The Hero's Archetypal Pattern

Contributed by:
Ivan
In fiction or mythology, particularly involving a protagonist, the hero's journey or monomyth Is the model where the same protagonist generally goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed.
1. The Hero’s Journey And Hero Archetypes
2. Who is Joseph Campbell?
Joseph Campbell is the mythologist who coined
the term “the hero’s journey”. According to him,
there is one story which he referred to as a
3. Campbell’s Hero’s Journey:
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The Hero’s Journey is the term used for a pattern that
Joseph Campbell noticed occurs in myths, stories, movies
and human experiences etc.. He recognized that the
archetype “known as The Hero, the person who goes out
and achieves great deeds on behalf of the group, tribe,
civilization” commonly follows an adventure . He called this
adventure “the hero’s journey”. In studying the hero’s
journey, and applying it to our lives, Campbell argues that
we humans can gain a greater understanding of our life
path and become stronger individuals.
http://www.thewritersjourney.com/hero's_journey.htm
4. The Journey
An individual is called to leave his/her ordinary
world and to enter into an adventure where
he/she becomes transformed and then gives
back to humanity.
● Birth (fetus is transformed into a human)
● Life (child transforms into an adolescent then
an adult through “milestones” and “rites of
passage)
● Fiction (reflection of life)
5. The Hero Journey in life and fiction
6. Psychoanalytic Theory and
Joseph Campbell was inspired by:
Sigmund Freud: the Id and the unconscious
Carl Jung: the collective unconscious
“ ...when we study the world’s mythologies and
discover the archetypal patterns ...that essentially unite
those mythologies, we study what we might reasonably
call the dreams of humankind, in which we find
information about the nature of humanity itself.”
(Leeming 6).
The Hero’s Journey IS AN ARCHETYPE
7. THE STAGES OF THE JOURNEY
See handout...
8. 1. The Ordinary World
♦ Dorothy, an orphan, feels
that life is dull in Kansas
and that she is unloved.
♦ Luke Skywalker is a
farmer who longs for
adventure
♦ Harry Potter, an orphan,
seeks belonging
♦ It is important to see the
hero in her Ordinary
World to contrast this
world with the next one.
9. The Call to Adventure
10. Fear is a Refusal of the Call.
This is a stage in every hero’s
journey. Luke decides to stay
and farm, but there is
no farm to return to
for him.
Sam Gamgee realizes
he has never strayed
so far from the Shire.
Does Harry Potter
have fears?
11. Mentors provide knowledge,
inspire strength and often give
magical equipment…
12. Crossing the First Threshold…
♦ Crossing the threshold
means commitment to
the adventure.
♦ It also means
accepting the
consequences of the
journey.
♦ This is where the
adventure takes off.
There is no turning
back….
13. Tests, Allies, and Enemies…
14. Approach to the Inmost Cave
15. The Ordeal
♦ the hero hit bottom.
♦ greatest fear must be
faced
♦ suspense over the
hero’s fate is felt
16. Reward (Seizing the Sword)
♦ Having survived death
the hero and audience
can celebrate.
♦ As Dorothy escapes
from the Witch’s lair
after defeating her
with water, she has the
broom and ruby
slippers, her tickets
home….
17. The Road Back
18. ♦ In ancient texts, the
Resurrection Resurrection is a
purification ritual before a
hero returns to her
community.
19. Return with the Elixir
♦ The hero returns to her
Ordinary World, but
the journey is pointless
without a special elixir
or lesson learned.
♦ Dorothy learns that
she is loved: “There is
no place like home…”
20. THE ARCHETYPAL CHARACTERS IN THE
THRESHOLD GUARDIANS
21. Understanding Joseph Campbell’s
Hero Journey and Archetypes