Gladiator Hero Journey

Joseph Campbell’s Journey of the Hero, Gladiator
In the book The Hero With a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell lays out the steps that one must complete in order to become a hero. The first step of the cycle is the Separation phase, in which the hero must accept a challenge and experience that which is unfamiliar to him. Initiation, the second phase of the cycle, consists of several trials that not only challenges the hero, but also brings the reality of love and the opening up of the conscious. The final stage, The Return, is when the hero brings the knowledge he or she has learned during their voyage back to the people. Each phase is broken down to better explain the journey one must take in order to become a hero.
To illustrate, in the epical adventure film Gladiator, director Ridley Scott’s clearly fits the main character, Maximus Decimus Meridius, into Campbell's idea of the Heroic Journey. Maximus is a well-loved and trusted general in the roman army, as well as a close frien...