The Hero With A Thousand Faces By Joseph Campbell: A Tale Of Myth

Early in the The Hero With A Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell boldly announces, “the very dreams that blister sleep, boil up from the basic, magic ring of myth” (p. 11). Campbell argues that myth serves to suffice for some psychological deficiencies and tribulations in the average human life. Furthermore, dreams offer a revelation of what is haunting the unconscious mind of an individual, with far less attention to the collective troubles of humankind. Campbell evaluates the contrasts of the two concepts and the ways in which they complement one another. Ultimately, dreams are thought to be representative of the problems and ideals that invade a single person’s mind, whereas mythology serves to explain common, unconscious concepts that are experienced
He explains this monster as a prosperous being of greed, with an “inflated ego” (p. 11). Campbell describes this tyrant as a “curse to himself and the world,” (p. 11) a creature that serves to overpower a domain and cause conflict and difficulty for the story’s hero. The tyrant monsters of myths symbolize the collective problematic encounters in various societies and provide insight to their conquering. Though “monsters” are often present in both dreams and myths, they do not always materialize as a vicious demon or even an evil ruler; the monsters and tyrants of myths and dreams can appear as something lovely and deceptive which may place the subject off track, or could serve as a beneficial component to the life of the hero or dreamer. The monster is not always identified as a “monster” throughout the duration of myth or dream, but, with a change of heart, can serve as the dreamer’s saving grace. The tyrant monster in myth acts to serve the unconscious ideals and trials of a larger people. In dreams, however, the tyrant monster is personalized as a direct characterization of something prevalent in the unconscious, making it much more impactful and fear-inducing. Collectively, the tyrant monster is a crucial player in the unfolding myth or dream and appears to cause both growth and
12) in order to render death null. While mythology must end with death in the absence of palingenesia, a dream is capable of living in the dreamer’s mind indefinitely following its “death” or conclusion. Specifically in western culture, mythology is often not embedded so strongly that it leaves a great and lasting impact on society. Dreams, however, may have a lasting, direct effect on the dreamer, as seen in the stories of religious apostles fulfilling things that came to them in a dream. Dreams do not always end upon arriving at consciousness as the story often continues to develop subconsciously in one’s mind. Myths, however, do not typically proceed to develop after the death of the story’s subjects. The “recurrence of birth” serves as a crucial component of both mythology and dream, with the hero experiencing rejuvenation or the restoration of an enemy previously thought