Christian Lescznske
Professor Larkin
ELIT2055-B
31 March 2014
The Hero’s Journey: Comparing and Contrasting Heroes Joseph Campbell was an American psychologist and mythological researcher. In his lifelong research, Campbell discovered many common patterns running through hero myths and stories from around the world. Years of research lead Campbell to discover several basic stages that almost every hero-quest goes through (no matter what culture the myth is a part of). He calls this common structure “the monomyth” (Hero’s Journey). The “hero’s journey” appears in drama, storytelling, myth, religious ritual, and psychological development. It describes the typical adventure of The Hero, who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of the family, group, tribe, or civilization. There are twelve steps, or stages, of the typical “Hero’s Journey”. The twelve steps are: The ordinary world, the call to adventure, refusal of the call, meeting with the mentor, crossing the threshold, a test, the approach, the ordeal, the reward, the road back, the resurrection, and the return with the elixir, or reward. As I previously stated, Campbell’s monomyth works best with the traditional form of the quest such as in folk and fairy tales, myths, legends, and other fantasies. However, it can be applied to many different genres or types of stories. A quest does not have to include swords and monsters. It can just as easily occur in the real world. The monomyth is ageless and universal, and exists anywhere and everywhere. During the first half of this semester, we have read a number of stories from our class text, which involves and relates to the hero’s journey. There were two stories and characters that particularly stood out to me and which I found the most comparisons between although they were two types of heroes. Those characters were Gilgamesh, from The Epic Of Gilgamesh and Oedipus, from Oedipus: The King. Usually, in an epic, you always read about a hero. Heroes are defined as “a character that, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, displays courage and the will for self-sacrifice for some greater good”(MythologyTeacher). Usually, you are faced with two types of heroes: a quest hero and a tragic hero. The definition of a quest hero is an individual or a group of people that embarks on a journey to achieve a goal. You can find a quest hero in The Epic of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is a perfect example of someone who had many flaws and faced many struggles and in the end changed his attitude and became a better person. Now, a tragic hero is a dignified or a noble character that possesses a defect that brings about or contributes to his or her downfall. That's where Oedipus: The King comes in. Both epics are entirely different and similar at the same time. The Epic of Gilgamesh is about the plight of a god-like man, Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk, who befriends Enkidu, a man who grew up alone in the wilderness and who initially persuades Gilgamesh to be a better, less tyrannical ruler. Once Enkidu and Gilgamesh become acquainted this is where the hero’s journey starts. The first step according to Campbell is the “call to adventure” where the hero receives a call to leave his normal life and face adventure. Together these two characters decide to travel to the Cedar Forest and kill Humbaba, the protector of the forest. It is not until Gilgamesh faces Humbaba that his character’s demeanor starts to change. He is face to face with this beast and one of them has to die. The once strong and fearless leader starts to become fearful and intimidated by the monster. The next big change, is when Enkidu dies which ultimately transforms Gilgamesh’s character. When Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh becomes very worried, because he realizes for the first time that everyone is going to die at some point in time. The fact that Enkidu is a close friend makes it even more evident to Gilgamesh that everyone is mortal. He is deeply upset, about Enkidu’s death and acts selflessly for the first time, by giving up personal items and treasures to the Gods so Enkindu is accepted in the afterlife. Along with this new awareness, comes the theme of denial. Gilgamesh doesn’t want to accept the fact that he will die. He denies the truth, because he doesn’t want to think about the truth or deal with the tragedy that has just struck him. Due to this, he sets off on a journey to find immortality but is ultimately robbed of it by a serpent. Gilgamesh realizes that immortality is not achievable after his quest for it. He discovers that the quest was pointless, because he will die regardless of the steps to prevent his death, but ultimately ended up learning his biggest lesson from Utnapishtim, the man who become immortal. He learns to appreciate life every day and that humans are meant to die. The last stage in the hero’s journey is the