Archetypes In The Odyssey

The Hero’s Journey, or monomyth, is a theory introduced by Joseph Campbell, a mythologist from the early 1900s. It describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of their homeland. The Hero’s Journey consists of twelve timely steps and seven archetypes. The reason that this theory is so widely popular and important is because many epics and stories from the past are associated with the timeline and archetypes that Campbell has introduced, which proves the theory to be correct. The Hero’s Journey doesn’t only apply to classic literature such as The Odyssey by Homer. Even modern-day stories are structured around the theory of The Hero’s Journey, such as the popular Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan or The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
The Hero’s Journey follows seven archetypes: a hero, mentor, threshold guardian, herald, shadow, trickster, and shapeshifter. Each archetype has a designated role in the motion of a story, the hero being the main protagonist. A character in a story can play more than one archetype in the story. The reason that these archetypes are so important is because they provide for the deep structure of human motivation and meaning. The hero needs each and every one of these characters to …show more content…
This person may also find themselves going through the twelve different stages of The Hero’s Journey. This is also an attribute of why The Hero’s Journey is such a popular theory. Since the monomyth is able to apply to events of a person’s real life, readers are able to communicate emotions more to literature that follows the monomyth. Readers can connect to a storyline better when they are able to relate it back to their own lives. The monomyth applies to the reader’s life, making them the hero to their own worldly quests in today’s