A Heroic Monomyth
analytical Essay
2850 words
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 ...
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...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.
In this essay, the author
- Explains the three stages of a hero's journey, including the departure, the road of trials, atonement with the father, and the return.
- Analyzes how theseus' mother, aethra, and his father, king of athens, decided that if he was a boy, she must bring him up. ariadne helps him to escape the monstrous minotaur.
- Explains that the labors represent the sixth stage, the road of trials, where the hero must undergo a series of tests to begin their transformation.
- Narrates how aegeus' wife, medea, noticed that theseus was a rival to medus in becoming the next king.
- Narrates how minos mounted an expedition against athens as revenge for his son being killed. theseus volunteered to go to crete to prove he was the son of poseidon by finding a ring.
- Analyzes how aegeus kills himself and makes theseus the new king of athens. the stage of temptation occurs when theseus meets one of the amazon warriors, hyppolytus, and she falls in love with her.
- Explains the tenth stage of apostasis, where theseus lost popularity, was exiled from athens, and was killed by king lycomedes. the final stage, freedom to live, occurs after he becomes king.
- Explains that perseus was another significant hero that had a similar journey to that of theseus.
- Explains how perseus begins his journey into the world of the gods and creatures. the sixth stage, the road of trials, is when he sets off to find the gorgons.
- Describes how perseus completes stage seven, meeting with the goddess, when he is in ethiopia after beheading medusa. he kills the monster, married andromeda, and had a son named perses.
- Analyzes how perseus' apostasies take place when he accidentally kills his grandfather during the athletic games. he refuses to return to argos and conquers the kingdom by turning everyone to stone.
- Analyzes how finding nemo is a modern type of monomyth. it's about the clown fish who gets taken by divers across the ocean and has to live with other fish that he has never met.
- Explains that marlin the clown fish is an over protective father to nemo and tries to keep him from getting himself into any type of danger.
- Analyzes how marlin's super natural aid, stage three, is dory, a blue fish who helps him on his voyage to find his son.
- Analyzes how dory and marlin have to escape from the sharks and avoid being eaten. they lose the goggles that have the address of the divers that took nemo.
- Narrates how marlin and dory find themselves on the east australian current with sea turtles who helped them out. they are stuck in the whale's mouth and are convinced that he is going to die.
- Describes how marlin and dory's magic flight occurs when they come across a group of seagulls that want to eat them. nigel, one of them, knows who nemo is and where he is, and offers to help them get in his mouth.
- Analyzes how nigel brings marlin and dory to the dentist's office where nemo is perceived to be dead, even though he is just pretending.
- Analyzes how marlin hesitantly lets nemo go into the fishing net to save dory, but he trusts him, and when the ultimate boon happens, they all return home together.
- Analyzes how the stage, the master of the two worlds, involves marlin being known by the entire ocean as a hero for going on the challenging journey and successfully finding his son.
- Opines that morford, mark p.o, lenardon, robert j., and sham, michael. classical mythology, 9th edition.
- Cites steibel, rob, "kirby, lucas, and campell part 2". jack kirby museum, december 19, 2010.
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- Conception and Birth of Heroes in Greek Mythologyanalytical essayAethra, daughter to Pittheus king of Troezen, and wedded to Bellerophon before he was exiled to Caria in disgrace bore Theseus (Leeming). Aethra and Bellerophon did not consummate their wedding vows before his exile (Leeming). Pittheus, saddened by his daughters enforced innocence, gave his daughter to Aegeus king of Athens for the night when Aegeus visited with them after consulting the Delphic Oracle (Willis). Awoken by a dream sent from Athena, Aethra swam the short distance to the island of Sphaeria where she lay with Poseidon before returning to her bed (Leeming). Upon awakening in the morning, Aegeus told Aethra that if she were carrying his child she must raise it in secret in Troezen, telling no one who fathered the babe (Morford, Lenardon and Sham). If it was revealed Aegeus fathered the child it would risk murder by his brother, who wanted the throne (Leeming). Aegeus hid...
In this essay, the author
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how campbell's "monomyth" is the major theme throughout his book, the hero with a thousand faces, and the majority of his studies.
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- Explains that the departure division is made up of the five first stages — the call to adventure, refusal of call, supernatural aid, crossing the first threshold, and the belly of the whale.
- Explains the initiation division, which is made up of six stages: the road of trials, the meeting with the goddess, woman as temptress, atonement with the father, apotheosis, and the ultimate boon.
- Analyzes the final five stages of the hero's journey, including refusal of return, the magic flight, rescue from without, crossing the return threshold, master of two worlds and freedom to live.
- Opines that the "hero's journey" is an eye-opening idea presented by joseph campbell. it makes them wonder what myths were derived from each other and which religion is influenced by another religion.
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In this essay, the author
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- Analyzes how tom robbins' 1984 novel jitterbug perfume uses classical mythology as a foundation to reinforce the importance of the journey of life and the discovery of self
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In this essay, the author
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- Explains the "beowulf study guide : summary and analysis of lines 1-193 | gradesaver."
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1745 wordsRead More