LET Review 2019

English Specialization
Lecturer: Dr. Carmel Vip C. Derasin
Chair, Department of
Languages and Literature
Cebu Normal University
MYTHOLOGY AND
FOLKLORE
Definition of Terms
• Myth – (1) a story (2) that is usually of
unknown origin and (3) at least partially
traditional (4) that ostensibly relates
historical events usually of such description
as (5) to serve to explain some particular
event, institution or natural phenomenon
(Webster)
• Fairytale – a make-believe story about fairies,
wizards, giants, or other characters who
possess magical or unusual powers
• Folklore – traditions, customs, and stories of
one culture or group of people
• Legend – a story about the past that is
considered to be true but is usually a
combination of both fact and fiction
• Mythology – a group of myths from a single
group or culture
Types of Myth
• PURE MYTH OR TRUE MYTH OR MYTH
PROPER
Tend to be examples of primitive science or
religion
Explain natural phenomena or the origin of
things
• SAGA OR LEGEND
Tend to be examples of primitive history
e.g. War at Troy
•FOLK-TALE OR FAIRY-TALE
Tend to be examples of primitive fiction
Told for pleasure ad amusement
Supernatural characters and elements of
magic

Joseph Campbell
In 1949, he published his book The Hero with
a Thousand Faces
Theory of the journey of the archetypal hero
found in world mythologies
Joseph Campbell
• He outlined the adventure of a hero thus,
1. Departure
a. The call to adventure
b. Refusal of the call
c. The crossing of the first threshold
d. The belly of the whale
2. Initiation
a. The road of trials
b. The meeting with the goddess
c. Woman as the temptress
d. Atonements with the father
e. Apostheosis
f. The ultimate boon
3. Return
a. Refusal of the return
b. The magic flight
c. Rescue from without
d. The crossing of the return threshold
e. Master of the two worlds
f. Freedom to live
Sources of Mythology and
Folklore
• Aesop’s Fables – a collection of fables under
the name of Aesop 2,000 years ago in Greece
• A Thousand and One Nights – known as The
Arabian Nights; a collection of stories and
fables from Arabia, Egypt, India, and Persia
• The Great Epics of the World
The Iliad and Odyssey of the Greeks
The Aeneid of the Romans
The Mahabharata and Ramayana of India
Beowulf of England
• The Panchatantra – a collection of fables
which was used to educated Indian princes
into becoming wise kings
• The Poems of Hesiod
Theogony
Works and Days
THE GREAT THEMES OF MYTH
CREATION
Set the stage for more particular myths
supporting social structures, the relation of
human beings to the natural world, and
questions of life and death.
GODS AND GODDESSES
Such deities possess human characteristics:
they have parents and offspring and they
belong to the same social grouping
HEROIC FIGURES
Heroes and heroines are semi-divine beings:
in many mythologies they have superhuman
powers though divine paretage
MONSTERS AND DEMONS
Most familiar as the beings that a heroic
figure confronts and overcomes
ANIMALS
They are featured as wild creatures –
predatory beasts or the elusive prey of hunters;
or as helpful beings
THE UNDERWORLD
Associations with burial prompt tales of
gloom and terror of the unknown yet
inevitable.
JOURNEYS, QUESTS, AND TRIALS
Bring mythological figures into a number of
situations where they can prove their strength.
THE AFTERLIFE
Some form of existence after death, takes as
many different forms in mythologies as the
culture from which they are drawn.
WORLDS DESTROYED
An end to the world in its present form may
be inevitable or threatened, whether by divine
will, as a result of evil forces or in punishment
of human misdeeds.
THE MYTHOLOGIES OF THE
WORLD
• Mesopotamian Mythology – the gods included
Annu (sky), Enlil (storm), Enki (water), Ea
(wisdom), Ishtar (fertility), Erishkigal
(underworld)
• Canaanite Mythology – is here used in its
biblical sense: Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine; El
(the creator), Baal (heavy rains)
• Egyptian Mythology – Osiris, Isis, Horus are
some of the major deities
• Greek Mythology – Zeus (sky and thunder),
Poseidon (sea), Athena (wisdom), Apollo (arts,
healing, prophecy)
• Roman Mythology – incorporated those of
conquered people but was in many respects an
adaptation of the Greeks
• Celtic Mythology – preserved in Wales and
Ireland which the Romans failed to subdue
• Norse Mythology – or Germanic mythology,
glorifies battle but against a harsher natural
background
• Mexican and South American Mythologies –
warlike Aztecs in Meso-America justified
bloodshed, though they adopted the practice of
sacrifice
• Persian Mythology – reflected a life of warrior
and nomadic pastoralists beginning to turn to
agriculture in fertile pockets
• Indian Mythology – derived from the Aryans,
also has Indra, a warrior sky god, insuring
fertilizing rain and dispatching earlier
inhabitants of the new homeland
• Chinese Mythology – rooted in its vast land,
in veneration of its emperors, whose good
rule brought prosperity
• Japanese Mythology - native mythology
centered on land, and the establishment of
imperial dynasties
The Greek and Roman Gods
Greek Roman Title
Aphrodite Venus Goddess of love and beauty
Apollo Apollo God of music, poetry and the sun
Ares Mars God of war
Athena Minerva Goddess of wisdom
Demeter Ceres Goddess of fertility and crops
Eros Cupid God of love
Hephaestus Vulcan God of fire, craftsman for the gods
Hera Juno Queen of the gods, goddess of marriage
Hermes Mercury Messenger of the gods
Persephone Proserpina Queen of the underworld
Poseidon Neptune God f the sea
Zeus Jupiter Ruler of the gods
Artemis Diana Goddess of the moon
Gaea Terra Mother earth
Theories Related to the Study of
Mythology
ANCIENT THEORIES
1. Rationalism
Myths represent an early form of logical thinking:
they all have a logical base
2. Etymological Theory
States that all myths derive from and can be
traced back to certain words in the language
3. Allegorical Theory
All myths contain hidden meanings which the
narrative deliberately conceals or encodes.
e.g.Story of ing Midas and his golden touch
4. Euhemerism
Euhemerus maintained that all myths arise
from historical events which were merely
exaggerated.

