A Heroic Monomyth

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A Monomyth, also known as a Hero’s journey, describes the many common stages that a Hero goes through during their journey. Joseph Campbell is the man who first described the Monomyth (wiseGEEK, 2003). He explained all three stages, as well as the steps within each stage. Stage one, the departure, includes the call to adventure, the refusal of the call, the supernatural aid, crossing the first threshold, and the belly of the whale. The second stage involves the road of trials, meeting with the goddess, woman as the temptress/ temptation, atonement with the father, apostasies, the ultimate boom and the refusal to fight. Last but not least, the third stage, the return entails the magic flight, the rescue from without, crossing the return threshold, the master of two worlds, and freedom to live (Steibel, 2010). These steps of the Heroic journey are found in many stories from Greek Mythology as well as more modern stories of today. The stories of Theseus and Perseus are prime examples of Monomyths from Greek mythology that tell about their heroic journeys and the battles they go through in order to earn the title of a “Hero.” The story of Finding Nemo, a movie directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich in 2003, is a prime example of a modern day Monomyth that shows the journey of a father searching the entire ocean to find his son.
The story of Theseus begins by explaining how his mother, Aethra, and his father, Aegeus, who is the king of Athens, decided before he was born, that if he was a boy then Aethra must bring him up without telling him who his father is. When he got older, she was then to send him to Athens to lift a rock by himself, which would have a sword and a pair of sandals hidden underneath it for Theseus. These items ...

... middle of paper ...

...rlin being known by the entire ocean as a Hero for going on the very challenging journey and successfully finding his son. He also has a much better relationship with his son now because he has learned to be less protective and to trust Nemo. The freedom to live is after they all return back home with Dory, Nemo returns back to school with his friends and he is no longer embarrassed by his dad, and it is a happy ending.

Works Cited

Morford, Mark P.O; Lenardon, Robert J.; Sham, Michael. Classical Mythology. 9th edition. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Steibel, Rob. “Kirby, Lucas, and Campell Part 2”. Jack Kirby Museum, December 19, 2010. http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/dynamics/2010/12/19/kirby-lucas-and-campbell-part-2/. December 4, 2013.
“What is the Monomyth?” WiseGEEK.com, 2003. December 4, 2013.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-monomyth.htm.

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