In Northrop Frye's archetype of the hero's journey, the hero leaves his home (or comfort zone) and embarks innocently on a journey of growth and self-discovery, maturing into a new person by the end of the story.
While Lear never leaves what was his kingdom, he encounters a harsh journey of self-discovery and newfound wisdom that starts when he divides his kingdom between his two younger daughters. Like many a hero, he begins this journey to a new way of life with false expectations, and he meets hard and wholly unexpected challenges along the way.
Lear thinks that when he divides and gives away his kingdom, nothing will change for him except that he no longer will carry a heavy load of burdens and responsibilities. He imagines he will still be the center of the universe and that everyone will continue to run to fulfill his every command and treat...
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him with deference, even when he no longer has his kingdom and power. Almost immediately, however, he runs up against adversity as his two daughters, now that they have power, begin to treat him as a pain and a senile old man. They expect him to defer to them, and they rudely impose their wishes on him, rather than vice versa.
This is an extreme shock to Lear, who has, as the saying goes, come to believe his own press. He believes he is a beloved and extraordinary person in his own right, not a person who was only beloved for his power and title. He also mistakes words for deeds, believing that his eldest daughters mean what they say when they profess they would sacrifice the world for him.
Lear's journey into hardship and despair leads him to wander a moor in a terrible storm when his daughters betray him, but more profoundly, to learn the hard way who truly loves him and has his best interests at heart. This turns out to be his youngest daughter, Cordelia—the one he cast off angrily because she refused to flatter him.
Lear learns too late that she is the daughter he should have loved and trusted; but, before he dies, he does internalize this lesson and gains a new, broader, and more realistic awareness of how the world operates and what real love is.
The concept of "The Hero's Journey" was explored by scholar and mythologist Joseph Campbell in his 1949 book, The Hero With A Thousand Faces.
Campbell summarizes the essential myth of the hero in the Introduction to the book.
A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.
Campbell writes that the hero's journey is composed of 12 steps, all of which apply to Lear's journey through the play.
Lear is introduced in the "ordinary world," where he receives a "call to adventure."
Lear is reluctant at first to embark on the adventure ("refuse the call), but he is encouraged by a "mentor" to "cross the first threshold" and enter a "special world."
In the special world, Lear encounters "tests, allies, and enemies."
Lear approaches "the inmost cave," and crosses a second threshold, where he must endure the "ordeal."
After overcoming the ordeal, Lear receives his "reward," and travels "the road back" to the ordinary world.
Lear crosses the third threshold, where he experiences a "resurrection" and is transformed by the experience, and "returns with an elixir" which will benefit the ordinary world.
In Lear's case, the journey is physical as well as psychological.
Lear's "special world" is, in fact, the real world, and his "call to adventure" is a call he gave to himself by giving up his kingdom and venturing out into the real world, which requires that Lear make physical and psychological adjustments.
Lear's "inmost cave" is not just the hovel where Lear, Kent (his "mentor"), and the Fool (also a kind of "mentor") take refuge from the elements (part of Lear's physical "ordeal"), but the "inmost cave" is also Lear's mind, where he endures the psychological and emotional "ordeal" of madness and self-discovery.
The "elixir" Lear gives to the world isn't a magic potion, but the wisdom and humanity he's gained from his journey, and the lessons his journey teaches to the rest of the world.