2.3 The Monomyth
2.3.1 Narrative Stages
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Council, 2018). This debate shows no signs of relenting as policy makers and educators continue to address problems that are not even agreed on in all cases. Although the gamut is somewhat diverse in the USA, narratives do continue to be embedded in many national history textbooks, many of which are exclusionary, prescriptive, and didactic.
2.3 The Monomyth
Campbell (2004) identified a narrative structure that is reflected in myths, legends, and folk tales across history and civilizations. The narrative structure, called the monomyth, contains distinct character archetypes and narrative stages into which those stories can be divided and analyzed. This section will explicate the monomyth in two sections. The first section discusses the character archetypes, while section two discusses the three narrative stages and their respective substages.
2.3.1 Narrative Stages
Campbell (2004) identified three narrative stages into which myths are chronologically divided. These three stages, called separation, initiation, and return, are the, “nuclear unit,”
(Campbell, 2004) of a myth. Each of these are divided into narrative substages which characterize each of the main stages. The substages are not necessarily in chronological order, and equal weight is not given to each of them. Sometimes, “differing characters or episodes can become fused, or a single element can reduplicate itself and reappear under many changes,” (Campbell, 2004) meaning that the substages, like the character archetypes, will vary in their characterization and portrayal, revealing values implicit in the narrative. The hero must descend into death in order to achieve apotheosis, and must be reborn when he or she re-crosses the threshold during the return. The monomyth
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narrative structure, according to Campbell, uses the symbolism of death and rebirth as an allegory for a transformation of some kind.
This section is divided into three parts, each corresponding to one of the three main narrative stages. Each narrative substage will then be briefly explicated. Adaptation of the monomyth framework for the critical comparison of the national origin narratives of the ROC and USA will be covered in chapter 3.2.
Separation
Separation is the first narrative stage of the monomyth. This stage contains five substages, the call to adventure, the refusal of the call, supernatural aid, the crossing of the first threshold, and the belly of the whale. This section will highlight the unique characteristics of each of these stages.
The Call to Adventure.
The call to adventure occurs when the hero is in his initial state, in which there is a particular order to things. Among other things, this may be represented by a social structure or hierarchy in which society has been embedded since time immemorial. The call itself is represented by a force which encourages the hero to question this order, or which disrupts the order in some way. It can be a “blunder,” or it can be something deliberate from some existing subversive force. The character archetype of the herald typically appears here, although the herald is sometimes represented as an inanimate object instead of an actual character. Often the call is repeated several times or in several different ways before the hero answers. This leads into the second substage of the separation.
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Refusal of the Call
In the second phase, the hero initially refuses the call. This refusal may be due to several things. One may be that the hero feels a sense of duty or loyalty to the current order in his or her world. Another may be that the hero is afraid or uncertain about what may happen if he or she answers the call. Whatever the reason, refusal of the call often builds pressure and suspense. This also contributes to the justification of the hero’s eventual response to the call.
Supernatural Aid
Once the hero has accepted the call to adventure, he or she encounters a mentor figure who bestows supernatural protections for the journey to come. These protections are often represented in traditional tales by trinkets, cloaks, weapons, shields, or potentially by a word or blessing. Words are often very powerful as protection, and recitation of a particular phrase at the right moment will grant the hero temporary safety or power. The mentor, one of the character archetypes, is not always a single individual, but often is represented by more than one, who sometimes help the hero several times throughout the narrative.
Crossing the first threshold
Once the hero has accepted the call and received divine aid, he or she is ready to advance into the unknown. The first threshold, once crossed, is in essence, a denial of the old order, and thus a descent into chaos and uncertainty. Waiting on the other side is monsters and violence, but also temptation. After crossing, the hero will be faced with a gauntlet of trials and challenges before he or she can reach the goal.
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Belly of the Whale
This narrative stage - sometimes symbolically, sometimes literally - envelops the hero. In a sense, the hero dies, as passing the threshold is a form of “self-annihilation,” (Campbell, 2004). Before the hero can be reborn in his or her new form, this descent is symbolic of the hero shedding his or her old form. The hero remains in the “belly” until this transformation is complete, at which point he or she re-crosses the threshold and returns to life.
Initiation
The second major stage of the monomyth is initiation. It contains six substages: the road of trials, the meeting with the goddess, the temptress, atonement with the father, apotheosis, and the ultimate boon. Some of these stages are often very close to one another or even merged together into a single event within the narrative. This section will briefly explicate the characteristics of these six substages.
Road of Trials
In the first substage of the initiation, the hero is subjected to a host of difficult tests which he or she must overcome. In some cases, these trials are accomplished easily, indicating either that the hero is deeply and unquestionably worthy, but in most cases, these trials are immensely difficult. They take many forms, including battles, feats of strength, tests of cleverness, or tests of virtue. The hero may overcome these trials in many different ways, sometimes even through deceit. He or she makes use of the divine protection bestowed the mentors, but also, “discovers for the first time that there is a benign power everywhere supporting him in his superhuman passage,” (Campbell, 2004).
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Meeting with the Goddess
This and the next two substages are at the zenith of the hero’s journey. The “goddess”
which is met here is symbolic of the idealistic prize which the hero is pursuing. This feminine symbol is, according to Campbell, the ultimate prize to be obtained. If the hero is able to gain control of “her,” he has achieved mastery. His use of gender archetypes, here, has been criticized, (Nicholson, 2011), (Mudock, 1990), but as will be shown in the coming subsections, this problem is addressed to some degree.
