Abstract:

American writer and academician Joseph Campbell, who is known for his innovative works on myths, has developed a unique theory called monomyth as a result of his studies involving a wide range of areas from the art of painting to psychology and literature to myths and epics and has presented his theory in his work titled The Hero With A Thousand Faces (translated into Turkish with the title Kahramanın Sonsuz Yolculuğu) which he published in 1949. Although Campbell has developed a very wide range of study area while forming his theory of monomyth, the founder of analytical philosophy Carl Gustav Jung’s theory of archetypes constitutes the starting point of Campbell’s theory. In his theory of archetypes, Jung underlines the existence of a collective unconsciousness coded to whole humanity and analyses the reasons behind these universal symbols which he calls archetypes. On the other hand, Campbell in his theory of monomyth in which he chooses the archetype of ‘hero’ as the dominant element, talks about a common cycle which exists in the creation of myths, legends and folk tales. In the study, in which the starting point is the theory of monomyth which involves the headings of the rite of passage and return, the adventure of Siegfried who is the main hero of Nibelung’s Treasure in Germanic mythology will be dealt with.

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