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Joseph Campbell's 17-Stage Monomyth

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Joseph Campbell’s 17-stage monomyth acts as the guide to literary works and films, influencing pop culture such as song lyrics and award-winning movies. The stages serve as a basis for a journey the hero or heroine encounters with a successful, world-gaining achievement. The path includes archetypes including the deceiving temptress, the nurturing goddess, and the mortal or immortal mentor. However, Campbell’s beneficial ending does not follow through in every plot. For example, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four discusses a dystopian society containing oppression and dementia. The author’s socially-impacting novel regards the deterioration of language and intellectual decline of society. “[The English language]... becomes ugly and inaccurate

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...There are many places within Homer's Odyssey that demonstrate various stages of the Joseph Campbell's ideas of the Monomyth. Campbell lists 17 stages in myth or a journey of the story's hero. We will examine the three sections in accordance with our main reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth. The three sections are the separation, the initiation, and the return. The Odyssey contains almost every stage within each section and supports Joseph Campbell's theory of the monomyth. The first section we will examine is "departure" also know as "separation". Five of our stages take place within the departure section. The first stage is known as "The Call to adventure". The Odyssey's hero is Ulysses. Instead of starting his journey before Troy we will focus on the events where our story of the Odyssey begins. This call to adventure is set in chapter 5. After the goddess Athena petitions to her fellow gods for Ulysses return to his home of Ithica they decide to send Mercury the messenger to relay a message to Calypso who has been holding Ulysses captive. He has lived on the island for many years and is forced to sleep with Calypso. After Mercury threatens the wrath of Jove, she gives Ulysses permission and instruction to leave the island. His immediate response is uncertain and fearful. He demonstrates the second phase "refusal of the call" by questioning the release. He seems to believe that her guidance is given in order to mislead him. She reassures him and he sets his mind...

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