The Power of Myth and The Hero Cycle

1. The Power of Myth and The Hero Cycle Mono-myth (as coined by J. Joyce in Finnegan’s Wake) – one story for humanity, as represented through the hero cycle

2. The Hero • More modern stories might include a heroine, but traditionally the hero-story includes a male hero. • Self-achieved submission • Must “die” to the world, be reborn, and return to us transfigured to teach what he has learned

3. The Hero: Birth • The hero may be an orphan. • Supernatural / mystical forces may have impacted his birth. • Quite often he is at odds with his father, even from birth.

4. The Bad Guys… The tyrant / monster hoards the general benefit – the hero must release this flow of life again into world Nemesis—personally hates the hero in an intimate, private way Arch-enemy—still an enemy, but there is a healthy respect; not a personal grudge

5. The Hero Cycle:1. The Call to adventure • Direct or indirect (as in a blunder) • The herald (Alice’s white rabbit, etc.) • Produces anxiety • Refusal? • “Hero” becomes a victim to be saved. Sometimes this is done reluctantly. • Why me? I can’t go to war, I have to stay on the farm…I’m done with that cause…I want to make a fortune…etc. • Series of stronger signs cannot be denied. • Refusal prepares the hero – introspection / introversion

6. The Hero Cycle:1. The Call to adventure • Supernatural / mystical aid • provision of amulets • Southwest Am. Ind.’s Spider Woman, Dante’s Beatrice, fairy godmothers, Christianity’s Holy Mother’s various apparitions

7. The Hero Cycle:1. The Call to adventure • crossing of the threshold from known world to unknown world – i.e. a “birth” • belly of the whale imagery – transit past the 1st threshold (“rebirth” from a womb)

8. The Hero Cycle:2. The Quest • self-discovery • a fight for his people • seemingly insurmountable goal to achieve

9. 2. The Quest:Partners • Two varieties: • older sage – “back at the lab” • underling, sidekick, or crew (younger and more impulsive or even foolish)

10. The Hero Cycle:3. The road of trials / tests • dream landscape • purified, cleansed and humbled by trials • resistances are broken down • realizes what is necessary to save the people (elixir)

11. The Hero Cycle:4. The Showdown • might be a final battle • fights his nemesis or arch-enemy • woman as temptress (Cosmic Mother image becomes Queen of Sin image)

12. 4. The Showdown: Atonement w/ Papa • many times the showdown = struggle vs. father (or a father-figure) • hero must face the father and understand • must find “at-one-ment” w/ father • when hero wins, he can assume his father’s place as creator / destroyer • Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader

13. The Hero Cycle: 5. Apotheosis (deification / glorification) • hero becomes more than he was • becomes teacher or leader • gains elixir of life to return to his people

14. The Hero Cycle: 6. Return • refusal of the return vs. magic flight • journey only half over - crossing the return threshold

15. The Hero Cycle: 6. Return • If he lives • wiser – must release the boon / life back to the world • a leader • rewarded with riches and a pretty wife • Has spiritual peace regardless: isn’t a real “hero” if he’s afraid to die

16. Why does this matter? • “We have only to follow the thread of the hero-path…[and] we shall find a god…We shall [transcend] ourselves…We shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world” (Campbell 25).

17. Why does this matter? • Just about every culture and religion uses the h.c. for its major figures. • We apply the characteristics of the epic / h.c. to our historical stories. • The only distinctly American genre is the Western.