The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Campbell begins by observing the commonalities among all world mythology. The similarities appear to occur spontaneously, yet psychoanalysis offers a potential reason why myths share so many common themes.

Campbell cites the letter of a man who dreams he kills his father and is embraced by his mother. The letter further reports that the man has separated from his wife, despite his father’s objections. This dream, Campbell points out, is the Oedipus myth retold in modern America. It is the “tragicomic triangle of the nursery” (5), in which the mother is the object of both intense adoration and intense hostility for the child, whereas the father is the competitor for the mother’s love.

Campbell then turns to the female dreamer, citing a woman who dreams of a fearsome white horse following her. She tells the horse to shave, and it comes out of a barbershop shaven with a man’s body but horse’s face and hooves. Campbell describes how these symbols frighten people but also entice them with their mysterious yet compelling implications. In the modern age, people can unlock these mysteries in the office of the psychoanalyst, “who then enacts the role and character of the ancient mystagogue, or guide of souls” (9).