Hero's Quests, the hero will encounter
  the goddess, but before he can unite with her, he
  must prove his worthiness by overcoming the
  temptation of the Woman as Temptress.

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Atonement with the Father

• The hero may encounter a father-like figure of
  patriarchal authority. 'Father' and 'son' are
  often pitted against each other for mastery of
  the universe. To understand the father, and
  ultimately himself, the hero must reconcile
  with this ultimate authority figure.

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Apotheosis

• The Hero's Ego is disintegrated in a breakthrough
  expansion of consciousness. Quite frequently
  his/her idea of reality is changed, he/she may
  find him/herself able to do new things or able to
  see a larger point of view, allowing him/her to
  sacrifice self.

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The Ultimate Boon

• Having reconciled with the father and achieved
  personal enlightenment, the hero's psychological
  forces are again balanced. His new found
  knowledge, or boon, also has potential to benefit
  society.

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III. ReturnRefusal of the Return

• Having found bliss and enlightenment in the
  underworld, the hero may not want to return with
  the boon.

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Magic Flight

• A mad dash is made by the hero to return with the
  prize.

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Rescue from Without

• The hero may need to be rescued from without by
  humanity.

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Crossing of the Return Threshold

• Before the hero can return to the real world, he
  must confront another threshold guardian. The
  first threshold was a symbolic death this is now
  a symbolic rebirth.

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Master of the Two Worlds

• Once the final threshold is crossed, the hero is
  now free to move back and forth between the two
  worlds at will. He has mastered the conflicting
  psychological forces of the mind.

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Freedom to Live

• With the journey now complete, the hero has found
  true freedom, and can turn his efforts to helping
  or teaching humanity.

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