Many things change with the passage of time, and many things are different between different cultures. This makes the fact that hero stories all seem to follow the same pattern, even more amazing. The four stories I chose are The Epic of Gilgamesh, written around 2000BC, the story of Christ's life, Stranger In A Strange Land, written in 1961 by Robert A. Heinlein, and Star Wars, c. 1977. I will compare these stories, diverse in culture and time to the hero pattern to show that time marches on, and culture masks differences, but the monomyth stays the same.
The monomyth is the idea that all the hero stories follow the same structure with the details different, depending on the culture the story comes from. This pattern of the hero's life goes as follows:
1. The hero is born under unusual circumstances
2. The child is marked early by a special sign
3. The child is endangered, but is then rescued and reared far from his birthplace
4. The youth must prove his fitness by a test
5. The hero fights a monster, or does other great deeds
6. The hero wins a maiden
7. The hero journeys to the land of the dead
8.The hero returns to his home after being banished as a youth
9. The hero's ambiguous death
Of these nine elements, some stories will be missing some, others will have them all, but in most cases all hero stories are basicaly the same. But the best way to show this is by example.
The hero's birth: Only one of my selected stories has nothing about the hero's birth, and that is Star Wars. Unless you count the fact that Darth Vader is Luke's father, there is no other refence to there being anything unusual about his birth. Jesus' birth is certainly unusual. Not only is his father a god, but his mother is a virgin. Gilgamesh was likewise parented by an immortal, his mother was the goddess Ninsun. Mike, from Stranger In A Strange Land was born on the planet Mars, his parents, both great geniuses and very rich, died shorty after. You could also say that his being brought to Earth was like a "birth" into the world of his heritage.
The birth is a new beginning for the society, a ray of hope in a dark time. The hero's birth is also symbolic of the birth of the hero process in each one of us.
The child is marked for greatness by some special sign: Jesus' birth is heralded by the appearance of the eastern star. Mike's second birth is heralded by media coverage. Since we know little of either Luke's or Gilgamesh's birth it is safe to say that there is no special sign at birth.
The child is endangered, and then reared far from his birthplace: Jesus was certainly in danger from King Herod, who was very dismayed at the arrival of the Messiah. His parents fled with him to Egypt to escape Herod's order for all the boys in Bethelhem to be killed. Mike was left as the only survivor of the Envoy ship, and was raised by the Martians that inhabited the planet where he was orphaned. If his being brought to Earth is also to be considered a "birth", for he is most child like when he arrives on Earth, then you can also say that he is put in danger by the government, who wants his money and inherted rights to power, and also the scientific community who wants to study him. He was rescued by Gillian, taken away to the Poconos to Jubal's house and 'reared' there, learning to become more adult. They must have felt Luke was in danger too, when he was taken from his father after his mother's death, to be raised by his aunt and uncle on Tatooine. There is nothing about Gilgamesh as a child in the Epic.
This danger that the child faces often represents the inner-self's resistance to change, and also the society's resistance to change. And what better way to resist change than to kill the force that is about to impalement it.
The youth must prove his worthiness: Jesus proved himself in the temple as a boy, when he answered the questions of the Jewish teachers. He also proved himself by denying the temptations of the devil, and preforming miracles. Mike is tested in many ways also. Jubal tests his 'powers', and later he is tested as a carnie out on the road with Gillian. Luke is tested by Obi-Wan Kenobi on Han's ship. Gilgamesh is tested for his adventures by the fight with Enkidu, who later became his companion.
The hero fights a monster or preforms some other heroic deed: Jesus suffered through the passion and was then killed. Since he did this for his people it was his heroic deed. Mike's heroic deed was to start the Church of All Worlds to better the human race. Luke had to fight Darth Vader as his heroic deed, and Gilgamesh fought and killed Humbaba, the ferocious giant. Gilgamesh also fights the Bull of Heaven, sent by Ishtar as a punishment for rejection of her advances. The Bull terrorizes Gilgamesh's people until he and Enkidu kill it, which brings upon the death of Enkidu.
This is the actual inner stuggle that must take place to effect change.
The Hero wins a maiden: Among the stories I have chosen, there are no real maiden winnings, unless you count Luke getting Princess Leia. Which does count, because he has to rescue her from Darth Vader.
The hero journeys to the land of the dead: Jesus journeyed to the land of the dead for three days before he rose again, triumphant. Mike's catatonic states could be viewed as entering the land of the dead, but as far as the story goes, I think it is more effective to say that he enters the land of the dead when he begins to study all he can about religion and philosophy. He enters this closed off state for days where all he does is study, and shuts out everyone else. When he emerges, he preforms his heroic deed.
