The Monomyth In Joseph Campbell's The Power Of Myth

What makes a hero? Is a hero someone who commits a sacrifice for something greater than himself? A person who does what is right, no matter the cost? In his work The Hero With a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell lays the groundwork of the monomyth; a similar hero's journey or cycle that is present in almost every myth, in every culture. Campbell’s “The Power of Myth” and the hero wheel both add further criteria to define just what it is to be a hero. With these criteria in mind, Frodo Baggins is similar to famous Greek heroes in their beginnings, in the allies they meet in their quests, and in the physical trials they face, while they are different in their traits and motivations. Frodo and the Greek heroes begin their lives in similar circumstances. The first, and perhaps most striking similarity is the time before the quest, where the heroes are all in their ordinary worlds. Frodo’s ordinary world is the Shire, where it is considered in bad taste to go on adventures, and where almost all of its inhabitants had never traveled far outside the town borders. A clear comparison can be made from before the start of Frodo’s quest- his ordinary world in the Shire- to before the start of two Greek hero’s quests: Perseus and Theseus. Perseus, although having an abnormal birth and early childhood in

At the same time, they are quite different: Frodo is physically weak, and mentally strong, while the Greek heroes are very strong physically and don’t show much mental strength. Although Frodo and the Greek heroes are not similar in all, or even most aspects, they are each heroes. Heroism is relative: what is heroic in one culture may be looked down upon in another. Frodo exhibits heroism in his sacrifice for the greater good, while the Greeks earned the title through the amazing deeds they did. One is no more heroic than the other. They are all