Part Two of "Rethinking the Monomyth" (Click here for Part One)
Restructuring Campbell's
Hero's Journey Model
by Reg Harris
Copyright © 2013 by Reg Harris. All rights reserved. Apart from properly cited quotes and short excerpts, no part of this article can be copied or used in any form without written permission. For permission, please contact me.
Redefining Stages
Even a quick review of Campbell's model suggests that not all of the 17 stages are really stages. The Ultimate Boon, for example, is not really a stage but a condition or benefit received for completing a stage (Apotheosis). Similiarly, the hero may never encounter the Woman as Temptress, so that "stage" is really a contingency within the larger experience of encountering the Great Mother archetype (Goddess or Temptress).
In this model, I define a stage as an action the hero takes or a challenge that the hero must resolve. With this in mind, I try to separate actual stages from conditions or contingencies within stages. For example, not all heroes must engage in a Magic Flight; this is really a contingency in the overall process of Crossing the Return Threshold. Likewise, the Master of Two Worlds and Freedom to Live, which are really conditions achieved by the successful hero, are subsumed into a final stage I call "Rejoining the World."
Campbell's Monomyth as a Nine-Stage Model
While it may seem presumptuous of me to "rethink" Joseph Campbell, we should remember that much of Campbell's work was a "rethinking" of the scholars who influenced him. My goal here is not to second guess Campbell, but to move the monomyth slightly away from it's highly-mythological focus so that it is more readily adaptable to all literature and life. I have done this before with the generic, eight-stage model we used in The Hero's Journey: A Guide to Literature and Life, but here I stick more closely to Campbell's original, mythologically-based structure.
The table below outlines my revised, nine-stage model of Joseph Campbell's monomyth. As I mentioned before, the benefit of this simplified model is that it provides a higher level of abstraction, which makes the model more easily adapted to a wider range of applications, including real life.
I welcome comments, suggestions, constructive criticism or dialogue of any sort related to how we interpret and use Joseph Campbell. If you want to add to the discussion, you can leave a public comment below or address me directly through my contact link.
(NOTE: This table is just a brief look at a more extensive exploration I am doing for my work-in-progress, Dancing with the Shadow: The Psychological Dynamics of the Hero's Journey.)
STAGE | CONTINGENCIES & COMMENTS |
|---|---|
| Departure | (Copyright © 2013 by Reg Harris. All rights reserved. Neither this table or its descriptions may be copied in any form without written permission.) |
| 1. Called to the Adventure | - Refusal of the Call - Receive Supernatural Aid |
| 2. Cross the First Threshold | - Threshold Guardian(s) |
| 3. Belly of the Whale | Theoretically, this stage occurs only when the hero can't reconcile the resistance with the Threshold Guardian and is swallowed into the belly for death and rebirth (into the journey). However, in this model, I use it as a symbol representing the hero's abandonment of his former world, whether or not he can reconcile the threshold resistance. |
| Initiation | |
| 4. Road of Trials | This will probably be the longest stage of the journey and may involve several "mini-journeys." As a single stage on the chart, it looks much smaller than it is in reality. |
5. Sacred Marriage (Meeting the Great Mother) | Depending on the hero's level of consciousness, the female symbol of duality (death within life, time within eternity, etc.) will be encountered as: - The Goddess, and/or - The Temptress |
| 6. Atonement with Father | As in the Sacred Marriage stage, where the hero encounters one (or both) aspect(s) of the Great Mother, Atonement with the Father can present the hero with one (or both) of the Father's polar aspects: - Vengeful father, who resents or fears the hero's ascension and possible ursurpation of his position, or - Benevolent father, who is in harmony with flow of life and understands that he will eventually be replaced. |
| 7. Apotheosis | - Receive Ultimate Boon |
| Return | |
8. Crossing the Return Threshold | - Acceptance of the Return (added to original) - Refusal of the Return - Magic Flight - Rescue from Without |
| 9. Rejoining the World | - Master of the Two Worlds - Freedom to Live |
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