The HeroMyth According to Joseph Campbell

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The Hero-Myth According toJoseph Campbell
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Call to Adventure . . .

• The Hero is lured, carried away, or else
  voluntarily proceeds to the threshold of
  adventure (Campbell 245).
• This adventure draws the hero out of his every
  day, normal world.

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Initial reluctance . . .

• Initially, the hero feels reluctance
• The hero receives encouragement from a protective
  figure (perhaps a wise old man or woman)
• The protective figure provides amulets against
  the dragon forces he is about to pass (Campbell
  69).

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The first threshold . . .

• A shadow presence guards the passageway
• The hero must defeat or conciliate this power
  and go alive into the kingdom of the dark
  (Campbell 245)

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Beyond the threshold . . .

• Once through, the hero journeys through a world
  of unfamiliar yet strangely intimate forces, some
  of which severely threaten him (tests), some of
  which give magical aid (helpers) (Campbell 246).
• This amounts to a kind of training for the hero.

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The innermost cave . . .

• A place of danger
• A black moment
• Often deep underground
• The place of a supreme ordeal that the hero
  must survive in order to earn his or her reward
  (Campbell 246).

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The Road Back . . .

• The return journey is another scene of danger and
  pursuit. The hero isnt safe yet!
• The return is the final work (Campbell 246).

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The Return Threshold . . .

• At the return threshold, the transcendental
  powers of the hero must remain behind (Campbell
  246).
• The hero re-emerges from the kingdom of dread
  (return, resurrection). The boon that he brings
  restores the world (elixir) (Campbell 246).

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Works Cited

• Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a
• Thousand Faces. Princeton
• Princeton U P, 1973.