El Cid and the Hero's Journey

Authors

Michael Cauley, Georgia College & State University

Faculty Mentors

Dr.Santiago García-Castañón

Abstract

In spite of the immense diversity of human culture and custom, there exists a common sense of longing and loss seemingly as old as civilization itself. Each human being must abandon the security and tranquility of the amniotic paradise and venture forth into a cold and brutal world. Sigmund Freud recognized the "castration" trauma inherent in the process of birth as an original source of anxiety and neurosis in the human psyche. Many have equated this painful separation from the womb as symbolic of the larger and more painful separation from our cosmic origins, or God. This is reflected in the story of Genesis, where man, exiled from Eden, must wander the savage world, naked and hungry, carrying with him forever the memory of his abandoned perfection.

Recommended Citation

Cauley, Michael (2007) "El Cid and the Hero's Journey," The Corinthian: Vol. 8, Article 10.
Available at: https://kb.gcsu.edu/thecorinthian/vol8/iss1/10