The Hero's Journey Essay

The Hero Orpheus and His Journey Since the beginning of the Common Era, the story of Orpheus and his love Eurydice continues to echo the importance and power of love and death. The Roman poet Ovid writes of Orpheus and Eurydice in Metamorphoses, one of the earliest examples of the tale in literature. In the last century, however, Thomas Bullfinch recounts the tale in a far more accessible way. In Bullfinch's version, the son of a Muse, Orpheus, travels to the underworld to get his wife, who dies, back. Throughout his travels to the underworld, Orpheus experiences what Joseph Campbell calls "The Hero's Journey." In Campbell's book The Man With a Thousand Faces, he proposes a theory of the hero archetype and various steps this hero must go through

Orpheus' completion of most steps immortalizes him in Greek mythology. To begin, Orpheus lives his normal life with his love Eurydice, but on their wedding day she is bitten by a snake and dies. Orpheus, distraught by losing his only love, hears his metaphorical call to adventure, but he lacks hesitation to embark on such a dangerous venture. Orpheus' grief begets his journey to the underworld. Though Bullfinch's retelling does not mention Orpheus' meeting with his father Apollo, some retellings of the story have Orpheus meet him, and by this action, he meets his mentor. During his meeting with Apollo, he encourages Orpheus to make his expedition. In Bullfinch's version, Orpheus sneaks into the underworld, crossing the threshold, and makes his way to Hades and his wife Persephone, continuing to the both metaphorical and literal innermost cave. At the throne of Hades and Persephone, Orpheus plays his Lyre in his abyss, and the music captivates Hades to the point where he allows Orpheus to leave with his wife Eurydice but only if on his way back to the living world he never looks back at her. On Orpheus' road back, his own curiosity and worry overcome him, and