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The Hero with a Thousand Faces

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<tr><th>Country</th><td>United States</td></tr><tr><th>Language</th><td>English</td></tr><tr><th>Genre(s)</th><td>Non-Fiction</td></tr> <tr><th>Media Type</th><td>Print (Hardback & Paperback)</td></tr><tr><th>ISBN</th><td>NA</td></tr>
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
AuthorJoseph Campbell
PublisherPrinceton University Press
Released1949

The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) is the seminal work of comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell. In this text Campbell discusses his theory of the journey of the archetypal hero found in world mythologies and religions.

Since publication of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell's theory has been consciously applied by a wide variety of modern writers and artists. The best known is perhaps George Lucas, who has acknowledged a debt to Campbell regarding the stories of the Star Wars films.

Contents

[edit] Summary

Campbell's insight was that important myths from around the world which have survived for thousands of years, all share a fundamental structure, which Campbell called the monomyth.

This fundamental structure contains a number of stages, which include (1) a call to adventure, which the hero has to accept or decline, (2) a road of trials, regarding which the hero succeeds or fails, (3) achieving the goal or "boon," which often results in important self-knowledge, (4) a return to the ordinary world, again as to which the hero can succeed or fail, and finally, (5) application of the boon in which what the hero has gained can be used to improve the world.

In a well-known quote from the introduction to The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell wrote:

   
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
 A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.<ref> Campbell, Joseph. The hero with a thousand faces. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1949. p. 30. </ref>
   
The Hero with a Thousand Faces

The classic examples of the monomyth relied upon by Campbell and other scholars include the Buddha, Moses, and Christ stories, although Campbell cites many other classic myths from many cultures which rely upon this basic structure.

Campbell explains the ubiquity of the monomyth through a mixture of Jungian archetypes, unconscious forces of mind from the Freudian conception, and Arnold van Gennep's structuring of rites of passage rituals. Since the late 1960s, with the introduction of Post-structuralism, theories such as the monomyth (which are dependent upon approaches based in Structuralism) have lost ground in the academy. This pattern of the hero's journey is still influential among artists and intellectuals worldwide, however, which may indicate a basic usefulness for Campbell's insights, independent of academic categories.

[edit] Fundamental structure of the monomyth

In the monomyth, the hero starts in the ordinary world, and receives a call to enter an unusual world of strange powers and events. If the hero accepts the call to enter this strange world, the hero must face tasks and trials, and may have to face these trials alone, or may have assistance. At its most intense, the hero must survive a severe challenge, often with help earned along the journey. If the hero survives, the hero may achieve a great gift or "boon." The hero must then decide whether to return to the ordinary world with this boon. If the hero does decide to return, the hero often faces challenges on the return journey. If the hero is successful in returning, the boon or gift may be used to improve the world. The stories of Osiris, Prometheus, Moses, Buddha, and Christ, for example, follow this structure very closely.

Campbell describes a number of stages or steps along this journey. Very few myths contain all of these stages — some myths contain many of the stages, while others contain only a few; some myths may have as a focus only one of the stages, while other myths may deal with the stages in a somewhat different order. These stages may be organized in a number of ways, including division into three sections: Departure (sometimes called Separation), Initiation and Return. "Departure" deals with the hero venturing forth on the quest; "Initiation" deals with the hero's various adventures along the way; and "Return" deals with the hero's return home with knowledge and powers acquired on the journey.

[edit] Contents

Prologue: The Monomyth.

  • 1. Myth and Dream
  • 2. Tragedy and Comedy
  • 3. The Hero and the God
  • 4. The World Navel

PART ONE: The Adventure of the Hero.