Luke's land of the dead is the Death Star, which he has to travel through to get to Darth Vader. To get to Humbaba, Gilgamesh and Enkidu travel through the forest, which can often represent a movement away from the normal world. Later on he travels to Dilmun, the garden of the sun, to find Utnapishtim and get the secret to everlasting life. This is also a journey into the land of the dead.
This journey most often takes place before the heroic deed, and symbolizes the need to get far away from the normal conscious world in order to affect change. The hero (the inner self) must turn inward and fight the monster within. Since the monster is within, there is the need to get in there with it, far from the conscious thought of everyday, hence the journey to the 'land of the dead'.
Banished in his youth, the hero returns: When Jesus returns to Nazareth he is rejected by the people in the temple, but as his following increases he is triumphant in presenting his sermons. Mike returns to the open world from Jubal's home, and at first has trouble being 'human'. But as he started his church, and it began to catch on, he was triumphant over those who called him a heretic and a blasphemer. He managed to outwit the government at large, also a triumph. Luke does not return anywhere, and neither does Gilgamesh.
The hero's ambiguous death: Jesus' death is certainly ambiguous, because he dies, and then comes back, then 'dies' again, promising to someday come back. Mike's death was ambiguous in the sense that we know that his spirit persisted in the afterlife as an archangel, and also because he has already taught his people (and us) that spirit can never die, only bodies die. Luke doesn't die. Gilgamesh does, however. His death is fairly un-ambiguous. He dies for certain. But he did try to get everlasting life, the fact that he failed is the only reason we know that he is defiantly dead.
In hero stories there is usually a guide figure, to help the hero along. In Jesus' life, I think his guides are the apostles, or John the Baptist. Mike's guide is easy to pick out, for it is certainly Jubal. Luke is equally easy to determine, Obi-Wan, is his guide. Gilgamesh is another hard one, and given my best opinion his guide is Utnapishtim.
In most hero stories there is the boon, or thing that the hero obtains for his people. For the followers of Jesus it was 'everlasting life' in heaven, and forgiveness for their sins. Mike brought his followers everlasting life too, in the knowledge that souls don't die. But he also brought them 'powers' of the mind, brotherhood, understanding of the universe, and money. Luke brought the rebel forces a strike against their enemy. Gilgamesh and Enkidu leveled the giant Humbaba, which I imagine made the land a bit more peaceful.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu likewise destroy the Bull of Heaven, which then in turn destroys Enkidu. The interesting thing about that is that their own actions brought about the rotten consequences. A hero is born during the dark period of a society, when he is needed most. The threat that the hero must overcome often reflects the concerns of the society. The fact that Gilgamesh and Enkidu had to fight something that they caused shows that the society obviously had concern that their actions would cause irreversible consequences. Gilgamesh rejects a goddesses advances, and she sends the Bull of Heaven to punish him through the injury to his people. The society is concerned with dishonoring the gods to the extent that they are punished. Enkidu offended Enlil by goading Gilgamesh into killing Humbaba, and he was punished with his own death. This second example is also a warning not to be quick to judge character. Humbaba would have made a powerful ally and servant, and Gilgamesh knew this, but was persuaded by Enkidu's mistrust of the giant.
Two thousand years later, Jesus faces a few threats through his journey. The temptation in the desert is reflective of the societies general concern about temptation, which may have been getting out of hand. So out of hand that one of Jesus' boons that he brings to the society is forgiveness for these sins. Death also seems to be of great concern, being not only what Jesus must face as a heroic act, but also because his other boon that he brings to the people is protection from death. Jesus' society was looking for the messiah, and found him. They were concerned with leadership and direction, which is what he brought them.
Another two thousand years later, Both Mike and Luke have to fight administration, the status quo government. Both were written in the same general period of history, when perhaps much of the society was concerned that the government was too powerful, and too mysterious and entity for it's own good. This is a quality of the government that lends itself to conspiracy theories and X-files episodes. It is also the very quality that both Mike and Luke have to overcome.
Mike not only has to overcome the status quo of the government, but of the human mind itself. He seeks to better mankind through the expansion into the universe as he knew it. From this we can conclude that Heinlein not only felt that the government was beginning to be oppressive, but that the human mind was dull, and needed to be opened to so many things, other than the petty concerns of everyday.
These are all very serious concerns and can be considered dark periods in each society, and each of our hero's brought relief to them.
So you can see that the monomyth remains intact over a span of some odd four thousand years, and across the world in location. Each story is full of the details of the society it came from, whether it be Gilgamesh fighting the Bull of Heaven, or Luke Skywalker fighting Darth Vader. Even the deeper concerns are related to the societies. But the story stays the same, and it always will.
Questions, comments? Please email simogene@hotmail.com