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Joseph CampbellThe Hero with a Thousand Faces
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1949A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Joseph Campbell
Joseph Campbell was an American professor of literature, celebrated lecturer, and author who lived from 1904 to 1987. As the author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell takes an ambitious approach to an expansive topic. With a confident, professorial tone, Campbell shares his theories about the origins of the monomyth and its many iterations throughout world history. Selections from his extensive research come from sources such as the Upanishads, the Koran, the rituals of native Australian tribes, the Bible, and Grimm’s Fairy Tales. He juxtaposes these many sources to analyze elements of the monomyth. Campbell argues that no myth should be taken literally and that the goal of mythology is to unleash the boundless potential of the human spirit. He writes, “The mighty hero of extraordinary powers [...] is each of us: not the physical self visible in the mirror, but the king within” (365). A similarly effusive tone persists throughout the text, as Campbell shares his wonder about the world of myth and the humans who create it.
The Hero
The archetypal hero of the hero’s journey might take many forms but bears certain key characteristics throughout mythology. The hero is a special person, endowed with unique gifts and predestined to take an extraordinary journey. Although a few myths in the text feature female heroes, Campbell focuses primarily on the male hero and uses he/him pronouns when describing the archetype. The hero is often raised away from his birthplace and, during his childhood, faces trials and learns about the world amid obscurity. As an adult, the hero embarks on an adventure that pushes him to his limits, perhaps take his life. He persists due to his special abilities and innate courage. The hero takes many forms at the apex of his journey into the magical world: thief, lover, god, tyrant, ascetic, or king. He becomes a specialized and often superhuman version of himself, and his return to the ordinary world might be met with befuddlement and scorn. Moreover, the hero is a model for all people on spiritual journeys.
Goddess
The archetypal goddess is the hero’s predestined wife in the mystical world of adventure. She represents the hero’s victory and a mother figure. She might be beautiful and kind, fearsome, or a source of temptation. In Part 1, Chapter 2, Campbell discusses goddess figures such as the Queen of Tubber Tintye, Diana from Roman mythology, and the Hindu deity Kali.
Divine Father
The hero’s journey often culminates with a meeting between the hero and an ultimate divinity. This god is typically male and represents the hero’s father. The god may test the hero, but the aim is “[a]tonement (at-one-ment)” (130), or reconciliation and the hero’s assumption of power: “He beholds the face of the father, understands—and the two are atoned” (147). Campbell discusses divine fathers of myth such as Viracocha, Phoebus, and Yahweh in Part 1, Chapter 2.
Holdfast
Campbell describes the antagonist of the hero’s journey in many ways. One of them is the “tyrant-monster” Holdfast, “the hoarder of the general benefit. He is the monster avid for the greedy rights of ‘my and mine.’ [...] the giant of self-achieved independence is the world’s messenger of disaster” (15). The hero often encounters Holdfast at the nadir of his experience in the world of mystery and may even die at his hand. Indeed, Holdfast might be the divine father, whether he prevents the hero from deposing him or from marrying the goddess. In Part 2, Chapter 3, Campbell describes this figure as “the monster of the status quo: Holdfast, the keeper of the past” (337). He calls the hero an agent of change and renewal, whereas his opposition proudly protects his domain at all costs.
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