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Monomythic Archetypal Patterns

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Given this comparison between two very different characters from two very different sources of media under a monomythic lens, it is evident that the structure of the monomyth is highly widespread, being present in nearly all media. One popular form of media that typically follows the monomythic archetypal pattern is the world of comics - comic books, television shows based off comics, and movies based off comics all depict superheroes experiencing monomythic journeys, often emphasizing the Departure and Initiation stages. Whether it is one of the earliest Batman comics or the latest movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, these superheroes always tend to receive their call to adventure, have it be refused by themselves or a gatekeeper, having …show more content…

At first, this question might appear puzzling and seemingly unanswerable, but the answer lies in the works of psychiatrist Carl Jung, an inspiration for Campbell’s monomyth, in his concept of the collective unconscious. In an attempt to define this idea, Jung wrote, “The collective unconscious is a part of the psyche which can be negatively distinguished from a personal unconscious by the fact that it does not, like the latter, owe its existence to personal experience and consequently is not a personal acquisition” (Jung 42). Through this, Jung is explaining how the collective unconscious is different from one’s personal memories, as the collective unconscious does not require personal experience on the topic to receive. Thus, anyone, no matter how experienced or inexperienced in the subject matter can receive information of the collective unconscious. Jung considered character archetypes part of the collective unconscious, which lead to Campbell describing the widespread monomyth. Based off Jung’s theory, it is logical to say that the reason that the monomyth is so prevalent is because a typical hero’s journey is already in every author’s or creator’s mind when they go to tell the story of a character, causing them to unwillingly fit the structure of Campbell’s monomyth. Given this assumption, one can conclude that the monomyth is neither important nor unimportant at the same time. It is important because it is a part of everyone’s mind, while it lacks importance because there is no need for people to research and talk about this structure, as it will never go away even if their conscious minds forget about it. The monomyth does not need to ever be discussed by scholars or average people, because whether they know what it is

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895 Words | 4 Pages

The novel contains very good separation, initiation, and return phases which did not reflect the conventional monomyth archetype. The separation phase involves Brian noticing his environment as well as how the temperature was changing, and because of that, Brian no longer felt the sense of security that he had before. The initiation phase involves Brian Preparing himself for different challenges. for instance, Brian felt that his survival was being threatened by a bear, so he is decided to take matters into his own hands and attempt to fabricate a much larger and more powerful version of his bow. The return phase sees Brian discover two parallel mysterious straight lines in the snow.

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477 Words | 2 Pages

Every year, many books and novels are written and published by various authors and poets. These pieces of literature are a form of entertainment that provide various and numerous stories about a hero’s journey. Many novels today consist of the Monomyth, which is also known as the Hero’s Journey. The Hero’s Journey consists of “Twelve different Parts” that work as a clock and go in Chronological order. Three basic parts of the Hero’s Journey are the Mentor Help, Ordinary World, and Reward.

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2063 Words | 9 Pages

The Monomyth (mythological telling of a heroic journey) is a narrative structure which a work of Fantasy usually takes leading into the three main stages: Departure, Initiation and Return. Within those three main stages there are sub stages, which the heroic character follows more simply like a path. The Monomyth also known as the Hero’s Journey, which was created by Joseph Campbell. This essay explores on how The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien fits or how it may not fit the cliché points of The Hero’s Journey as explored in the paragraphs below: 1. Departure: This is the first stage of the Monomyth, which deals with the hero’s “adventure” prior to the quest/ journey.

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162 Words | 1 Pages

There are multiple stages in a hero’s journey which Joseph Campbell explains in his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. He discusses the theory of the monomyth that the reality of life and the way the hero experience reflecting a part of an enormous universe In the book he defines two types of hero deed, physical and spiritual. Physical deed is the hero that performs a brave act in any given combat, on the contrary, a spiritual deed learns how to experience the supernormal range of spiritual life bring back a message. Campbell divides the hero’s journey into three stages: departure, initiation, and return. Campbell’s theory has been incorporated in many author books.