Modern Theories
1. Naturalism – all myths are thought to arise
from an attempt to explain natural
phenomena
2. Ritualism – all myths are invented to
accompany and explain religious ritual
3. Diffusionism – all myths arose from a few
major cultural centers and spread throughout the
world.
4. Evolutionism – myth making occurs at a certain
stage in the evolution of the human mind
5. Freudianism – certain infantile are repressed
and sometimes these feelings emerge into
consciousness under various disguises, one of
which is the myth.
6. Jungian archetypes – Carl Jung postulated that
each of us possesses a “collective unconscious”
which we inherit genetically. It contains very
general ideas, themes or motifs which are passed
along from one generation to another.
7. Structuralism – all human behaviour is
patterned into codes which have the
characteristics of language. To understand the
meaning of myth, therefore, we must analyze it
linguistically.
8. Historical-Critical Theory – maintains that
there are a multitude of factors which
influence the origin and development of myths
and that no single explanation will suffice.
Some Interesting Characters from Mythology

• Dragons – stories of fire-breathing dragons vary

throughout different cultures.
• Unicorn – a mystical animal representing beauty,
goodness and strength
• Troll – according to Scandinavain folklore, they
are hostile creatures who lived inside dark caves
• Jinni – a spirit from the Arab and Muslim folklore;
grants wishes and cast spells
• Hydra – the nine-headed serpent
• Chimera – a huge fire-breathing monster; head
of a lion, the body of a dragon, hind legs of a
goat
• Centaur – a group of monsters in the
mountains near the city of Arcadia in Greece;
upper bodies are human and lower bodies
are in the form of a horse
• Fenrir – a large ferocious wolf with yellow
eyes and tremendous jaw
• Oni – giant horned demons
• Nagas – supernatural beings who take the
form of serpents
• Guei or Kuei – spirits from the yin or negative
essence of people’s souls
• Kappa – race of monkey-like demons