The Heros Journey

The Heros Journey

Objective: Recognize the Heros Journey throughout the text of Beowulf. Assignment complete the hand out provided with notes about the Heros Journey.

Tomorrow connect the material in the text of Beowulf to the specific components of the Heros Journey.

Due date this assignment will prepare you for your essay test and the hand out will be turned in Friday. Joseph CampbellCampbell was perhaps the leading expert on World Mythology.

His books on The Heros Adventure created a framework for understanding both life and literature.

The Archetype of the Heros Journey Joseph Campbelldeveloped this chart as a guiding metaphor for the challenges and trials that all human beings face in life.

Campbell believed that all men and women have the destiny and potential to be heroic.Campbells Hero

The hero must passthrough several steps:The CallThe ThresholdThe ChallengesThe AbyssThe Transformation and RevelationAtonement Return with a Gift

The CallThe CALL invites the initiate (hero in training) into the adventure, offers the opportunity to face the unknown and gain something of physical or spiritual value.

The CALL comes as a realization of an imbalance or injustice in life.

The ThresholdThe THRESHOLD is the Point of No Return. This point is the interface between the known and unknown. The initiate often encounters Threshold Guardians at this point.

The Call and Initiation Stage

George Lucas used the Heros Journey as the framework for his full Star Wars movie series..

In Star Wars episode 4, we meet Luke Skywalker, an initiate (hero-to-be) who is a young man longing for an adventure..

The Threshold Guardians

Lukes Aunt and Uncle on his home planet of Tattoine serve as his threshold guardians. They do not feel that he is ready to move out into the adult world.The Young Heros Tension

All young people, like Luke, must come to a point in their journey where they must Cross the Threshold from the world of childhood to the adult world of responsibility.

The Threshold Guardians try to hold them back as the young initiates struggle to break away from home.

The young initiate has now made the key life decision to step out on his/her own into the unknown adult world. This line represents:The THRESHOLDThe Threshold is also the"Point of No Return."

The CHALLENGES are often temptations that the initiate must face. Early CHALLENGES are easy, but they increase in difficulty as the journey continues. CHALLENGES often strike the initiates weaknesses. The Challenges

Challenges and TemptationsA young persons journey to adulthood is full of trials and temptations. In any true Heros Journey, it is the challenges and dangers that turn the child into an adult - the initiate into a True Hero.Just like Luke Skywalker, think of all the ways that Beowulf must prove himself to become a HERO.

The Abyss

At some point, the initiate must confront his deepest and darkest fear.In most legends, he must confront EVIL or death itself.In Lukes case, the challenge is both PHYSICAL and EMOTIONAL, because his father is DARTH VADER.WHAT IS BEOWULFS ABYSS?

What is your ABYSS?What are your greatest Challenges and Temptations?

The Transformation and RevelationThe TRANSFORMATION allows the initiate to change and this initiate will be reborn as a hero - a part of the initiate dies so that a new part can be born.

The REVELATION is a sudden, dramatic change in the way one thinks or views life.

The REVELATION usually occurs after the abyss.

The Transformation and RevelationAt this stage, the initiate has survived the Abyss and has faced his greatest fear.

He has now proven himself a worthy Hero, and he is ready to accomplish the great deed that is his true destiny.

The AtonementThe ATONEMENT occurs after the transformation.

The ATONEMENT implies that the initiate is at one with his or her life.

The initiate has accomplished his or her task in the journey and is reborn into a hero.

The Return (with a Gift)

To truly complete the Heros Quest, the new Hero must return to his home as a truly new person. He will bring home the gifts of protection, wisdom, and guidance to his home.

How does the Heros Journey connect to Beowulfs character? You will now apply the knowledge you learned in this PowerPoint and connect it to the text of Beowulf.

Complete the hand out with an example and explanation from the text for each of the parts of the Heros Journey.

Find a specific quotation for each section, cited properly.