The Hero Without a Face
Essay Preview: The Hero Without a Face
Report this essay
The Hero Without A Face
Our world has given us a thousand forms of archetypical heros, from Greek mythological characters such as Hercules, to modern day characters such as Superman. All of these heros were given a path that they must follow in order to discover their ultimate destiny and become a hero. Joseph Campbell book, “A Hero With A Thousand Faces” has best explained the important stages that every hero needs to go by in order for fulfill their destiny, ” A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won” (Campbell 1). It is in this storyline that most storytellers need to go by in order to create the most closely related idea of a hero. Even though some heros do not follow these stages and their journey becomes more complex in relation to society, Shakespeares character Hamlet, seems to be the most hard to understand. Shakespeare created Hamlet as a hero who corrupts the archetype so much that the basic stages of his heroic journey must be changed in order to recognize him as a hero.
Aristotle defined a hero as “a man with outstanding quality and greatness about him. His own destruction is for a greater cause or principle”. Aristotle simply states that the heros downfall is usually cause by his own fault. Usually the heros death is seen as a waste of human potential but usually results in greater knowledge and awareness for whoever hears of the heros story (Aristotle).
In most traditions of the hero archetype, the journey of the hero follows a path that can be split up into three different sections. The departure, initiation and return. Journalist and writer, Rob Thorp writes about these stages and how they can apply to Shakespeare. Within these three stages or acts, there are multiple sub-stages (Thorp). Hamlets journey doesnt follow all of these stages because of the complexity of his own character development. Most of what Hamlet has to go through clearly shows how Shakespeare stills tries to follow the hero archetype.
During the phase Joseph Campbell calls, Departure. The hero experiences a call to adventure by some force or character that presents the hero with a problem, challenge, or adventure. Hamlet receives his call from when he is informed of his fathers death and heads back to Denmark. More often though, the hero refuses this invitation, or delays it until they are more prepared . “Most myths and folk tales of the whole world make clear that the refusal is essentially a refusal to give up what one takes to be ones own interest” (Thorp). It is in this reaction then, that the qualities of the hero will become the hero are first tested. Hamlet denying of the ghost existing is a good representation of the refusal. Sometimes if the hero does not accept the call the use of the supernatural needs to come into the heros journey as an aid (Thorp). Hamlets supernatural call came from the ghost of his dead father which gave Hamlet a clear mission to avenge his fathers “foul and most unnatural murder” (Shakespeare 59) Hamlet accepts the call immediately, “Haste me to knowt, that I, with wings as swift As meditation, or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge” (Shakespeare 57). Even though Hamlet accepts the call immediately he delays to fulfill his journey despite his own instinct. This decision which is often debated among scholars causes Hamlet to not undertake the common archetypal path of the hero.
During the departure phase the hero crosses into the field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his or her world and going off into an dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not known” (Campbell 43). This crossing first appears when Hamlet meets Ophelia secretly and alarms her by him acting crazy, accusing her of immorality and telling her “to a get thee to a nunnery” (Shakespeare 131). Hamlet makes Ophelia into the archetype of what psychologist Carl Jung calls the “Sacrificial Lamb”. In every heros journey, there must be something of importance that the hero must lose in order to complete their quest (Jung). Hamlet had to sacrifice his feelings for Ophelia in order to make others believe that he has gone crazy.
The belly of the whale represents the final separation from the heros known world and self. It is sometimes described as the persons lowest point. “This experience is often symbolized by something dark, unknown and frightening. By entering this stage, the person shows their willingness to undergo a metamorphosis, to die to him or herself” (Campbell 73). In Hamlet, this separation comes much later in the story and is evident in the sea voyage, for it is at the same time that Hamlet experiences what Campbell would call, “A form of self- annihilation”. This stage of departure makes the hero realizes what needs to be done in order for him to fulfill his journey.
After departing and crossing the threshold to a new place where the old rules of life had disappeared, the hero must now confront the fears that until now have lied unrecognized (Thorp). Campbell writes, ” The regions of the unknown are free fields for the projection of unconscious content. Incestuous libido and patricidal destruction are thence reflected back against the