Excalibur Hero's Journey Essay

The idea of the hero’s quest is an archetype of literature; it occurs countless times in the history of stories. Many believe that any and all stories follow the path of the hero’s journey. The movie Excalibur includes multiple hero journeys, but the most prominent one is that of King Arthur. By mistake, Arthur successfully attempts to remove the sword Excalibur from the stone, symbolizing that he is the rightful king of the land. This sets him on the task of acquiring respect and recognition, along with dealing with his affairs as king. Because Arthur’s story follows the three stages of the hero’s quest--separation, initiation, and return--it is an example of the archetypal hero’s quest. Separation in the hero’s journey begins with the call to adventure and follows the pattern through the possible refusal of the call, aid …show more content…
Arthur’s rescue is paired up with the sharing of the elixir as, in Excalibur, the two are connected. If the king is prosperous and in good health, the land will reflect this with fertile soil and beauty; contrastingly, if the king is sick and having bad luck, the kingdom will also be unprofitable and will not flourish. Due to this association, when Arthur is restored in health and vigour after drinking from the Holy Grail, the entire kingdom returns to its lucrative, successful state. This point is portrayed and emphasized in Excalibur by Arthur riding through and the land turning over from dark and sickly to healthy and prosperous as he passes. The final step of the hero’s quest is returning to their normal life. In the case of King Arthur, he is revived as he is going to his final fight. He is killed in the battle against Mordred, so he does not have a genuine return to his normal life. Although, Arthur is killed during the return stage, he still follows the majority of this stage, contributing to his archetypal