Harry Potter Hero Myth Analysis

Throughout history, humans have crafted countless stories of heroes, from the ancient journeys of Beowulf and Odysseus, to the modern ones of Harry Potter and Meredith Grey. At first glance, these stories are diverse in the extreme, coming from all different cultures and about all manner of heroes. One might think such different tales have nothing in common, but upon a closer examination, one notices a single plot template that is featured in almost every good story ever written. This idea, that heroic stories usually follow the same sequence of action, was realized by a mythologist named Joseph Campbell. Campbell calls this template the ‘Hero’s Journey’ or ‘Monomyth’, which has three major parts: separation, initiation, and return.

Even in today’s literature poets, authors and philosophers rely on the Hero’s journey to guide them through the creative process. The twelve steps of the hero’s journey can be found in the thrilling story of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K Rowling. By examining these twelve steps found in Harry Potter we are able to see how the Hero’s journey manifest itself in twenty first century literature. The very first step in the hero’s journey just might be the most crucial when it comes to the reader to being able to connect to the hero.

Focusing on Conan Doyle 's characters, the main aim of this section is to illuminate the psychological bond between Holmes and Watson. Even thought they seem to be opposites, they complement and depend on each other. But how it can be possible? As It was explained before, fictional duos are a very recurrent pattern in literature.

In Joseph Campbell’s famous book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, he wrote, “[There] will always be the one, shape-shifting yet marvelously constant story that we find, together with a challengingly persistent suggestion of more remaining to be experienced than will ever be known or told” (Campbell 1). Through this statement, Campbell is describing the main idea of his concept known as “monomyth”. The idea of the monomyth explains a similar series of steps that nearly every hero or protagonist follows throughout their journey. Whether it be characters from classic works of the past or characters from new movies filmed in modern day, every hero from literature follows the monomythic outline in one way or another. It was this concept that propelled Joseph Campbell towards being a well known name by scholars all across the globe.

The Hero’s Journey is one of the most used archetypes in literature today. The Hero’s Journey consists of three steps that all heroes must go through to become legendary. Those steps are The Departure, The Initiation, and The Return. It is believed that Joseph Campbell’s “monomyth” is the foundation for many of our favorite hero tales. Some of these amazing stories and movies include Forrest Gump, by Winston Groom, The Giver, by Lois Lowry, and my favorite, The Hobbit-

In comparison, it’s always observed on how different scholars find the similarity of especially marital settings, characters, and as well as the wanderings of the mythological world. Different events within the life of these characters cover broadly a huge range of epic encounters that are heroic. The character, emotional and psychological development of Gilgamesh can be borrowed especially from the ancient heroic perspectives of mortality and death while comparing with Achilles. Mesopotamian civilization has had several phases in which hero Gilgamesh has been in existence, however having similar attributes. One of the earliest stories of Gilgamesh is developed from Sumerian texts, one of the most influential and well-known poems (Michelakis & Pantelis 2007).

In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Harry goes through the hero’s journey where he has his departure, Initiation-Return. When he does leave his ordinary life to become a student at Hogwarts he doesn’t even know what he is getting himself into, Harry is brought into a new world leaving the Ordinary world he was a part of. Harry is called into adventure when Hagrid shows up on his birthday,“"Ah, go boil yet heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. " Harry -- yer a wizard. " There was silence inside the hut.

Though the two-word phrase appears to be contradictory, magical realism is an appropriate concept for a very powerful artistic form that has continued and lasted all the way through history and has been the object of considerable research. Magical realism is, according to American Heritage Dictionary, a “literary style or genre originating in Latin America that combines fantastic or dreamlike elements with reality” (qtd. in Rios). Though magical realism has been used in Europe, Africa, Australia, the U.S.A. and Latin America for many years, the German art critic Franz Roh (1890-1965) is said to have been the first to use this term officially in 1925 (Cuddon 487), due to the necessity of providing a suitable title for the “work of certain German painters of the period” (487). Roh finds in their work the “portrayal of the imaginary or the fantastic in a realistic or rational manner through sharp-focus images” (Rajimwale 519). Continuing with its development are Miguel Angel Asturias (1899-1974), Angel Flores (1900-1992), and especially Alejo Carpentier (1904-1980).

I wanted to create a story based on a journey with mythological and psychological underpinnings told through science fiction. Upon looking for inspiration, I came across the work of American writer Joseph Campbell and his comparative mythology book “The hero with a thousand faces”. One of the core themes of Campbells book is the argument that all humanity is linked by certain universalities. He supports his case by cross examining various ancient mythical stories, fairy tales, fiction and even biblical writings of different cultures and outlines an underlying link. In his own words, these findings are summarised as

HELLRAISER, released in 1987. Directed and written by Clive Barker. Casts included were Andrew Robinson, Ashley Laurence and Clare Higgins. This is a story of man who had brought a box abroad. When he died, his wife and brother had transferred into a new house bringing the said box with them.

A Journey into Hero’s life: The Twelve stages of greatness Joseph Campbell revolutionized the world of story-telling, movies, books, and nearly all narrations by introducing the concept of Hero’s Journey in his book Hero With a Thousand Faces. Campbell focused on the idea that legends and myths all across the world all share the same pattern of organization. First introduced by Campbell and later structured by Christopher Vogler into the twelve stages the Hero’s Journey.

John Steinbeck in his novella, Of Mice and Men, utilizes multiple writing strategies to develop his central idea. Numerous different main concepts can be taken from the novella. One that is extremely prominent is the perception of the “american dream,” working diligently to achieve one’s goals and objectives. Steinbeck reinforces this central idea by applying imagery, figurative language, strongly into the entirety of the novella, but especially applying it in the first chapter.

Attributes of a hero have remained the same over time, which is shown through Greek heroes like Hercules demonstrating the same traits as modern heroes like Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman. One of the traits Hercules and Batman share is their passion for becoming a hero. The audience can see this characteristic during the “I Can Go The Distance” song when Hercules proclaims, “Somehow I'll be strong, I know every mile will be worth my while, I would go most anywhere to find where I belong.” Similarly, the audience can see Batman's passion each time he drops whatever he is doing, changes into his elaborate costume, and risks his life to save the city of Gotham from villains like The Joker and Bane. Another trait that Hercules shares with a

Folklore is a collection of stories passed down from generation to generation that include Legends, Myths, and Fairy Tales. Legends are usually based on some sort of historical fact, embellished retellings, real people, real places and real events. Myths are based on religion, supernatural beings and natural phenomenon. There is no way to verify claims made within it. Fairy Tales include fantastic elements, magic and imaginary creatures.

Story is an element that persists through the ages and connects all of mankind. The common themes of struggle, triumph, and rebirth are emotional stages that everyone can relate and bond over. Joseph Campbell first coined the term “Hero’s Journey” in the 20th century, while he was studying myths and legends from around the world. Campbell discovered there was a pattern in all of the stories, similar journeys that transcended across cultures and time periods. Thus he created the term “Hero’s Journey” or monomyth to depict the common template used to convey a hero’s adventure.