Excellent essay! Lydia Fish
1,317 words
Joseph Campbell was a man who distinguished himself by collecting and analyzing stories from different cultures and looking for similarities and differences between them. He came to realize that a lot of similarities showed up in the stories about heroes. These types of stories and themes that are relevant to them can be thought of as a part of human instinct because they show up in many different forms and cultures. He found similarities in the sequence of events that took place during hero stories from the different cultures which he called the “typical hero sequence”. The “typical hero sequence” according to Campbell can be applied to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Campbell saw many different ways in which a person becomes a hero within the stories across the cultures. Some of the ways in which people within the stories were becoming heroes were by following a lure, by stumbling upon the adventure, by being thrown into the adventure, or by simply setting out on adventure willingly. Initially Frodo stumbles upon adventure and heroism because he doesn’t know the ring has powers when it is in his possession at Bag End. He believes it is only a trinket and has no idea of the stories behind the ring in his possession. Gandalf explains to Frodo the history and powers of the ring and the fact that it must leave the Shire. Frodo is told to take the ring which he first thought to be ordinary away from Bag End. In this sense he stumbled on the adventure and opportunity to be a hero. One can also say that he was thrown into it by Gandalf. He had no other choice but to take the ring out of Bag End because Gandalf specifically said that he could not be tempted by the ring.
Then Frodo takes on the task and adventure of being a hero willingly. He decided that he is the best one to carry the ring into Mordor at the Council of Elrond. At this point in the story he takes on the task of giving himself to others and saving Middle Earth head on. He understand the difficulties that are going to lie ahead and has heard stories of Mordor and the things that dwell inside of it, but still decides to take fate into his own hands and destroy the ring in the fires of Mount Doom.
In most stories about heroes there is a scene usually towards the beginning of the adventure where the hero is in the company of others, typically in a bar type atmosphere. It is here where the hero meets people who have traveled, been about in the world and now are telling stories of what they have seen. In the Lord of the Rings, Frodo and his friends go to the Prancing Pony for the night. It is here where they find a mysterious man in the corner all dressed in black when trouble is about. This man, Aragorn, has been around more than the hobbits have and has seen more than they have seen. The night in Bree, Aragorn explains to the hobbits what he knows about the things that hunt them and the darkness that follows them. He comes into the story and is able to help the hero along in his journey because he has adventured before and knows Middle Earth.
There are two types of deeds that would cause a person to have to take on adventure and become a hero. There are physical deeds which are when a person gives themselves to others. They fight or overcome physical obstacles to save the day. They take on the task of committing them selves completely to help better the lives of everyone else. Frodo accomplishes physical deeds when he trudges through the different obstacles of his journey. He leaves his comfortable life, home and friends behind to carry the ring to its destruction. He ultimately carries the load for everyone else’s sake. He becomes the ring bearer and the hero for everything that is good and peaceful within Middle Earth.
There are also spiritual deeds that Campbell believes a hero goes through. A spiritual deed is when a hero has to overcome temptations and hold true to himself while going through trials and tests. Frodo has to fight against the very power of the ring itself. It draws him in and makes him feel that he needs to put it on. The temptation to put the ring on grows when trouble finds him in the form the black riders. Frodo is tested on subduing the thoughts of putting the ring on many times over until the very edges of Mount Doom. The key is that Frodo does not lose himself to this temptation with the help of Samwise Gamgee. Samwise can be seen as a hero in this sense because he refrains from taking the ring and letting its powers work on him while keeping Frodo going on to victory. He is always there beside his companion and when the ring calls on Frodo to put it on and make himself visible to Sauron he always stops him from doing so.
There are certain morals or goals in tales of heroism that can be seen in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. One of which is the fact that the fellowship of the rings is out to save something bigger than themselves. They are not only fighting for survival, but they are also fighting for the very things that they hold dear to themselves such as their homelands and the love and friends that they lie within them. Sam always talks about after they save Middle Earth they can go back to the Shire and live life as they once had. Going back to the gardening, the trees, the food, the stories is what kept Samwise from giving up on Frodo and the journey. Getting back to life and not worrying about the troubles they face at the moment is what Sam used to trudge Frodo along to Mount Doom.
One of the aspects of being a hero is being able to find yourself and becoming more independent while pushing aside his ego and fears along your adventure. A hero can be helped and guided at the beginning but when it comes to down finally accomplishing the end result a hero must do this on his own. In the Lord of the Rings Frodo believed that he had to do the task alone, but Samwise did not let him continue on the journey by himself. Samwise stayed with Frodo through every horrible turn the path to Mordor led them on as well as keeping Frodo alive. However, at the very end, at the edge of Mount Doom when all hope seems to be there but lost at the same time, Sam no longer has any control over what Frodo does. Frodo has to choose what is right. He has to destroy the ring without any help from Sam even though Sam kept him alive and looked after him the entire way.
Joseph Campbell had a very good idea of the tales f heroism and how they were similar across cultures. He came up with what he called the “typical hero sequence” that consisted of what causes someone to become a hero, the different ways in which a hero can give himself to a certain goal and many other things. Campbell’s ideas can be applied to the Lord of the Rings series because of all of the different heroes that exist within the pages of the books. Frodo is a hero but the rest of the fellowship and friends are as well. All of the heroes of the Lord of the Rings gave themselves in different ways to the cause of saving Middle Earth and getting back to the places that they hold dear within their hearts.
Elizabeth Delano? October 01, 2008, at 09:57 PM
