Hero’s journey is a term coined by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces, which describes a basic pattern found in many narratives around the world. I used this methodology to analyze Lord of the Rings trilogy in a past post, it was really popular so now I am doing it for the Grimm Fairytale All Fur, which is a variation of Cinderella. Enjoy!
- ABSENTATION: The Mother of All Fur, the Queen dies.
- A FAMILY MEMBER DESIRES SOMETHING: All Fur’s father, the King looks for a princess just as beautiful as his wife to marry him to fulfill the Queen’s dying wish to marry someone just as beautiful as her.
- MEDIATION: The King makes known his desire to marry All Fur since she grows up to be more beautiful than her mother was.
- BEGINNING COUNTER-ACTION: All Fur requests fours conditions (three beautiful dresses and a long fur cloak made from the skins of all the animals in the kingdom) fulfilled before she is to marry her father. Her dad is successful at completely these conditions.
- DEPARTURE: All Fur leaves the kingdom, taking the three dresses, the cloak, and three treasured items (a golden ring, a tiny golden spinning wheel, and a little golden reel). Upon growing weary from her travels to a new kingdom she falls asleep in the hollow of a tree. When she wakes up, she is taken by huntsmen to work as a maid in the kitchen of the king’s palace of that kingdom.
- STRUGGLE: Three balls are held at the castle over the course of several months. Each time All Fur begs the cook to go upstairs and is asked by the cook to make soup for the King. Each time All Fur cooks the soup, she places one of the three treasured items into the soup. The King loves her cooking a lot, so the cook grows jealous of her for being favored by the king. Each time All Fur attends the ball she takes off her disguise and wears one of the three beautiful dresses that her father had made for her. Every time the King sees her at the ball he dances with her, and as they finish dancing she swiftly escapes back to the palace’s kitchen where she puts back on her disguise.
- BRANDING: At the last ball the King makes All Fur dance with him for a very long time, so he can slyly slip a golden ring on her finger without her knowing.
- PURSUIT: When she attempts to escape the King tries to hold her hands to prevent her from leaving. Again the King summons All Fur.
- RECOGNITION: The King sees the golden ring on All Fur’s finger, indicating to him that All Fur is the beautiful maiden he has been dancing at the ball with all along.
- TRANSFIGURATION: The King rips of her fur cloak, revealing her beautiful dress and golden hair.
- WEDDING: The King and All Fur marry. They live happily together until death.Thanks for reading, you can follow me on Twitter at DemelioU or you can subscribe to my RSS feed the little orange button in the left hand menu.
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