The Monomyth as a metaphor for life

It is important to note that while stories following this pattern are, of course, like all myths, completely fictional and even fantastic, they nevertheless posses a strong connection to the reality of human life, since they hold broader meanings for the people of a certain culture, helping them make sense of their current lives as well as their history. So while the tales themselves are neither true nor even probable or remotely realistic, they still tend to encapsulate what an audience consuming and interpreting them might consider general truths about life.

In the case of the Monomyth, the different stations of the stories mentioned above could be considered symbols of universal life experiences like leaving home and rising to various challenges, making new experiences, forming interpersonal relationships with friends and antagonists, settling down and finally dying. So at its core, the Hero’s Journey as a whole is a metaphor for the course of human life.

However, it is, of course, a metaphor that uses a patterned, strongly simplified form which is most likely one of the reasons it has proven so accessible to a large audience of several different cultures. An important simplification in this context is the use of pairs of binary oppositions which might be referred to as 'painting only in black and white', like love and hatred or greed and generosity. These oppositions are applied to various elements of mythic stories, most of all the characters, and each of the two poles of such oppositions is assigned an evaluation as either positive or negative. Consequently, the most basic binary opposition usually driving the entire mythic storyline forward is the opposition of 'good' versus 'evil' which is also dominant in the original Star Wars trilogy: It is almost immediately apparent whether a character is a hero or a villain. Even the ‘scoundrel’ type, such as Han Solo, is quite obviously good from the start in the sense that there can be little doubt to an attentive observer that, despite his rough edges, he will do the right thing in the end. On the other hand, there is no doubt either that the big, slimy Jabba the Hutt or the Emperor with his pale skin, yellow eyes and wrinkled, distorted face are villains with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.

There is one curious exception to this rule, however, and that is Darth Vader who seems like the epitome of evil with his hissing breathing sound, black armor suit and complete lack of mercy, but then turns out to be Luke Skywalker's fallen father Anakin and is finally reformed to good in the end. So in the case of Darth Vader, everything seems somewhat more complicated than one might expect from a mythic tale.

While it is not unusual that distinct stories, as I have mentioned before, follow the pattern only loosely, I would argue that Darth Vader is a real deviation from one of the basic mythic principles, i.e. the breakdown of the various characters into groups of binary oppositions, since, unlike it is the case with Han Solo or Lando Calrissian, viewers are lead to believe until quite late in Return of the Jedi that Darth Vader will remain thoroughly evil. The deviation stands isolated in the original trilogy, but becomes exceedingly important when looking at the three new Star Wars films which, according to their creator George Lucas, were made for the primary purpose of elaborating on Darth Vader’s background – something that would be quite unnecessary if he were meant to be nothing but the average 'bad guy'.

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