Chapter I: Departure

  • 1. The Call to Adventure
The quest begins with the hero receiving a call to action, such as a threat to the peace of the community, or the hero in a state of neurotic anguish or the hero simply falls into or blunders into the quest. The quest is often announced to the hero by another character who acts as a "herald". The herald is often represented by a benign forest creature (frog, rabbit, deer) or a chthonic creature (serpent, spider).
  • 2. Refusal of the Call
In some stories, the hero initially refuses the call to adventure. When this happens, the hero may suffer somehow, and may eventually choose the quest, or may continue to decline the call.
  • 3. Supernatural Aid
Along the way, the hero often encounters a mentor, often a wise older person, who gives the hero advice or other assistance, such as an amulet or a weapon.
  • 4. The Crossing of the First Threshold
The hero must eventually cross into an unknown world, where the hero will face trials and tasks on the journey. Before this can occur, however, the hero must cross the threshold between the home world and the new world of adventure. Often this involves facing a "threshold guardian".
  • 5. The Belly of the Whale
Having passed the threshold guardian, the hero is in a strange and unknown world where the main part of the adventure takes place, perhaps discovering the true purpose of the journey. This stage is often an ambiguous place of dream-like forms and experiences.

Chapter II: Initiation.

  • 1. The Road of Trials
Once in the other world, the hero is challenged with mental and physical obstacles that must be overcome. Often these take the form of tests or tasks, by which the hero acquires skills and proves his or her worth.
  • 2. The 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 (see next section). Campbell cites the lure of the woman, leading the hero astray (the hero is assumed to be male). Other cultural mythologists broaden this to include all temptation, and sometimes lump this stage in with the Road of Trials.
  • 3. Woman as the 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.
  • 4. 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.
  • 5. Apotheosis
The hero's ego is disintegrated in a breakthrough expansion of consciousness. Quite frequently the hero's idea of reality is changed; the hero may find an ability to do new things or to see a larger point of view, allowing the hero to sacrifice self.
  • 6. The Ultimate Boon
Having reconciled with the father and achieved personal enlightenment, the hero's psychological forces are again balanced. The hero's new found knowledge, or 'boon,' also has potential to benefit society.


Chapter III: Return

  • 1. Refusal of the Return
Having found bliss and enlightenment in the other world, the hero may not want to return to the ordinary world with the boon.
  • 2. The Magic Flight
A mad dash may be made by the hero to return with the prize.
  • 3. Rescue from Without
The hero may need to be rescued from without by forces from the ordinary world.
  • 4. The Crossing of the Return Threshold
Before the hero can return to the ordinary world, the hero must again confront a threshold guardian. The first threshold was a symbolic death; this is now a symbolic rebirth.
  • 5. 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. The hero has mastered the conflicting forces.
  • 6. Freedom to Live
With the journey now complete, the hero has found true freedom, and can turn to helping or teaching humanity.

Chapter IV: The Keys

PART TWO: The Cosmogonic Cycle

Chapter I: Emanations

  • 1. From Psychology to Metaphysics
  • 2. The Universal Round
  • 3. Out of the Void -Space
  • 4. Within Space -Life
  • 5. The Breaking of the One into the Manifold
  • 6. Folk Stories of Creation

Chapter II: The Virgin Birth

  • 1. Mother Universe
  • 2. Matrix of Destiny
  • 3. Womb of Redemption
  • 4. Folk Stories of Virgin Motherhood

Chapter III: Transformations of the Hero

  • 1. The Primordial Hero and the Human
  • 2. Childhood of the Human Hero
  • 3. The Hero as Warrior
  • 4. The Hero as Lover
  • 5. The Hero as Emperor and as Tyrant
  • 6. The Hero as World Redeemer
  • 7. The Hero as Saint
  • 8. Departure of the Hero

Chapter IV: Dissolutions

  • 1. End of the Microcosm
  • 2. End of the Macrocosm

Epilogue: Myth and Society

  • 1. The Shapeshifter
  • 2. The Function of Myth, Cult, and Meditation
  • 3. The Hero Today

[edit] Artists influenced by work

Main article: Monomyth

The Hero with a Thousand Faces has influenced a number of artists, musicians, poets, and filmmakers, including Bob Dylan and George Lucas. Mickey Hart, Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead had long noted Campbell's influence and agreed to participate in a seminar with him in 1986 entitled From Ritual to Rapture (Source).

