Arthur, the Hero

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Arthur, the Hero

   Thanks to Prof. Bruce A. Beatie of Cleveland State University for the following summation of Lord Raglan's The Hero.
   In 1936, Lord Raglan, developing ideas first expressed by Sir James G. Frazer and later by Otto Rank, published “A Study in Tradition, Myth, and Drama” titled The Hero. He notes in chapter 16 that he had “examined the stories of a number of traditional heroes of Greece, and found that when these stories were split up into separate incidents, there were certain types of incident which ran through all the stories.” The pattern he lays out has 22 incidents. He then shows how the pattern is realized in the stories of twelve Greek gods and heroes (only the Oedipus myth shows all 22 episodes), and of nine heroes from Judaic, Egyptian, oriental, or medieval sources. His 20th analysis is the story of Arthur.
   "Here is his summary of the hero pattern, followed by his analysis of the story of Arthur:
   "The Hero Pattern: (1) The hero’s mother is a royal virgin; (2) His father is a king, and (3) often a near relative of his mother, but (4) the circumstances of his conception are unusual, and (5) he is also reputed to be the son of a god. (6) At birth an attempt is made, usually by his father or his maternal grandfather, to kill him, but (7) he is spirited away, and (8) reared by foster-parents in a far country. (9) We are told nothing of his childhood, but (10) on reaching manhood he returns or goes to his future kingdom. (11) After a victory over the king and/or a giant, dragon, or wild beast, (12) he marries a princess, often the daughter of his predecessor, and (13 ) becomes king. (14) For a time he reigns uneventfully, and (15) prescribes laws, but (16) later he loses favor with the gods and/or his subjects, and (17) he is driven from the throne and city, after which (18) he meets with a mysterious death, (19) often at the top of a hill. (20) His children, if any, do not succeed him. (21) His body is not buried, but nevertheless (22) he has one or more holy sepulchres.
   "Arthur: His mother, Igraine, is (1) a princess, and his father is (2) the Duke of Cornwall. He is, however, (5) reputed to be the son of Uther Pendragon, who (4) visits Igraine in the Duke’s likeness. At birth he is apparently in danger, and is (7) spirited away and (8) reared in a distant part of the country. We hear (9) nothing of his childhood, but on reaching manhood he (10) travels to London, (11) wins a magical victory, and (13) is chosen king. After other victories he (12) marries Guinevere, heiress of the Round Table. After this he (14) reigns uneventfully, and (15) prescribes the laws of chivalry, but later there is (16) a successful conspiracy against him, while (17) he is abroad. He meets with (18) a mysterious death, and his children do not (20) succeed him. His body is (21) not buried, but nevertheless he has (22) a holy sepulchre at Glastonbury.
   "Though Lord Raglan analyzes a post-Geoffrey version of Arthur’s life, he shows it as exhibiting 19 of the 22 episodes of the general hero pattern. This is the pattern that Joseph Campbell was later, in The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1946), to identify as a Jungian archetype, the “monomyth” of human psychic development; and whether we accept the notion of archetypes or assume simply a “cultural literacy” on Geoffrey’s part, an educated man’s familiarity with a large body of story material, the pattern is certainly one of the major determinants of Geoffrey’s life of Arthur."
   But as we can see, there are others that fit the hero pattern and even have a piece of the Arthurian mythos thrown in. Aegeus (= Utherpendragon), a powerful king without heir, went to a certain Pittheus (= Merlin), who conspired that Aegeus should consort with Aethra (= Ygerna), from which union Theseus (= Arthur) was born. The boy was raised separate from Aegeus and Aethra, so that the youth could inherit the Athenian (= Briton) throne upon becoming of age. Aegeus devised a test whereby the boy, when he reached manhood, could make his rightful claim: Theseus would have to move a great stone under which his father had set a sword (= Excalibur) and a pair of sandals. At the appointed time, Theseus was able to move the great stone with ease and claim his prize. This tale is traceable through Plutarch to Ovid, and from Ovid through the Attalid dynasty, which was a leading center of Greek civilization. This center was the region south of the Black Sea; later maps identify the area as Galatia, directly to the east of Greece. To the west of the Black Sea was the Alano territory and to the north and west was Scythia. In a line almost due west from Scythia was Pannonia. Trying to answer the question, therefore, whether the origin of the sword/stone motif came from Greek myth or Scythian becomes akin to the chicken-or-the-egg question. See also Finn M'Cumall for a similar parallel hero pattern to Arthur.