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Comparing The Hero's Journey In The Hero With A Thousand Faces By Joseph Campbell

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Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, otherwise known as the hero's journey, delves into the nature of mythological tales and storytelling from ancient to modern times. These epics often tell tales of heroes’ challenges and what adventures that change their character. According to Campbell, the hero's journey follows this basic formula: The hero is inherently special, whether it be due to prophecy, divine status, or being extremely intelligent or strong. Namely, they can be a God or demigod like Hercules, the son of Zeus and a mortal. Secondly, there will be a call to action the hero initially refuses for whatever reason. For example, in the case of the Epic of Gilgamesh, he was extremely rowdy and violent and was in no way ready …show more content…

For instance, an example I grew up with was always fascinated by is King Arthur. Originating from England, King Arthur’s Sword in the Stone entails him growing up to become the future chivalrous and strong leader of England. Protagonists of the hero journey are initially of a higher status due to their birth, but are currently living an ordinary life. Prior to the famous events of The Sword in the Stone, Arthur was living away from his royal duties with a knight named Sir Ector, unaware of his status as the next heir to the throne. One day, Sir Ector tells Arthur he can no longer mentor him and Arthur must step up to the challenge, which Arthur at first refuses. However, what seals Arthur’s motivation to embark on his journey is an encounter with a beast in the woods when trying and failing at chasing a Hart, a red male deer. Thesite is so marvelous to Arthur he decided to travel, train and find a new mentor to become king. In this moment, he realizes there is a lot the world can offer outside of what he knows. Following this change of heart, Arthur does what was perceived as impossible and pulls the mystical sword out of stone. The myth behind this sword is whoever succeeds in pulling it out is pure of heart and to be the next king of England. Arthur is the first to accomplish this task and at first is doubted by some high ranking knights. Arthur puts the sword back, does it again, further proving his place as king and sets out with a new goal to restore the glory of England. Not long after, Arthur meets his mentor figure, a wizard named Merlin. Subsequently, Merlin teaches Arthur how to remain good-hearted as well as handling the supernatural elements of their world. Similarly, Arthur gathers the knights of the round table, a group of knights that are purely good and heroic, to help build a better kingdom as well as assist Arthur in his quests. Together, they overcome many

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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.

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The movie opens with King Arthur “riding” into town, not really riding but having his servant beat coconuts together behind him so it sounds like a horse’s hooves. Even from the beginning of the movie the satire that made the movie what it is today is clearly visible. Arthur goes into town to find his Knights of the Round Table: “Sir Bedevere the Wise, Sir Lancelot the Brave, Sir Galahad the Pure, Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot, and the aptly named Sir Not-appearing-in-this-film”(Monty Python and the Holy Grail). The movie is based on the knight’s many adventures on their way to find the Holy Grail. On their way to finding the Grail they face a varying array of horror, including a persistent Black Knight, a three-headed giant, a group of shrubbery-challenged knights, a killer rabbit, a house of virgins, and a handful of rude Frenchmen.

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1962 Words | 8 Pages

The idea of a farm boy becoming the true king was so repulsive to some nobles that they refused to acknowledge that Arthur was successful in pulling out a sword, forcing him remove the sword multiple times, until the common people demanded that Arthur has proven his worth and that he should be crowned king. Even after being crowned king, he was engaged in the Eleven Kings War, where eleven nobles claiming to be the true kings challenged Arthur to the throne. Arthur successfully, put down each rebellion and stood tall as the people’s new king (Source B3). Through time King Arthur became an astounding, relished leader with a true mind for the people. During his time as king, he inspired the idea of the Round Table, debatably King Arthur’s most

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589 Words | 3 Pages

King Arthur, also known as Arthur Pendragon, was brought to Sir Ector by Merlin when he was a little boy, and Sir Ector raised him. Then one day Sir Ector asked him to fetch a sword for him and Arthur pulled the sword out of the stone and when he brought the sword back Sir Ector didn’t believe him. So Sir Ector put the sword back in the stone, and Arthur pulled the sword out with ease: “Without stopping to read what was written on the sword Arthur pulled the sword out at touch”(Green, 7). Arthur was oblivious that the sword was special when he pulled it out, and that many knights had tried, but failed. Obviously he was meant by god to be the King of Britain, and he had something special about him.

