Last time, I began to explore the hero's journey and how it appears in Xena: Warrior Princess. I gave a general overview of this cycle as presented by Professor Joseph Campbell in his book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces, and looked at the first stage, The Call to Adventure. This week I examine the second stage, Refusal of the Call.
One thing that should be kept in mind throughout this series is that the stages of the hero's journey do not always appear in the order presented in Campbell's book. Nor do all the stages show up in every mythic work. As Campbell himself points out, "If one or another of the basic elements of the archetypical pattern is omitted... it is bound to be somehow or other implied - and the omission itself can speak volumes for the history and pathology of the example." (Campbell, pg. 38)
Fortunately, when the story becomes as expansive as the adventures of Xena and Gabrielle, it becomes much easier to find examples of the various stages Campbell presents.
REFUSAL OF THE CALL
"Often in actual life, and not infrequently in the myths and popular tales, we encounter the dull case of the call unanswered; for it is always possible to turn the ear to other interests. Refusal of the summons converts the adventure into its negative. Walled in boredom, hard work, or "culture," the subject loses the power of significant affirmative action and becomes a victim to be saved. His flowering world becomes a wasteland of dry stones and his life feels meaningless.... Whatever house he builds, it will be a house of death." (Campbell, pg. 59)
It may not be obvious right away how this stage applies to our particular heroines, but it does apply. Let's take a closer look at some examples.
First of all, there is the obvious case I pointed out last week. In "The Gauntlet" (H12) Hercules asks Xena to join him in defeating Darphus. The Warrior Princess refuses, instead going off to find some way to regain control of her army. She eventually returns, but the call is made and initially refused.
