A Comparison of "Creating the Myth" and "Beauty and the Beast"

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Linda Seger's hero myth from her publication "Creating the Myth" is very thorough in the steps involved in creating a hero of a story. All ten steps are very common to a typical hero story. However, there are some gaps in her theory. An example of a story that does not fit Seger's theory is the Disney version of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. This popular cultural phenomenon has within it an atypical hero, one who pokes holes in Seger's hero myth theory. This atypical hero, simply named Beast, does not fit all ten of the steps in a typical hero story.

It is obvious that Beast does not fit Seger's theory the moment he is introduced in the story. He described as a "spoiled, selfish, and unkind prince [with] no love in his heart." He lives in a great castle and has everything he could ever want, and is cursed to be a beast until he learns to love. Not only this, but within the first few minutes of the movie, Beast imprisons the damsel's father, Maurice, then the damsel, Belle, for simply entering his castle without his personal permission. This is far from what Seger describes as the introduction of the hero in a story. In the first step of her hero myth theory, she writes that that a hero "begins as a nonhero; innocent, young, simple, or humble" who is in "ordinary surroundings, in a mundane world, doing mundane things" (Seger 172). These two hero introductions are incredibly contradictory. While Seger explains that a hero is introduced as a modest, pure, and uncomplicated character, the character of Beast is actually quite complicated. He comes off as pretentious, carrying with him a complex curse, as well as a lack of compassion and guilt. His character establishment displays no likeness to the hero Seger ...

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...tangible release from his awful curse. Beast ultimately breaks the curse as well as getting the girl, but Belle's love was not a premeditated desire. It was merely an effect of his transformation and a reward for completing his goal. Steps sixth through eight of Seger's theory do not exist in the classic cultural phenomena of Beauty and the Beast.

Despite the very comprehensive hero myth theory Linda Seger created, it did not cover all hero stories. There are some stories, like the example of Beast from Beauty and the Beast, that do not fit her cut and dried examination of a hero's journey. Her theory, although very thought out and thorough, had some gaps in it that were not covered in her explanation of the steps in a hero myth.

WORK CITED

http://www.scifiscript.com/cartoon/beautyan/txt

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