Brave and the Heroine's Journey

 

For this blog post, I will be analyzing how the movie Brave conforms to Maureen Murdock’s version of the heroine’s journey. The movie does not perfectly adhere to all of the phases of Maureen Murdock’s heroine’s journey, but I believe this reflects the structure of the movie the most out of the two monomyths. The defining steps from Murdock’s monomyth that are present in Brave are “separation from the feminine”, “the road of trials”, “finding the boon of success”, “awakening to feelings of spiritual aridity: death”, “healing of the mother/daughter split”, and "integration of masculine and feminine”. Like any story, Brave weaves in and out of each step and not necessarily in the exact order they are presented in the diagram, but I will be highlighting the most straightforward interpretation of Merida’s heroine’s journey in order to most effectively convey the relationship between the monomyth and the movie.

The first step in Maureen Murdock’s heroine’s journey is the “separation from the feminine”. This step occurs straight away in the movie, as Merida has already separated herself from her feminine side. She hates being a princess and the strict rules she must follow as such. Her father is her main inspiration, while her mother enforces the feminine roles that she has no interest in. She is constantly told that she must strive for perfection, not be messy, and conform to feminine expectations, however, she’d much rather spend her time shooting arrows in the forest, activities that are not seen as “feminine enough” or “princess-like”. The most defining moment of Merida’s separation from the feminine is when she was forced by her parent to meet with the sons of the local lords and be arranged in marriage. Merida absolutely detests the idea of being wedded and would rather be independent than listen to her mother and find a suitor. She eventually gives in and tells the suitors that they should hold an archery contest to fight for her hand in marriage. Merida surprises everyone when she says that she will also play to fight for her own hand and eventually wins, making her mother very upset. 

Thus, the movie segways into the next step in Murdock’s heroine’s journey, “the road of trials”. When Merida arrives back at the castle, she is met with her mother’s fury. In a fit of anger, Merida splits the family tapestry between her and her mother's figures and rides her horse away from her village and into the forest.

Once there, she is lured by the wisps of the woods to a witch’s house nestled in a dark and hidden area. She then asks the witch to cast a spell and change her mom, hoping that this will get her mother to think differently about her marrying one of the suitors. This stage of “the road of trials” is quite short and Merida soon finds herself in the “finding the boon of success” phase. Merida convinces her mother to eat the pastry that contains the potion from the witch in order to “change her”. Merida feels lucky as her mother begins to change her mind about her marrying one of the sons, however, this soon goes downhill when the queen begins to feel ill, leading to the next phase of the heroine’s journey, “awakening to feelings of spiritual aridity: death”. This step unfolds as it turns out that the spell that Merida thought would change her mother’s opinion about her getting married changed her into a bear. Her mother’s transformation symbolizes the death of her as a human, as well as presents the fear of her mother, now a bear, being slain by her father’s guards. Soon after, Merida helps her mother hide and escape from the castle and they venture back into the forest to find the witch’s cottage and reverse the spell. Upon arriving at the cottage, she realizes that the witch has vanished, leaving only her cauldron. A message from the witch appears and she tells Merida that she needs to help her mother before the second sunrise or else she’ll be stuck as a bear permanently. 

The movie quickly transitions into Murdock’s next step, “healing of the mother/daughter split”. This is the most pivotal and important step in the heroine’s journey for Merida. Since the queen is now a bear, the two decide that returning back to the castle in her state would be a fatal mistake, so they spend the night in the forest. They learn to survive together in their desperate situation. Merida teaches her mother how to catch fish, and they provide for each other. Their bond becomes stronger within the hours following her mother’s unfortunate transformation, however, they are still under pressure to mend their split in order to reverse the curse. Merida realizes that the next step she should take is to mend the family tapestry, which means returning to the castle. Once they arrive back, Merida has to distract and stall the inhabitants, which includes her father and the people of the village that are eager to learn about who she will choose to marry. Whilst doing so, the queen signals to Merida that she should break tradition and allow her and the suitors to choose who they want to love instead of being forced into a betrothal. This relieves Merida and ultimately defines their bond, as her mother is no longer enforcing the feminine expectations Merida was reluctant to follow. After this touching moment, Merida sews the tapestry that she split back together in an attempt to release her mother from the curse. Eventually, with the power of mother/daughter love and the mended tapestry, the queen transforms back from a bear to her human self. This is the beginning of the “integration of masculine and feminine” phase in Merida’s heroine’s journey. Merida still has no interest in finding a suitor and enjoys her stereotypically “unfeminine” activities, however, she balances this with her responsibilities as princess and the cycle is completed.