In pursuit of love: the female hero’s journey in Irish mythology

In Irish mythological tales such as Tóruigheacht Dhiarmada Agus Ghráinne: (The Pursuit of Diarmaid and Gráinne) and Longes mac nUislenn (The Exile of the Sons of Uisliu), when the woman is led by her heart and, in turn, leads a man away from his social roles and responsibilities, the social fabric is undone and tragedy follows in her wake. In this paper, I examine how the trajectory of the female protagonist in these tales deviates from the traditional pattern of the male hero’s journey as elucidated firstly by Joseph Campbell and which was later developed as a framing tool for creating contemporary myths. Feminist scholars such as Maureen Murdock and Susan Lichtman responded to Campbell by developing gynocentric models that aligned with storytelling for women but were ideological rather than reflective of established mythological patterns. I propose a very different model that considers the female hero’s journey in the context of the social-cultural function of mythology as antagonistic to a female hero. The female hero is one who persists in following her heart to arrive at a place which, ultimately, results in positive change for the community, whether it is welcomed or not.