The Hero's Journey In Orpheus And Eurydice

Despite an incredibly unsophisticated storyline, the Legend of “Orpheus and Eurydice” follows the “Hero’s Journey” reasonably well. As the story begins, the main characters (Orpheus and Eurydice) are living peacefully in the Greek region of Thrace. Their lives are perfectly normal, as one would expect. Thus, the story begins with the first of the twelve elements of the “Hero’s Journey”, the Ordinary World. After a while, Eurydice is found dead after having been bitten by a venomous viper, and is taken to the Under-World. When he hears this news, he mourns, and decides to try to bring her back to Earth. This is the Call to Adventure. Immediately, he sets out on his journey, and soon arrives at the cave to the Under-World. Setting foot through …show more content…
However, there are some that vaguely fit the descriptions of each individual archetype. The first and most apparent is Orpheus, the Hero. Despite the fact that he is not successful in his mission, he is still one who followed the “Hero’s Journey.”, which makes him the Hero. Secondly, one can label the men who found Eurydice’s body as the Heralds, since they are the ones who deliver the Call to Action to the Hero. They are not very dynamic characters, yet they are crucial to the Legend overall. When Orpheus begins his quest, he soon meets the Threshold Guardian. However, this is entirely subjective based on what one considers to be the threshold. If the threshold is the cave between Earth and the Under-World, then there is no Threshold Guardian. Alternatively, if one considers the River Styx to be the threshold, then surely the Boatman is the Guardian. This is because he is the first person that Orpheus must convince to let through by playing tunes his magical lyre, making the boatman the first “Test”. As Orpheus continues to the Palace of Hades and Persephone, he meets the Shadow. Although the connection is extremely fragile, Persephone is the final person that Orpheus must convince to revive Eurydice, which would deem her to be the Shadow. It is arguable, however, that she is not the Shadow, because she does not fight back against

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