...Christian Lescznske Professor Larkin ELIT2055-B 31 March 2014 The Hero’s Journey: Comparing and Contrasting Heroes Joseph Campbell was an American psychologist and mythological researcher. In his lifelong research, Campbell discovered many common patterns running through hero myths and stories from around the world. Years of research lead Campbell to discover several basic stages that almost every hero-quest goes through (no matter what culture the myth is a part of). He calls this common structure “the monomyth” (Hero’s Journey). The “hero’s journey” appears in drama, storytelling, myth, religious ritual, and psychological development. It describes the typical adventure of The Hero, who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of the family, group, tribe, or civilization. There are twelve steps, or stages, of the typical “Hero’s Journey”. The twelve steps are: The ordinary world, the call to adventure, refusal of the call, meeting with the mentor, crossing the threshold, a test, the approach, the ordeal, the reward, the road back, the resurrection, and the return with the elixir, or reward. As I previously stated, Campbell’s monomyth works best with the traditional form of the quest such as in folk and fairy tales, myths, legends, and other fantasies. However, it can be applied to many different genres or types of stories. A quest does not have to include swords and monsters. It can just as easily occur in the real world. The monomyth is ageless and universal...
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...Women in Gilgamesh and Joseph’s Story In many societies, women play various functions like mothers, sisters, and leaders. Historical literatures like the Bible, Gilgamesh or even the Koran has had many women play diverse functions in the society or in the religious sector. By comparing the different roles that women played in both literatures like the Bible and Gilgamesh, we can be able to comprehend the role of women in both societies (Mitchell 80). Furthermore, these roles will be an eye opener to the type of society that these women lived in. These women managed to expand themselves to fit into the various circumstances that they found themselves in as well as become important in their society. Through Potiphar’s wife in Joseph’s story and the women of Gilgamesh, this essay seeks to understand how literature represents women in the society. Women in Gilgamesh are represented by employing various characters. For instance, the character Ishtar has been depicted to take the role of a lover. In the novel, she is the goddess who desires to win the heart of Gilgamesh at all cost. When her mission fails, she endeavors to murder him. This destroyer-goddess known as Ishtar asks Gilgamesh to marry her when he returned victorious over Humbaba. Ishtar descends to Uruk talks to the king Gilgamesh saying “Marry me, give me your luscious fruits, be my husband, be my sweet man. I will give you abundance beyond your dreams” (Mitchell 130-1). Moreover, Ishtar desired to make Gilgamesh respected...
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...from their position in the workplace to voting rights, women have struggled to obtain the power that men withhold. In the ancient society, many would say that women had no power, but after reading The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey it revealed that the role of women is actually very diverse. In some readings, women play little to no role at all, but in others, women demonstrate their power and play vital roles. During this era, women endured many difficulties which had ultimately shaped them into a submissive figure. While women were not the most influential gods, nor the strongest or intelligent humans,...
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