Woman as Temptress
This phase illustrates the immense power of the feminine “prize” that is to be acquired by the hero. The power is so great that the hero is tempted to reside in it, without bringing it back to the world and its people. If this happens, the hero is lost or corrupted. In order to complete his or her journey properly the hero must press on without becoming obsessed with the power of the prize.
Atonement with the father
In this substage of the initiation, the hero meets with the masculine power, represented by Campbell as a fatherly figure. The father represents the current master of the feminine
“prize” being sought and therefore must be overcome if the hero is to become its new master. Like the goddess, the father has two sides: one side is a noble leader, and the other is a monstrous tyrant. The vices and virtues apparent in the father, the goddess, and the trials give symbolic expression, “…to unconscious desires, fears, and tensions that underlie the conscious patterns of human behavior,” (Campbell, 2004). Through these symbols, important values and anxieties are contained in the narrative.
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Apotheosis
The Apotheosis is the final climax of the narrative, where the hero becomes, in some sense, divine. Campbell addresses the apparent sexism in the previous symbolism. It is not a literal man and woman being represented by the father and the goddess, rather they are fatherly and motherly archetypes. The Apotheosis represents, to a degree that depends on the myth, itself, a recognition that all things are one, including the masculine and feminine. All is equal. This realization is something that is perpetually strived for, but never completely attained in the waking life on the other side of the threshold, outside the belly of the whale.
The revelation in this substage will vary based on the myth, itself, and that variation will reveal values and anxieties contained in the narrative. For example, the inclusion or exclusion of certain groups will define who is considered, “other” by the narrative.
The ultimate boon
The ultimate boon is that which the hero is meant to bring back to the people of his or her world. It is often represented by an endless bounty, or a magic item which will grant immortality. Campbell describes it as an, “elixir for the restoration of society,” (Campbell, 2004). With this boon in his or her possession, the hero is meant to begin his or her journey back home. This, however, is not always easy, and, as noted in the meeting with the goddess substage, sometimes the hero is tempted to withhold the boon for him or herself.
The hero’s reaction to possession of this divine power is often variable and revealing of values and anxieties contained in the narrative.
Return
The final of the three main narrative stages in the monomyth is the return. This stage is divided into six narrative substages: refusal of the return, the magic flight, rescue from
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without, crossing the return threshold, master of two worlds, and freedom to live. Similarly to the initiation these stages are often very close to one another, and some are merged together into a single stage. The characterization of these stages will indicate values and anxieties inherent in the narrative.
Refusal of the Return
As mentioned in the initiation substages, the hero is often seduced by the power or divinity he or she witnessed and is either unwilling or unable to return initially. For heroes with the highest level of worthiness or willpower, their willingness to submit to the revelation in apotheosis and distribute the bounty of the boon received in the final stage of initiation reveals the character of the hero, and indicates values and anxieties presented by the narrative.
The Magic Flight
When the hero is eventually convinced or compelled to return home with the boon, a path by which he or she must proceed becomes apparent. This path, however, is also filled with temptations and danger. The boon, which is a perfect ideal in its original form, must, in this process of returning home, be transposed into something practically applicable to the world. Ideal things, however, cannot strictly exist manifested in the world, and are thus corrupted through their application to it. Campbell explains this saying, “if the mono-myth is to fulfill its promise, not human failure or super-human success but human success is what we shall have to be shown. That is the problem of the crisis of the threshold of the return. We shall first consider it in the superhuman symbols and then seek the practical teaching for historic man,” (Campbell, 2004).
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Rescue from Without
If the hero cannot return for some reason, either because he or she has been seduced by the divine power, or because the path of the return is too rigorous, he or she may require some help from an ally. The ally archetype, as mentioned in section 2.4.1, may assist the hero at many stages throughout the course of the narrative, but here the ally is often to play a pivotal role.
Crossing the return threshold
The hero eventually comes back to the place where he or she began the journey, and crosses back over the threshold to return home. At this stage, the hero sees the distinction between the divine and the practical worlds clearly, and effort is made to manifest the divine gift, the boon, into the practical world of daily life. As explained previously, however, this task is technically impossible. “There must always remain, however, from the standpoint of normal waking consciousness, a certain baffling inconsistency between the wisdom brought forth from the deep, and the prudence usually found to be effective in the light of the world,” (Campbell, 2004). It becomes the task of mortal humans to perpetually try to actualize the divine boon in the mortal world despite their inadequacy.
Master of the Two Worlds
The compromise that mortal humans exhibit, however, is not necessarily shared by the hero who has returned from the journey. The hero becomes the guide, like a messianic figure, or a conduit of divine wisdom, having been the one who brought the boon to the people.
He or she may even take on the role of the mentor to the hero of other myths, as the boon may become corrupted by the mortal world, and thus require restoration.
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Freedom to Live
In the final stage of the return, the narrative characterizes the new order brought about as a result of the myth. The boon brought back to the mortal world by the hero is actualized as best as possible, but the new order may already reveal cracks and imperfections that result from the transposition of an ideal into practical application. For example, “one may invent a false, finally unjustified, image of oneself as an exceptional phenomenon in the world, not guilty as others are, but justified in one’s inevitable sinning because one represents the good,” (Campbell, 2004). In other words, despite the divine revelation that all are equal and one in the cosmos, one might develop an image of one’s self, or one’s group as somehow exceptional, and more deserving of the divine gift than “others.” As in other stages, the characterization of this stage reveals values inherent in the narrative.