Summary of The Hero with a Thousand Faces

The Hero with a Thousand Faces, written by Joseph Campbell, is an influential work in comparative mythology. It examines the common theme of the journey of the archetypal hero found in world mythologies, and relates it to the psychological stages of an individual's life. Campbell's thesis is that all stories of hero figures, regardless of culture, share a common structure. This structure, he claims, is derived from the collective unconscious of humanity and is expressed in the form of a monomyth—a basic pattern that appears in all myths and stories from around the world. The book also explores the motif of the archetypal hero found in world folklore, including the journey of the hero, the hero's initiation, and the battle between good and evil. Ultimately, Campbell argues that the hero's journey is an expression of the spiritual quest for self-actualization and individuation.