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284 Words | 2 Pages

The movie, “The mummy” consists of many archetypes, the most evident being golden age. Golden age is demonstrated among the protagonist, Rick O’Connell because of his quest to rescue Evelyn Carnahan, a librarian with an interest in Egyptian treasures whom later becomes captured by a cursed mummy, Imhotep. In the film, Rick states his goal, “Rescue the damsel in distress, kill the bad guy, save the world”. Upon Evelyn being taken by Imhotep, Rick takes immediate action and begins his quest to save the “damsel in distress”, Evelyn. Amid his journey to save Evelyn, he must revoke the curse to which Imhotep becomes mortal and is able to be killed off.

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460 Words | 2 Pages

Myths, legends, and other stories are told throughout the world, in different cultures, and are passed down from generation to generation. All of these stories involve a hero; although, every hero’s story may be shaped or formed in a different way, his/her story shares similarities with those of other heroes. In The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell argues that the stories and myths of every hero follow the same pattern and relate to the same monomyth. Any hero’s adventure follows a central pattern of one myth that all stories relate to: separation from the typical world, initiation into the new world (and the adventure itself), and the return to his/her original world. Additionally, the hero’s journey is destined by fate, and the hero’s best qualities are rediscovered and brought out

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967 Words | 4 Pages

Star Wars a New Hope works incredibly well within the monomyth framework. If we step back and look at the monomyth in its 3 main parts of Departure, Initiation, and Return we can see all of these represented very clearly. Luke Skywalker the main protagonist in this story receives his call to adventure or Departure from the his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi, Kenobi asks Luke to help him deliver this droid to help the rebellion but he is immediately rebuffed as Luke only sees himself as a farmer and not an adventurer. This refusal of the call is another example of Star Wars following the monomyth format. When Luke learns that his Uncle has been killed by the empire he accepts Obi-Wan’s call and begins his road of trials which marks the start of his Initiation.

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556 Words | 3 Pages

Most hero stories are very similar. Joseph Campbell believes that all monomyths follow the same chronological order of a hero's journey. A series of steps which are inevitable. He proves this by discussing how many stories follow a series of steps or actions that the hero follows. For example, Beowolf follows these steps.

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192 Words | 1 Pages

They face challenges and grow as a person by the end of the story. Archetypal characters appear throughout the story. For instance, a "mentor" assists the main character by advising them and being helpful. The epic, "The Odyssey," illustrates the monomyth genre expectations with the hero's journey's stages, and characters

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689 Words | 3 Pages

In conclusion, countless people know of Joseph Campbell's definition of a Monomyth. We see the hero's journey outline everywhere in our modern books and movies. Hercules, in the opinion of many, happens to be one of the best examples of Campbell's definition of a

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1348 Words | 6 Pages

The monomyth follows a cycle that usually consists of the hero casted away from their ordinary world onto an adventure in a foreign land and after passing through different trials they eventually reach the ultimate challenge and find peace within themselves. The heroine, Cinder, has a dream to escape from her current life style away from her step family and finds herself in a place foreign to her and is guided by Dr. Erland through her journey of self-discovery. Eventually, she comes face to face with her greatest adversary, Queen Levana, and their battle leads to Cinder’s escape to find peace between Earth and

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1064 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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1612 Words | 7 Pages

In Joseph Campbell’s book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, he writes about the many different stages of the hero’s journey. He claims that the hero’s journey, or the monomyth, has existed as a guideline for authors and storytellers for centuries. The authors of these stories may have consciously utilized the monomyth, or the stories may be so commonly used that it became the natural way of telling a story about a hero. The monomyth is organized into three different phases: the initiation, separation, and return. Within these phases are the different encounters the hero has.

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839 Words | 4 Pages

The world was chaos. There was only the darkness of Night and the abyss of death until Love was born. Love then gave birth to Light which gave the world Day. Creation continued to take place , and when the gods saw the world, they decided to create mankind. Although mythological tales are viewed by many as fantasies, mythology is comprised of various versions of distorted stories that attempt to explain life 's mysteries, to describe the journeys of heroes in past generations, and to provide a unique identity to Greek culture.

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1131 Words | 5 Pages

Campbell writes about the concept that countless myths all share a basic structure, called the monomyth. In this, the hero of the story undergoes a number of steps in his journey, labelled Departure, Initiation and Return (cf. Ahmed, 2012, 4): (1) In the Departure stage, the hero enters a strange world of often supernatural powers and events, after being called to it in the normal world he’s lived in (cf. Colbert, 2008, 208).

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