preview

Hero Journey

Good Essays

Joseph Campbell describes the 17 stages that occur during a hero’s journey, also known as Monomyth. The Odyssey by Homer is a story based on Ulysses and his journey, I will be describing the stages of Monomyth based on Campbell’s ideas. These stages will focus on Ulysses and his son Telemachus. According to Joseph Campbell, a hero’s journey normally entails three phases; the departure, the initiation, and the return. (Wikipedia) The first phase is the departure phase, which consists of three stages; the call to adventure, the refusal of the call, and supernatural aid. The call to adventure, is when the hero is in a “mundane situation of normality from which some information is received that acts as a call to head off into the …show more content…

After that he was supposed to arrive home to his wife and son, unfortunately King Neptune had another plan for him. King Neptune was not happy to find out that Ulysses was released to go home without his consent. King Neptune took it upon himself to make sure Ulysses suffered a number of trials and hardship before arriving home. One of his trials was him reaching the land of Phaecians after King Neptune destroyed his raft. Ulyssess had to swim and stay afloat for two days in order to reach land. (Homer Book IV). The second stage is the meeting with a goddess. During Ulysses’ trials he meets the Goddess Circe, after she turned some of his men into pigs. Circe was a cunning goddess who liked to enchant her visitors with spells. Ulysses’ goes to confronts Circe but is stopped by Mercury who gives him an herb to protect him from Circe spells. Ulysses seems to grow very fond of her, she is beautiful, and also helped him and his men for a year. Unlike Calypso, Circe did not try to keep Ulysses’ against his will. (Homer Book X) The third stage is woman as temptress, this stage happens when “the hero faces those temptations, often of a physical or pleasurable nature, that may lead him or her to abandon or stray from his or her quest.” (Wikipedia) The woman that tries to jeopardize Ulysses is the Goddess Calypso. Calypso is in love with Ulysses’ takes care of

Get Access