Origins of Hero’s Journey
The mythical hero has been the subject of many studies. Psychologist Otto Rank and anthropologist Fitzroy Richard Somerset also known as Baron Raglan, laid the foundation for the hero’s journey with the Rank-Raglan mythotype. They identified twelve traits that apply to mythical heroes. These traits are in Oedipus and Perseus as well as the common traits that we find in stories in various cultures throughout history. The word “hero” and_monomyth comes from the Greek word that means protector or a defender who performs acts of bravery. Examples of the mythological hero are Gilgamesh and Achilles. Each hero follows a similar path; the tale is as old as time.
The path or journey that the hero goes on was popularized by theologian Joseph Campbell. He also studied myths throughout various cultures and time. Much of Campbell’s influence came from Carl Jung’s belief that myths are expressions of the collective unconscious. Therein lie core ideas that are part of the human understanding built into the fabric of our collective psyches. Campbell outlined his explorations in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, referring to the idea of a hero as the “monomyth.” This is a term he borrowed from James Joyce to explain the “hero’s journey” as universal. The hero’s journey, he proposed, represents the fundamental archetypal narrative structure that all mythical and classical stories have in common.
The Rite of Passage
The concept of a hero’s journey also originated from the rite-of-passage model of human development first identified by the early 20th century ethnographer and folklorist Arnold van Gennep. He identified three stages as: separation, initiation and return. This outlines the universal experience of human development. Campbell used mythic stories to expand the three stages to seventeen that eventually he came to call the hero’s journey. Campbell found this same “story” in mythological and folkloric stories across different times and places. A prime example of this, Campbell suggests, is the Gautama Buddha. He summarized the journey as follows: “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered, and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from the mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”
Campbell’s model has inspired many writers, including George Lucas who wrote Star Wars. Christopher Vogler adapted this model for screenwriters in his book The Writers Journey: Mythic Structures for Writers. He condensed the stages to twelve and showed how it could fit within a three-act structure applying it mostly to film and TV. As I discovered, Campbell’s work modifies well for use in any narrative structure that might include the journey of the everyday protagonist in a drama. Although this model is typically most useful when we are writing in the fantasy genre, I will be using Vogler’s model, and with some modifications. We will explore this to show how it can be very helpful as a foundation for finding and developing a story idea and writing a novel in other genres as well.
The Dramatic Arc
The Three-Act Structure
The rite-of-passage model also has similarities to what is called the “three-act” structure first identified in Aristotle’s Poetics. He proposed that the plots of dramatic narratives should have structure that represents a single whole action. It should focus on a main character’s journey in a story that includes a beginning (setting up the action), a middle (the rising action and climax) and an end (the resolution). We can use this structure to frame most stories. The plot is a sequence of events that unfolds the story. You have the action and conflicts, major and minor, drive the plot and lead to the ultimate resolution.
Protagonist and Antagonist
An archetypal (universal) story has a protagonist is the main character in a drama. Substituting the word “protagonist” for the word “hero” makes it even more universal as an archetypal framework for story structure that does not necessarily involve a mythological tale. The protagonist is a word that came from the Greek word for player of the first part or main character who moves the action and may also perform acts of bravery. He can be an ordinary guy, that often has a wound or problem. He has an important goal or desire that usually emerges after or because of the inciting incident that sets the story in motion. Tensions arise from the interventions of the antagonist. This term comes from the Greek word for competitor that results in a frustration of the protagonist’s goal or desire.
Our Hero Story Experience
The protagonist in the story is the main character and mover of the action with whom we identify. He causes us to feel empathy and tension, or what Aristotle called pity and fear. The brain is wired to respond to stories told in such a way as they drop or transport us into the experience of the protagonist. Then, vicariously, we experience what the protagonist experiences as though we were right there. By the end of the story the protagonist may or may not get what they want. He or she could end up gaining some new insight or growth of character (the character ARC) brought about by the trials and tribulations faced.
These stories draw us in because they often reflect the human condition in how they deal with or resolved problems, and most importantly how the character changes. It is a metaphor for life. There will be problem(s); conflicts and challenges that stand in the way of the everyone. In order to get what one wants, one must face and overcome these obstacles in our daily lives.
Thesis, Antithesis and Synthesis
Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat presents Aristotle’s three-act structure as applied to screenplay writing. The title of the book references the importance of engendering reader/viewer empathy by making the character likable in what he calls the ‘save the cat’ scene. Snyder credits Syd Field’s Screenplay as being the inspiration for the movie-making template he developed. Snyder called the three-act structure: thesis, antithesis and synthesis. He broke the story down into fifteen beats. Screenwriters use this term to show moments or points of action that lead to a complete story. I found that this way of looking at story easily adapts to novel writing. It creates a masterful way to build on the hero’s journey model for the everyday protagonist in a well-told story.
A Story Model
In putting these models together, three-act structure, the rite-of-passage and the three theses, we can view it as one model as follows:
- First Act: Beginning: The Set-Up, Separation (Thesis)
- Second Act: Middle: Complications & Obstacles, Initiation (Anti-thesis)
- Third Act: End: Resolution, Return (Synthesis)
Stories are structured in a certain way to capture and hold our attention. We get hooked by the story and want to know what will happen next. While it may seem formulaic, these tenets or structure are the foundation to creating what I call an archetypal story. Such is a story that engages your audience and reader. They tap into how the psyche is wired to respond to story. It can also help sow the seeds of creativity in storytelling. These stories usually have both an outer and an inner quest that also results in what we call the character arc, or growth for the protagonist. This is another way of saying what the hero’s journey is telling us. An initiation that leads to transformation that precedes the return. From this, the story of the journey comes to a satisfying ending.
Myth and Active Imagination for Writers