return. Gilgamesh returns to Uruk with this information and begins to appreciate life and his kingdom. Overall, this experience changed Gilgamesh for the better. Throughout the story you can see how the character transformed and how his journey bettered him in the end by making him a better human and king, and making him learn to appreciate life everyday up until its very end. Unlike The Epic of Gilgamesh, Oedipus: The King is different because Oedipus is not your traditional epic hero. In fact, he is the opposite, a tragic hero. By definition, a tragic hero is a character who is unavoidably doomed. That hero’s fate has already been decided but the character usually spends the entire course of a story trying tirelessly and unsuccessfully to change that. Sophocles defines tragic hero as someone who tends to behave as a man and has humanistic qualities, yet by a moment, a force, or action that is beyond their control or understanding will lead to their demise (Oedipus Rex and the Hero’s Journey). Oedipus easily falls into this definition. In Greek mythology, one of the major themes is the importance of fate and free will. The Ancient Greeks believed that even the Gods themselves could not change one’s fate, after it has been decided. The story of Oedipus is a perfect example that shows this theme. Fate and free will are intertwined with the main character, Oedipus. Oedipus is not only destined to perform hateful acts, but his notorious behavior determines his fate. Oedipus is a tragic hero for reasons that he cannot control. From birth he was given a prophecy and his future was planned for him regardless of anyone’s actions. It was foretold that Oedipus would kill his father and sleep with his mother. Oedipus starts out as doing what is considered the right thing and saving Thebes from the Sphinx. Oedipus, like Gilgamesh, becomes a king, because he solves the Sphinx’s riddle. He was the king of Thebes, which later became plagued at the time. Oedipus asks a prophet why his people are suffering and wants to try and correct it. He is told that the plague will not pass until the previous king, Laius’, killer is punished. Oedipus is appalled that the people never tried to find and punish the previous king’s killer so he makes it his main goal. In his efforts he becomes prideful. He believes this is journey to solve a crime, but it soon becomes a journey to find himself. He doesn’t know, at the start of the play, that he has in fact murdered his father, King Laius, and slept with his mother. As he initiates his journey, he threatens the murderer with exile from Thebes, being unaware that he is actually threatening himself. A prophet Teiresias, informs him of his past, but Oedipus doesn’t want to listen. He believes that there’s no reason to believe Teiresias' acquisition of the murderer. Also, after discovering that Creon brought Teiresias to the palace, Oedipus feels that he can’t trust Creon or Teiresias. This lack of trust shows that he is becoming arrogant about his own self instead of taking others advice. Being prideful and confident, Oedipus refuses to question his previous actions. He remains determined unaware that this will ultimately lead him to his tragic fall. Oedipus finally is given the truth, fully and realizes who his parents really are. This would also lead to the step of transformation. He eventually realizes that the prophecies were true and his wife commits suicide. Oedipus chose the path of ignorance other than clarity, and in doing so; had to take responsibility for his actions. He was so ashamed at what he did that he blinds himself, which is symbolic because before when could see, he was blind to the truth. Yet, now that he is physically blind, he sees the truth. He eventually accepts the tragedy and asks to be banned from Thebes. As a tragic hero, Oedipus’ fate is set up for him regardless of whether these steps of the heroic journey are completed. Unlike Gilgamesh, Oedipus has no real control over his destiny. Gilgamesh does not possess a tragic flaw nor ends with the characters unlitmate downfall. Gilgamesh is a bad ruler in the beginning because he thinks he can do whatever he wants. But, in the end Gilgamesh has a greater understanding of life, which makes him appreciate life and be a better king. Although two completely different types of heroes, there were many similarities of the two kings. They were both heroes in their own way. While Gilgamesh displayed the traditional heroic journey, Oedipus displays an internal heroic journey. While on each of their respective journeys, both kings found themselves within. Both of these stories prove that there are many different types and variations of the “Hero’s Journey” while still following the same pattern or format. This pattern has been used over the years from the very first records of writings, to todays Disney’s movies. Some of the most famous stories to date follow this pattern and I believe many more will come from it.