George Lucas's deliberate use of Campbell's theory of the monomyth in the making of the Star Wars movies is well-documented. In addition to the extensive discussion between Campbell and Bill Moyers broadcast in 1988 on PBS as The Power of Myth (Filmed at "Skywalker Ranch"}, on Campbell's influence on the Star Wars films, Lucas, himself, gave an extensive interview for the biography Joseph Campbell: A Fire in the Mind (Larsen and Larsen, 2002, pages 541-543) on this topic.

Christopher Vogler, a Hollywood film producer and writer, wrote a book, The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers, which became the basis for a number of successful Hollywood films and is believed to have been used in the development of the Matrix series.


[edit] Background

Campbell used the work of early 20th century theorists to develop his model of the hero (See also: structuralism), including Freud (Particularly the Oedipus complex), Carl Jung (archetypal figures and the collective unconscious), and Arnold Van Gennep (The three stages of The Rites of Passage, translated by Campbell into Departure, Separation, and Return). Campbell also looked to the work of ethnographers James Frazer and Franz Boas and psychologist Otto Rank.

Campbell called this journey of the hero, the monomyth.<ref> (Source of term monomyth.)</ref> Campbell was a noted scholar of James Joyce (in 1944 he had authored A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake with Henry Morton Robinson), and Campbell borrowed the term Monomyth from Joyce's Finnegans Wake. In addition, Joyce's Ulysses was also highly influential in the structuring of The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

The Princeton University Press published all editions of this text. Originally issued in 1949 , The Hero with a Thousand Faces has been reprinted a number of times. Reprints issued after the release of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope in 1977 used the image of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker on the cover (Source). The Commemorative Edition (Published in 2004) has both a new introduction by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., as well as a new cover.

[edit] Quotes

Preface:

  • "There are of course differences between the numerous mythologies and religions of mankind, but this is a book about similarities; and once they are understood the differences will be found to be much less great than is popularly (And politically) supposed. My hope is that a comparative elucidation may contribute to the perhaps not-quite desperate cause of those forces that are working in the present world for unification, not in the name of some ecclesiastical or political empire, but in the sense of human mutual understanding" (Third edition, page VIII).
  • "As we are told in the Vedas: 'Truth is one, the sages speak of it by many names,' " (Third edition, page VII).

[edit] Criticism

  • Clyde W. Ford (2000) was initially distressed by the opening lines of the prologue to The Hero with a Thousand Faces. He eventually returned to the text, in order to synthesize what was of value to him: "Several months passed before I mustered the courage to challenge Campbell again...I was rewarded for my persistence. Campbell's shortsightedness about Africa could not obliterate his immense contributions to mythology, and his omission gave me an opportunity to explore African mythology in a novel and meaningful way," (p. 12).
  • Marc Manganaro (1992), argues that Campbell's theories violate the expectations of poststructuralism: "Campbell's reading of mythology as text hardly aligns with post-structuralist notions of "world as text," as a realm of constantly shifting signifiers having no provable reference to a ground of signified meaning...on the contrary Campbell's trope of 'text'...functions as a shell that covers the true interior of the myth" (p. 159).
  • Pearson and Pope (1981), claim that Campbell's model discounts the possibility of female heroes: "The great works on the hero--such as Joseph Campbell's The Hero With A Thousand Faces...all begin with the assumption that the hero is male" (p. vii).
  • Novelist David Brin has been openly critical of his theories.
  • Novelist David Foster Wallace in the short story Another Pioneer (part of the collection, Oblivion, 2004) critiques Campbell's journey of the hero.
  • American novelist Kurt Vonnegut satirized Campbell's views on the monomyth as being excessively complicated by offering his interpretation, called the 'In The Hole' theory; loosely defined as "The hero gets into trouble. The hero gets out of trouble.'
  • American philosopher John Shelton Lawrence and American religious scholar Robert Jewett have discussed an "American Monomyth" in many of their books, The American Monomyth, The Myth of the American Superhero, and Captain American and the Crusade of Zealous Nationalism.

[edit] Footnotes

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[edit] References

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

nn:Helten med eit Tusan Ansikt ru:Герой с тысячью лицами

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