Joseph Campbell's 17-Stage Monomyth

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Passion, desire, fate, and necessity all lead an individual towards their unknown adventure. An adventure that a hero may not even have the desire to accomplish yet has the necessity to, to perhaps make someone else proud. In Joseph Campbell’s 17-Stage Monomyth the first stage undergoes in three rich literary pieces and a pop cultural pieces known as; The House of the Spirits, “Dulce et Decorum Est”, “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock”. To begin with, in the prestigious novel by Isabel Allende The House of the Spirits, Esteban not only embodies a protagonist figure but as well embodies the heroic figure in the Monomyth. Esteban undergoes the initial stage, “The Call to Adventure” immediately when Rosa his past fiance passes away. Rosa’s death …show more content…
Therefore he hides in his subconscious hiding away from the truth by raping women disowning the fact that what he does fits as a poor moral but as he disowns it his mother pulls him into reality just like Rosa's death because they become his call to reality which leads him into leaving his “Shadow” behind. In addition, Rosa’s sister Clara undergoes a spiritual metamorphosis which predicts Rosa's death leading to Esteban’s life. In his journal Stephen M. Hart conveys, “... spiritual powers that the women possesses… in effect, a passport to survival in a man’s word”(Hart). Spiritualism embodies his path, journey, his adventure. Clara’s clairvoyance as the female figure provides fertility towards Esteban’s future life. She predicts Rosa's death which opens his path towards actual happiness in leaving his “Shadow” to grant his mother’s needs in meeting grandchildren before death knocks on her door. Therefore, Esteban’s main journey becomes to seek the family his mother has the desire for him to have. Moreover, fertility remains as the main factor in his journey. He lives throughout his life in the “Wasteland” which as well may embody his “Shadow” as a poor man raping innocent