The Seven Basic Plots - Christopher Booker [178]
We again see the heroine coming to the hero's rescue in his desperate hour of need in the film High Noon. When word comes that the murderous Miller gang is approaching to take over the town, Sheriff Kane seems wholly alone. No one will stand with him to resist the dark power. Fearing the worst, he persuades his new bride to leave town. As the climactic battle begins, he seems at the outlaws' mercy. But, just when all seems lost, a crucial shot rings out from an unexpected quarter. Inspired by the hero's bravery and her love for him, the heroine has returned, to provide just the element of strength needed to turn the battle. Thanks to her courage, he can complete the routing of the `monster, and between them they have saved the `kingdom'.
The Quest
In no other type of story is the hero faced by such a range and variety of dark figures as in the Quest. But again these fall into familiar categories:
(1) the Tyrant, or Dark Father-figure: Odysseus's chief opponent through most of his journey, after he has blinded Polyphemus, is the giant's grimly vengeful father Poseidon, the `dark lord of the sea ; Jason's chief antagonist is the tyrant-king Aetes; other examples are the cruel, overbearing figure of Phaoraoh, who tries to keep the children of Israel imprisoned in Egypt; the evil King Twala, tyrant over the lost land of King Solomon's mines; General Woundwort, the `dark ruler' over the hostile warren of Efrafa in Watership Down;
(2) the Witch, or `Dark Queen': Aeneas's chief opponent through most of his journey to Italy is the grimly vengeful `Queen of Heaven' Juno; another instance is Gagool, the ancient witch-guardian of the treasure in King Solomon's Mines;
(3) the Dark Rivals: these again become increasingly prominent as the hero nears his goal: e.g., the suitors clustered threateningly round Penelope; Turnus, the hero's rival for the Princess and the kingdom in the Aeneid; the resident tribes who try to prevent the children of Israel from occupying the Promised Land.
When we come to the fourth category, however, we see a curious ambivalence emerging:
(4) the Dark Other Half: this is a figure who, in her guise as the Temptress, plays a particularly prominent part in Quest stories. But when we are confronted by such examples as Circe and Calypso in the Odyssey, it is difficult to pin down whether they are to be regarded as the beautiful women they first appear to be, or as ageless witches in disguise, armed with supernatural powers to imprison the hero and to hold him back from pursuing his quest (Circe, for instance, is explicitly described as `a witch'). Similarly, when Aeneas falls in love with Dido (at the instigation of his real enemy, the dark goddess Juno), she is not represented as a young Princess whom he would easily marry. She is a widowed Queen, a mature woman with the power to bewitch him by her love, to enfeeble him and make him forget what he should be doing, which is to proceed on his journey.
In other words, when we consider the `dark feminine' power which can hold back the hero of a story from his true purpose, we see a link beginning to emerge between the mature, beguiling Temptress as `Dark Other Half' and the treacherous witch or Dark Mother-figure. When we consider the `dark masculine' power standing rather more aggressively in the hero's path, we have already seen in Aladdin how the figure of the Dark Father can be transmuted into that of a Dark Rival. Similarly in Watership Down General Woundwort is not just a Tyrant and `dark ruler': as leader of the rival warren he stands as an exact dark opposite and rival to the story's hero Hazel. Behind their variety