Myths and Archetypes in J.Campbell's "The Hero with Thousand Faces"

Gilgamesh, a legendary king, completes the monomyth in an ancient epic named for him by setting off (Separation) into unknown lands to subdue a monster and deliver the sacred cedars to his theater. However, he yearns for the secret of immortality, enters an enchanted area, and plunges to the bottom of the sea to fetch an immortality-conferring plant, which he loses to the gullet of a snake (Initiation.) Besides the cedars, moreover, Gilgamesh brings back home an enlarged self, what C. Jung calls an individuated self (179). (Return)

In Aeneas's qualifying excursion, he ventures to the underworld, (Separation) braves Cerberus,(initiation) and obtains from the shade off of his father foreknowledge that he will found the city of Rome.(Return) Rama, an Eastern supporter, whose exploit are glorified in the Rayamana, ventures into the jungle (Separation) and struggles against simian opponents and the savages in magical Rakshas.(Initiation) Rama is Vishnu in di

Burrows, David, et al. Myths and Motifs in Literature.

New York: Free Press/Macmillan, 1973/

Bollingen serial publication XXVII. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1968.

Although the separations, initiations, and returns differ according to various cultural contexts, the over-arching journey of the questing hero retains its circular design and intent. The highest reach of the hero's success stretches for psychic concord and an ultimate divinity. Campbell encapsulates the visionary concept lucidly:

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