Essay on Heroes Journey for Shrek

In the beginning of the movie Shrek, the damsel in distress, Fiona, is trapped in a tower guarded by a fire breathing dragon waiting for the day where her prince would come. Instead of being saved by a prince, she is surprised with an ogre and a donkey that came to her rescue. In the end, Fiona had a life decision in front of her. She had to choose between Lord Farquaad, a selfish man who wanted to use Fiona for her title, or Shrek, the ogre who came to her rescue. In order to break the curse, she had to kiss her true love, and she chose Shrek because he genuinely loved her.

It describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of the group, tribe, or civilization.” The 12 stages of this are ‘the ordinary world’, ‘the call to adventure’, ‘refusal of the call’, ‘meeting with the mentor’, ‘crossing the threshold’, ‘tests, allies and enemies’, ‘approach’, ‘the ordeal’, ‘the reward’, ‘the road back’, ‘the resurrection’ and finally ‘return with the

Aspects such as abnormality, the visits to the supernatural world, and greater knowledge gain than original expected of the epic hero archetype guide the reader through this story. Leading them to realize that without understanding the dangers of something irreversible mistakes may be made and yet at the same time wisdom allows for innovation and progress to

In everyone’s life, we experience fear. It is an emotion which seizes everyone’s attention and actions. It can cause a person to perform something they never imagined doing. Yet, after constant submission to the same feeling of fear, one becomes desensitized to it. The same chemical reactions in someone's head which caused their heart to race and mind to blank no longer has those same effects. It leads a person to wonder how they can survive past this dreadful feeling. Yet, there are people who stand in the face of fear and experience these feelings so no one else has to, heros. One of the main traits of a hero is standing resilient in the face of fear and the adversity which accompanies it.

Life is a precious gift, as you only get one chance to become your best self. In life everyone has hopes and dreams to find their calling to potentially make a difference in the world. In literature we are presented with an abundance of epic hero stories, referring to fictional or non-fictional characters that have made a difference in their world. These characters grant the reader with entertaining stories pertaining to historical or fictional events that reflect the hero’s journey to making a triumphant change. Joseph Campbell’s theory that every hero has a similar journey to becoming their best self commences with a call to an adventure. The call to adventure is the first and most important step in Joseph Campbell’s hero monomyth, “A hero with a Thousand Faces.”

There is one archetype, the hero, which recurs so frequently in stores, that a certain basic pattern has developed and been used for many centuries. American scholar Joseph Campbell described this pattern as twelve stages telling the story of the hero, and he gave it the term “monomyth.” The movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou” follows this pattern. Despite some variations on the archetypal hero, Ulysses Everett McGill is still a dynamic hero in his own right, following Campbell’s stages.

Throughout history it becomes apparent that all the great stories: The Odyssey, Great Expectations, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are all founded on a similar theme. The same plot line, a hero, most often the protagonist, faces danger and adversity to the highest extreme but always comes out on top. He is depicted as the pinnacle of human triumph and in essence, demonstrates a fundamental strength that all men should strive to achieve. These stories were, “ full of darkness and danger. And sometimes one did not want to know the end; How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? In the end, it is only a passing thing. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out even clearer. Those

However, since the hero is part of society, the journey is also one of personal development. On a more psychological level, one could suggest that the hero’s quest is symbolic of all personal conflict. Conflict begins when a problem arises that must be dealt with. Most people, at first, refuse to come to terms with whatever this problem may be, and attempt to ignore it. With enough mental determination and/or aid from an outside source, however, one can bring themselves to cross the first threshold, and begin their journey into the heart of the problem. For example, victims of rape or other types of abuse must face what is haunting them in order for it to be exorcised properly.

Growing up, most people read fairytales such as “Cinderella” and “Little Red Riding Hood”. These stories set up some sort of expectation for what life will be like. However, fairytales are just as messed up as life. DreamWorks created the movie Shrek to make fun of fairytale’s social prejudge and idealism. Shrek uses reversal and irony to create a satire about the flaws of fairytales.

hero's journey is not solely “applicable to fiction but also to the journeys that everyone goes

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back

Shrek was very sad when he found out that princess Fiona was going to get marry. The donkey noticed how sad he was and told him to go find Fiona and to tell her what he feels but Shrek was afraid of

hero is advised to avoid risking their life in battle it almost drives them even further

We see Princess Fiona in her ogre form for the first time towards the middle of the movie. She is with donkey and does not want Shrek to find out what she has turned into. Shrek overhears Fiona talking about how ugly she is and he assumes they are talking about him. His feelings are hurt and the belief that he is ugly and incapable of love or marriage is officially set in his mind.

Continuing to struggle with his inner conflict for the remainder of the journey, Shrek finally reaches the end of his quest and is given back his swamp. When Shrek returns to his swamp, he is immediately followed by Donkey who demands that Shrek admit his feelings to himself. Convinced and prepared to make his way to the castle, Shrek informs Donkey that there is no method to get to the castle in time before Princess Fiona marries Lord Farquaad. So Donkey assures Shrek of his plan and whistles for the dragon he miraculously met near the swamp. Shrek and Donkey interrupt the wedding ceremony giving Shrek the opportunity to confess his love to Fiona, but not before Fiona’s secret is exposed that during the day she’s human and by night an ogre. After the revelation, Lord Farquaad tries to cease both of them and ends up getting eaten by the