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World Mythology and Folklore

The Monomyth or the Hero's Journey

"In narratology and comparative mythology, the monomyth, or the hero's journey, is the common template of a broad category of tales that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, and in a decisive crisis wins a victory, and then comes home changed or transformed." ("Monomyth." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 15 February 2016. Web. 12 April 2016. < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth>

Wikipedia has an excellent article which provides an overview of the Monomyth or the Hero's Journey. Click here to read the complete article.Read the Wikipedia article here:

This image outlines the basic path of the Monomyth, or "Hero's Journey" and is loosely based on Campbell (1949) and (more directly?) on Christopher Vogler, "A Practical Guide to Joseph Cambell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces" (seven-page-memo 1985).

Campbell's original diagram was labelled "The adventure can be summarised in the following diagram:" and had the following items:

  • Call to Adventure
  • Helper
  • Threshold of Adventure: Threshold crossing; Brother-battle; Dragon-battle; Dismemberment; Crucifixion; Abduction; Night-sea journey; Wonder journey; Whale's belly
  • Tests
  • Helpers
  • 1. Sacred Marriage; 2. Father Atonement; 3. Apotheosis; 4. Elixir Theft
  • Flight
  • Threshold of Adventure: Return, Resurrection, Rescue, Threshold
  • Elixir

This image is from Wikipedia article on MONOMYTH (4/11/2016): scan from an unknown publication by an anonymous poster, in a thread, gave permission to use it. Re-drawn by User:Slashme

Heroesjourney

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Last Updated: Jul 12, 2023 2:54 PM