Seminar Week 1 21/04/2020
THE HEROIC BIOGRAPHY
Summary Von Hahn
- BIRTH
- I. The hero is of illegitimate birth, or supernaturally, or posthumously
- II. His mother is the princess of the country
- III. His father is a god or a foreigner
- YOUTH OF POVERTY, STRUGGLE AND SERVICE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES
- IV. There are signs warning of his ascendance
- V. For this reason he is abandoned
- VI. He is suckled by animals
- VII. He is brought up by a childless shepherd couple or by a widow
- VIII. He is a high-spirited youth
- IX. He seeks service in a foreign country
- A. Attacks and slays monsters
- B. Acquires knowledge through eating a magical sh
- RETURN TO HOME AND POWER
- X. He returns victorious and goes back to the foreign land
- XI. He slays his original persecutors, accedes to rule the country, and sets his mother free
- XII. He founds cities
- XIII. The manner of his death is extraordinary
- SUPPLEMENTARY INCIDENTS
- XIV. He is reviled because of incest and he dies young
- XV. He dies by an act of revenge at the hands of an insulted servant
- XVI. He murders his younger brother
- Written at the end of the 19th century (1870s), revised by Nutt in 1881.
Summary De Vries
- I. Begetting of the hero
- A. The mother is a virgin, who is overpowered by a god, or has extra-marital relations with
the hero’s father
- B. The father is a god / fairy / incubus
- C. The father is an animal
- D. The child is conceived in incest / rape
- II. Birth of the hero
- III. Youth of the hero is threatened
- IV. Way in which the hero is brought up
- V. Hero often acquires invulnerability
- VI. Fight with a dragon or monster
- VII. Hero wins a maiden, usually after overcoming great dangers
- VIII. Hero makes expedition to the underworld
- IX. When the hero is banished in his youth he returns later and is victorious over his enemies.
In some cases he has to leave the realm again which he has won with such di culty
- X. The death of the hero
- Looked at Celtic heroes
Cú Chulainn
- Birth
- Di erent versions of his birth
- Incest (Deichtine and the King of Ulster)
- Deichtine is leaves to go to the otherworld and gets pregnant, she then aborts the
child and drinks from a cup and gets pregnant again.
- Lug
- Originally called Sétantae —> later called Cú Chulainn which means Hound of Chulainn.
- He killed the hound so he must compensate in one way
- Death
- He knew he was going to die, he as a hero must die a tragic death.
1
ff fi ffi
, - He tied himself to a rock as he was dying and no-one dared approach him.
Otto Rank’s study
- The whole pattern wasn’t exclusively Aryan.
Joseph Campbell
- The Hero With a Thousand Faces
- Monomyth
- 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: the hero
comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his
fellow man.
- Rituals
- The rituals and images that you get in myths correspond to those found in dreams when
a patient is ready to move on from those fantasies and infantile xations that hold him
back (e.g. the mother-complex)
- It has always been the prime function of mythology and rite to supply the symbols that
carry the human spirit forward in contrast with those fantasies and infantile xations that
hold us back (e.g. the mother-complex).
- The hero, therefore, is the person who has been able to battle past his personal and
local limitations and returns trans gured to teach what he has learned.
- The journey is important, the hero always returns having learnt something.
Frodo
- De Vries’ version
- Begetting and birth are not remarkable besides that he was born on the same day as
Bilbo.
- Youth is threatened as his parents die.
- Invincibility —> the ring makes him invisible.
- During the journey he ghts a lot of monsters.
- Dies as he sails to the undying lands.
2
fi fi fi fi
THE HEROIC BIOGRAPHY
Summary Von Hahn
- BIRTH
- I. The hero is of illegitimate birth, or supernaturally, or posthumously
- II. His mother is the princess of the country
- III. His father is a god or a foreigner
- YOUTH OF POVERTY, STRUGGLE AND SERVICE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES
- IV. There are signs warning of his ascendance
- V. For this reason he is abandoned
- VI. He is suckled by animals
- VII. He is brought up by a childless shepherd couple or by a widow
- VIII. He is a high-spirited youth
- IX. He seeks service in a foreign country
- A. Attacks and slays monsters
- B. Acquires knowledge through eating a magical sh
- RETURN TO HOME AND POWER
- X. He returns victorious and goes back to the foreign land
- XI. He slays his original persecutors, accedes to rule the country, and sets his mother free
- XII. He founds cities
- XIII. The manner of his death is extraordinary
- SUPPLEMENTARY INCIDENTS
- XIV. He is reviled because of incest and he dies young
- XV. He dies by an act of revenge at the hands of an insulted servant
- XVI. He murders his younger brother
- Written at the end of the 19th century (1870s), revised by Nutt in 1881.
Summary De Vries
- I. Begetting of the hero
- A. The mother is a virgin, who is overpowered by a god, or has extra-marital relations with
the hero’s father
- B. The father is a god / fairy / incubus
- C. The father is an animal
- D. The child is conceived in incest / rape
- II. Birth of the hero
- III. Youth of the hero is threatened
- IV. Way in which the hero is brought up
- V. Hero often acquires invulnerability
- VI. Fight with a dragon or monster
- VII. Hero wins a maiden, usually after overcoming great dangers
- VIII. Hero makes expedition to the underworld
- IX. When the hero is banished in his youth he returns later and is victorious over his enemies.
In some cases he has to leave the realm again which he has won with such di culty
- X. The death of the hero
- Looked at Celtic heroes
Cú Chulainn
- Birth
- Di erent versions of his birth
- Incest (Deichtine and the King of Ulster)
- Deichtine is leaves to go to the otherworld and gets pregnant, she then aborts the
child and drinks from a cup and gets pregnant again.
- Lug
- Originally called Sétantae —> later called Cú Chulainn which means Hound of Chulainn.
- He killed the hound so he must compensate in one way
- Death
- He knew he was going to die, he as a hero must die a tragic death.
1
ff fi ffi
, - He tied himself to a rock as he was dying and no-one dared approach him.
Otto Rank’s study
- The whole pattern wasn’t exclusively Aryan.
Joseph Campbell
- The Hero With a Thousand Faces
- Monomyth
- 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: the hero
comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his
fellow man.
- Rituals
- The rituals and images that you get in myths correspond to those found in dreams when
a patient is ready to move on from those fantasies and infantile xations that hold him
back (e.g. the mother-complex)
- It has always been the prime function of mythology and rite to supply the symbols that
carry the human spirit forward in contrast with those fantasies and infantile xations that
hold us back (e.g. the mother-complex).
- The hero, therefore, is the person who has been able to battle past his personal and
local limitations and returns trans gured to teach what he has learned.
- The journey is important, the hero always returns having learnt something.
Frodo
- De Vries’ version
- Begetting and birth are not remarkable besides that he was born on the same day as
Bilbo.
- Youth is threatened as his parents die.
- Invincibility —> the ring makes him invisible.
- During the journey he ghts a lot of monsters.
- Dies as he sails to the undying lands.
2
fi fi fi fi
