The incorporation of Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth and Carl Jung’s Archetypes within Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits, Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, and William Butler Yeats’ “The Second Coming” promotes the discussion of the frailty, strength, kindness, and cruelty of humanity and how literature portrays these ideas and themes. In literature, the protagonist often acts as the hero or heroine and embarks upon a journey in order to achieve their ultimate goal, the “Holy Grail,” which offers happiness and marks the accomplishment of the hero’s fulfillment. The hero’s archetypical journey as described by Joseph Campbell and supported by Carl Jung portrays the complexity of humanity as the hero experiences a profound and philosophical
…show more content…
Characters ask themselves these questions as they venture off into the unknown world that awaits them in life and that allows them to learn as they experience its various twists and turns. Therefore, the hero sets off on a journey to find themselves, often returning in an enlightened state, in which they discover their identity and sense of purpose. However, the hero/heroine encounters various obstacles and receives aid from other sources in order to help them achieve their goal. Despite the obstacles, they continue the journey because of the other forces that compel them and enable the discovery and eventual enlightenment for both the character and the reader as authors and poets implement elements of real life that the readers connect to and learn from. Consequently, the road of trials becomes a significant point in the hero’s journey because it tests the hero and allows the hero to learn from his or her mistakes and mature because of this. The only thing that separates some characters from others and from the archetypes lies in the fact that the characters achieve happiness in different ways and Jung’s Archetypes and Campbell’s Monomyth fail to account for any deviations due to the diverse nature of humanity, which sometimes rejects simple classification and defies
Characters ask themselves these questions as they venture off into the unknown world that awaits them in life and that allows them to learn as they experience its various twists and turns. Therefore, the hero sets off on a journey to find themselves, often returning in an enlightened state, in which they discover their identity and sense of purpose. However, the hero/heroine encounters various obstacles and receives aid from other sources in order to help them achieve their goal. Despite the obstacles, they continue the journey because of the other forces that compel them and enable the discovery and eventual enlightenment for both the character and the reader as authors and poets implement elements of real life that the readers connect to and learn from. Consequently, the road of trials becomes a significant point in the hero’s journey because it tests the hero and allows the hero to learn from his or her mistakes and mature because of this. The only thing that separates some characters from others and from the archetypes lies in the fact that the characters achieve happiness in different ways and Jung’s Archetypes and Campbell’s Monomyth fail to account for any deviations due to the diverse nature of humanity, which sometimes rejects simple classification and defies