GENEDU 1002 · The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Led by Joseph Campbell Simulacrum

Why does every culture tell the same story? The monomyth examined across civilisations, led by Joseph Campbell.

1. Module 1

   The Call to Adventure

   Led by Joseph Campbell Simulacrum

   The question

   Every hero story begins with an interruption — a call that shatters the ordinary world. Why does this pattern recur across cultures? Is the Call to Adventure a universal feature of human storytelling, or does Campbell's framework impose a Western template on diverse traditions?

   Outcome

   The student can identify the Call to Adventure and its stages in myths from two different cultures.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 1.1 The Seventeen Stages Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 1.2 Two Calls Compared Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   3. ○ 1.3 The Herald and the Threshold Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Begin the course → Print certificate of completion
2. Module 2

   The Ordeal and the Transformation

   Led by Joseph Campbell Simulacrum

   The question

   The hero enters the unknown world and faces the supreme ordeal — but the ordeal is not the point. The transformation is. The hero who returns is not the hero who departed. Why does every culture insist that the journey changes the traveller, and what does 'change' mean in mythological terms?

   Outcome

   The student can trace the initiation phase through a complete myth and explain why transformation, not testing, is the structural purpose.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 2.1 The Road of Trials Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 2.2 Death and Rebirth Open this unit → ✓ ↻
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3. Module 3

   The Return with the Elixir

   Led by Joseph Campbell Simulacrum

   The question

   The hero wins the prize — the grail, the elixir, the wisdom — but must bring it home. Why is the return the hardest stage? Moses returns with the law and finds his people worshipping idols. The Buddha considers not returning at all. What makes homecoming more difficult than departure?

   Outcome

   The student can explain why the return completes the monomyth and identify myths where the return is problematic.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 3.1 Two Returns Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 3.2 Essay: Why Coming Home Is Hard Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Open this module → Print certificate of completion
4. Module 4

   Testing the Monomyth

   Led by Joseph Campbell Simulacrum

   The question

   The monomyth claims universality. Test it. Choose a myth Campbell did not emphasise — a trickster tale, a creation myth, an Indigenous narrative — and map it onto the framework. Where does it fit? Where does it resist? Does the resistance disprove the theory, or does it reveal the theory's limits?

   Outcome

   The student has tested the monomyth against a myth not previously discussed, identifying where the pattern holds and breaks.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 4.1 Choose and Map Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 4.2 Essay: Pattern or Projection? Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Open this module → Print certificate of completion
5. Module 5

   Critics and Defenders

   Led by Joseph Campbell Simulacrum

   The question

   The monomyth has been called reductive, Eurocentric, and androcentric. Murdock's Heroine's Journey argues that women's mythic patterns are fundamentally different from the hero's. Hollywood turned the monomyth into a screenwriting formula. Has the monomyth survived its critics — or has it become the thing it sought to describe: a myth about myths?

   Outcome

   The student can articulate and evaluate the three strongest criticisms of the monomyth and take a defended position.

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 5.1 The Three Criticisms Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 5.2 Murdock's Heroine's Journey Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   3. ○ 5.3 Final Essay: Does the Monomyth Survive? Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Open this module → Print certificate of completion