Excellent paper! I especially liked your incorporation of the Harry Potter material. Good thesis statement in your opening paragraph and nice conclusion, too. Lydia Fish December 09, 2008, at 05:31 PM
Word Count: 1,002
Joseph Campbell, a renowned American mythology expert, devoted his life to the field of comparative mythology, the study in which the myths and stories of one culture are compared with another in order to find the similarities. Quite often the mythology of all cultures share the same themes and overall characteristics, helping better understand the values or lines of thought for the people as a whole. Campbell fashioned the term “monomyth” to describe these fundamental ideas found throughout the stories, an idea that is explored in the PBS series The Powers of Myth. In this documentary, Campbell explains that there are consistent elements in myths that reappear in all cultures, such as the type of journey the hero can take, who accompanies the hero on the way, and the types of deeds the hero will accomplish, all of which can be applied to The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series.
Campbell believes that a hero can take a journey starting in one of two ways, the first being that the hero makes the conscious decision to embark upon the journey in order to achieve a specific goal. In The Lord of the Rings, we see that this idea can be applied to the first departure of the Fellowship. Only after the Council of Elrond in Rivendell is the Fellowship fully assembled, all conscious of their decision to act as a group in order to ensure the success of Frodo’s quest to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. Together, they believe that they can overcome the evils leaking out from the land of Mordor. Examining the character, Frodo, who has taken the main task upon himself as Ring Bearer, we see that he more than anyone else has made the conscious decision to take the One Ring and embark on this journey. However, in the very beginning of the tale, things did not begin in such an organized manner.
Campbell’s second observation concerning journeys is that the hero may become swept up in the tide of magic and adventure without meaning to be. Such is the original case with Frodo. He is not aware that the ring his Uncle Bilbo gave him has been the bane of many men before it came to be in his hand. He has no idea that the Ring Wraiths are at that very moment hunting him down with every intention to kill him. Because of extraordinary circumstances, poor Frodo is pulled into the grand quest to save Middle Earth in the most unlikely haven of the Shire, and all because of his Uncle Bilbo. In the Harry Potter series, the main character, Harry Potter himself, is the Boy Who Lived. His adventure began the night his mother sacrificed herself to save him, an act that produced such a powerful effect that he was spared from the killing curse unleashed by Lord Voldemort. He was only a baby, but his fate was sealed by merely surviving.
The second element that can be applied to The Lord the of Rings and Harry Potter is that of the hero’s companions. The classic companion to the hero is the mentor figure, seen within the wise wizard, Gandalf the Grey and Dumbledore. Examining The Lord of the Rings, in the first book, The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf comes to Frodo in order to be a guide and mentor. Later, as Gandalf the White, he lends his services to Pippin, carrying him to safety after he has attracted the eye of Sauron by looking into the Palantir. In Harry Potter, Dumbledore serves as a grandfatherly figure to the growing Harry, who has no one else to turn to who could possibly understand what turmoil he is experiencing. Dumbledore is not only wise with his years, but also extraordinarily powerful, and constantly serves as a guide to help Harry discover the true power within himself. This is a figure that appears in almost every myth involving a grand journey, and always to provide the same kind of aid, that which is more wisdom than physical strength.
The types of deeds the hero accomplishes, Campbell says, can also be divided into two categories. The first type of deed is, of course, heroic, but is a physical sort of deed. In the Lord of the Rings, Frodo sets out to destroy the physical item that is the One Ring of Power. It is an act comparable to that of slaying a dragon. Not only does it rid the world of a powerful, evil object that can harm many people with it’s mere existence, but with it’s destruction comes a victory for the world of all that is good. Middle Earth regains stability after the death of Sauron, making Frodo’s efforts a physical deed of good. Harry Potter does many physical heroic deeds as well throughout the entire series. From facing dragons in the Goblet of Fire to winning Quidditch games, Harry is always on the move with some scheme or plan to unleash in order to maintain a goal, the most important of which is the murder of Lord Voldemort. Again, it is comparable to that of slaying the dragon, a reference which Campbell himself uses quite often. With the death of the fierce wizard comes a peaceful knowledge that there is no longer a grand threat about to kill any who stands in his way. The world is at peace once more.
Joseph Campbell’s monomyth creates many interesting parallels between the most ancient myths of cultures to the modern fiction we read today. All heroes undergo certain events, meet certain people, and act in a particular way in order to succeed in being the heroic being in the end of the tale. It is a formula carefully passed down through generations, one that we all carry within us. Campbell’s monomyth is not only a collection of similarities, but also a gathering of evidence that proves that we all carry the same stories to tell within us all.
Devon Cozad? October 01, 2008, at 11:30 PM