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Hero 's Journey an explanation of heros in every heros vs villians story. Starting of with how the hero was living before he/she even know they will be saving lives, calling it the ordinary world. This is simply for the audience to identify them by explaining their environment, heredity, and personal history. The hero has a call to adventure a call that can change this person 's life for either good or bad. This is to have some excitement in the story this can result in external pressure.

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in a flashback it depicts Arthur's mother being killed in an attack by the woads. Arthur had pulled his father’s sword from his father’s grave attempting to save his mother from a burning building. Merlin convinces him to ally the woades with the Sarmatian knights against the Saxons. The Sarmatian knights stay behind to fight the Saxon army and allow innocents to escape. They confront the Saxons at an iced-over lake.

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The Heroes Journey, identified by American scholar Joseph Campbell, is a pattern of narrative that describes the typical adventure of the main hero, whether that be a fiction or nonfiction hero. The first step is the call to adventure, where something shakes up the hero’s current situation and the hero starts experiencing change. Consequently, this theory is also applied to the fictional hero Odysseus in The Odyssey and the real-life hero Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights activist. In The Odyssey, Odysseus embarks on a 10-year voyage from Troy to Ithaca and encounters many monsters along the way including a gigantic Cyclops described as “…a brute so huge, he seemed no man at all…” (9 89-90).

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The Odyssey and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone are both examples of the hero's journey. Both Harry Potter and Odysseus leave home and their families for a long adventure, and they both have a supernatural aid who is a lot of help to the heroes in each of their journeys. Both heroes also learn lessons along the way then return home, and regain their rightful place in society.

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1017 Words | 5 Pages

Heroes face god-like judgment though the obstacles they face, and they let it extend to the judgment of their identity and their characteristics. This is what all heroes have to traverse in their tales, it places their actions into effect, to show who they are in the face of adversity. This is done by many heroes from many tales, such an example could be Beowulf, in his journey as an old king famed at a young age, slayer of monsters, but one stands from him and all others: Odysseus, the brave king from Homer’s epic the Odyssey. This tale speaks of the journey of Odysseus returning home from the Trojan war, facing wrath of gods and other abominations in his realm. His actions throughout his trek home shows some of the traits that Odysseus possesses,

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1055 Words | 5 Pages

Journeys Defined In the article, “A Practical Guide to Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, Christopher Vogler argues, “that [ the cycle of a journey] is universal, occurring in every culture, in every time; it is as infinitely varied as the human race itself; and yet its basic form remains the same, an incredibly tenacious set of elements repetition from the deepest reaches of the mind of man” (Vogler 1) and is primarily represented in movies or stories. The idea of, “a Hero with a Thousand Faces” is based on perspective and a change of purpose depending on the individual. The complexity of Vogler’s journey cycle doesn’t seem to fully describe a mental journey, but only the physical journey a Hero in a story would take, other

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2037 Words | 9 Pages

King Arthur is one of the best kings that has ruled over Britain, throughout all of history. Arthur ruled with honor, loyalty, and chivalry, which made him a great king. Many lessons that he learned on his journeys helped him to become the person that he is. Arthur’s journey becoming king can be seen in the novel The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White, and is very similar to Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey.

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1456 Words | 6 Pages

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

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1004 Words | 5 Pages

The protagonist of Arthur

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845 Words | 4 Pages

In the Medieval British legend King Arthur three character archetypes are prominent; the Hero, the Mentor, and the Villain. These archetypes are universal, found in myths from around the world. One ubiquitous archetype that is present in King Arthur

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Arthur was the head of the Knights of the Round Table, along beside him were other knights that were considered to be the best in King Arthur’s kingdom. Jeremy Roberts stated, “The legendary King Arthur is known as the greatest king who ever lived. He is said to have ruled a kingdom called Camelot with his wife Guinevere. The world 's greatest knights were members of his court. They did many good deeds and went on quests, or adventures.

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