Ancients and Archetypes

Epic Poetry!!

What is an epic poem?•Usually long, made up of several chapters, books, or episodes.•Narrative – it tells a story•About the deeds and adventures of a hero•Told in formal, elevated language

Homer

•Who was Homer?– Thought of as the

greatest of the ancient Greek poets

– Thought to have lived between the 7th and 8th centuries (BC)

– “Wrote” The Iliad and The Odyssey

The Iliad

The Odyssey

•Tells the story of Odysseus’s (referred to as Ulysses in Roman myth) journey home from the Trojan War.

•Begins 10 years after the 10-year Trojan War.

Joseph Campbell’sHero Journey

The Hero with a Thousand Faces

a theory for all the ages

The Monomyth

“It will always be the one, shape-shifting yet marvelously constant story

that we find, together with a challengingly persistent suggestion of

more remaining to be experienced than will ever be known or told.”

(Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 1949.)

DEPARTURE(also known as Separation)

• The Call to Adventure• Refusal of the Call• Supernatural Aid• The Crossing of the First

Threshold• The Belly of the Whale

INITIATION

• The Road of Trials• The Meeting with the Goddess• Woman as Temptress• Atonement with the Father• Apotheosis• The Ultimate Boon

RETURN

• Refusal of the Return• The Magic Flight• Rescue from Without• The Crossing of the Return

Threshold• Master of the Two Worlds• Freedom to Live

The Call = an invitation to adventure

• willingly or unwillingly • “transformative crisis” or gradual• something has been taken – the quest

is to find it; something is “missing” in life – the quest is to find what is lacking; honor has been sullied – it must be restored; something is not permitted – rights must be restored

• Interesting note: the “herald” is often an animal or stranger

"Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.”

-- Princess Leia, A New Hope

Refusal of the Call = a polite “no thanks”

• a vehement denial or a last moment of hesitancy

• based on fears of the unknown or societal/familial/cultural constraints

• may be manifested through a regret or desire for normalcy

• can only result in stagnation, disintegration, and death

"We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures.  Nasty uncomfortable things!  Make you late for dinner! I can't see what anybody sees in them...Good morning!...we don't want any adventures here, thank you!  You might try over The Hill or across The Water.“

- Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Supernatural Aid = helpers and mentors

• a protective figure offers advice• mentors are often little old men or

old crones• helpers often become sidekicks on

the quest• Aid is often presented in the form of a

talisman or divine gift (ring, sword, magical helmet, map, etc.)

"I can guide you but you must

do exactly as I say.”-- Morpheus, The Matrix

The Crossing of the Threshold

= “jumping off point” of the adventure

• passage must be earned • threshold is often blocked by an

adversarial guardian who requires the hero to rethink the plan

• threshold = the territory between the known and the unknown

“You mean you'll put down your rock, and I'll put down my sword and we'll try and kill each other like civilized people?”

-- Wesley, The Princess Bride

The Belly of the Whale= transit into a sphere of rebirth

• a symbol of the womb• a form of self-annihilation• a near-death (or death of the old

ways/the old self) and a resurrection• sometimes called “Into the Abyss”

The Road of Trials(aka The Challenges, The Tests)

• tests may be physical or spiritual• the trials become progressively more

difficult• the hero “discovers and assimilates his

opposite either by swallowing it or by being swallowed” (Cambell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces).

• trials often include: brother battle, dragon battle, abduction/sea/night journey, ritual death or dismemberment

The Meeting with the Goddess

(a sacred or mystical marriage)• a woman of mystical power who offers

gifts/ aid/healing/nurturing• woman represents “the totality of

what can be known” (Cambell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces).

• sometimes a hero finds the person he can love most deeply

• Sometimes a hero discovers feminine intuition; a heroine finds male reason

• the union of opposites can take place entirely within a person

The Temptress= temptation as obstacle

• the meeting with a woman may be another obstacle to overcome

• woman = a symbol of life, so recognizing the woman as temptress = a revulsion of the flesh or earthly self

Atonement with the Father(at-one-ment)

• often involves an encounter with the father figure or recognition from a person of power

• the hero has taken the father’s place • the “ogre” father is seen in a more realistic

light and therefore the world view shifts• for the transformation to take place, a

death and rebirth must occur

Apotheosis= becoming godlike

• a god-like state free of strife and obstacles

• a period of rest before the hero returns to the “real world”

• the hero has moved beyond the pairs of opposites: male/female, time/eternity, enemy/friend, birth/death, yang/yin, etc.

The Ultimate Boonthe quest realized

• the hero meets the original goal; finds what he was seeking all along

• sometimes leads to transcendence (especially since the quest is often for an elixir of immortality)

Refusal of the ReturnYou mean I have to go back?!?

• when the battles are won and the “elixir” is in hand, sometimes the hero balks at having to leave all the adventure behind and return to the real world

• the refusal may be adamant or brief, obvious or implied

• sometimes it is impossible to return to the real world because it has been destroyed

The Magic Flight= help/hindrance for the return

• sometimes the hero wins the elixir and receives favor/power from the gods – in this situation, the return trip is magically shortened or made easier with gifts

• if the elixir is stolen rather than won, powers may conspire against the hero to prevent a successful return – in this case, the return trip can be as arduous as the original road of trials

Rescue from WithoutA little help, please?

• if the hero refuses the return or if powers conspire against a successful return, an outside source may step in to assist

• resurrection is often linked to this step – a literal visitation or a metaphorical “voice from the past” may coincide with the return

Crossing the Return ThresholdBack to the grindstone…

• the hero must find a way to retain the wisdom gained from the adventure and apply it to everyday existence

• it’s often difficult to deliver the boon, especially if it involves wisdom rather than a physical gift – the hero must translate “otherworld” experiences so that ordinary people understand them

• synonymous to “reverse culture shock”

Master of Two Worldstranscendental heroes

• the hero releases the “ordinary” self and gives himself/herself over to destiny

• usually represented through transcendence from human to god-form (Jesus/Buddah)

• for human heroes, it means that a balance has been struck between the material and spiritual worlds.

The Freedom to Live“denouement”

• open plot points in the story resolve themselves

• a reconciliation between consciousness and universal will

• mastery of the quest removes a fear of death which allows the hero “freedom to live”

• involves a realization that the journey is never really over