FREE ESSAY ON THE TRAGIC LIVES OF MICHAEL CORLEONE AND JOHN THE SAVAGE: THOUGH THE EYES OF JOSEPH CAMPBELL

THE TRAGIC LIVES OF MICHAEL CORLEONE AND JOHN THE SAVAGE: THOUGH THE EYES OF JOSEPH CAMPBELL

Brendan Tyo
10/8/01
People in literature, theater, and real life can all be viewed as tragic heroes. In order
to fully understand this effect, one must observe what a man named Joseph Campbell calls
the hero circle. This circle consists of specific significant stops in the hero's
journey. John the Savage of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and Michael Corleone of The
Godfather, both fit into Mr. Campbell's model of a heroic journey. John and Michael
Corleone share similar heroic lives at their special births, small battles, and boon
stages of their journeys.
Both John and Corleone are born with a certain kind of power as a result of their
detachment from the world that they can never fully know. John has a certain unique kind
of power as son of the Director of the very society that alienates him. John shows his
surprise when he discovers the truth about his father, He came in at once . . . fell on
his knees in front of the Director, and said in a clear voice: 'My father'  (Huxley 151).
The combination of the Director as his father and his birth as a member of the savage
community spark John's detachment from the London society. Corleone's desire to break
away from the family's crime business is always overcome by his birth into it. On J.
Geoff Malta's The Godfather internet fan page, Corleone is quoted as saying, Just when I
thought I was out, they pull me back in (Malta 3). This illustrates the merciless
undertow of the family's organized crime business. Corleone's birth into the family
continues to plague him until the very end of his journey. Both John and Corleone's
births served as starting points for their tragic stories. While John's lack of choice of
destiny detaches him from the London society, Corleone's lack of desire and passion for
his occupation alienates him from the society of the family business. Though Corleone is
discontent with the concrete outcomes of his birth, John is also an outsider as a result
of his own. While John and Corleone both had similar births, they also faced comparable
small battles in their journeys.
John and Corleone both face the death of family members as tests or small battles in
their journeys. John deals with the painful loss of his mother when Linda passes away.
Huxley illustrates John's devastation in Chapter 14,  'Quick, quick!' He caught her by
the sleeve, dragged her after him. 'Quick! Something's happened. I've killed her.' . . .
The Savage stood for a moment in frozen silence, then fell on his knees beside the bed
and, covering his face with his hands, sobbed uncontrollably (Huxley 206). John's actions
show how traumatic Linda's death is to him, challenging him to continue his life as a
tragic hero. Corleone faces the near death of his loving father after an assassination
attempt. A scene analysis of The Godfather describes Corleone's tragedy and what
followed, When his father is shot though, Michael takes revenge on the people who did it
and becomes part of the Mafia lifestyle. When his older brother is murdered, Michael
ascends to become the boss of the family, and proves to be more ruthless than his father
and brother combined (Glass 1). Corleone's experiences challenge him to make a difficult
choice between reason and revenge. Both John and Corleone's encounters with death serve
as catalysts in becoming tragic heroes. The heroes find death testing their love and
loyalty to their families. Also, each of them go through small, but difficult battles to
recover from their losses including emotional breakdown for John and uncontrollable
aggression for Corleone. Though John and Corleone deal with like obstacles, they also
both meet similar ends to their heroic lives.
In the end of each of John and Corleone's journeys, death functions as their boons.
John's death is the only way he can get away from the society that plagued him. Huxley
describes John's end: That evening the swarm of helicopters that came buzzing across the
Hog's Back . . . 'Savage!' called the first arrivals, as they alighted from their
machine. 'Mr. Savage!'  (Huxley 259). This portrays John's inability to break away from
the perverse sheepish members of the London society. To Corleone, death seems like the
only return to legitimacy and sanity that he can obtain. J. Geoff Malta's internet fan
page of The Godfather quotes Corleone describing the sins that haunt him: I betrayed my
wife. I betrayed myself. I killed men and I ordered men to be killed. Ah, it's useless...
I killed -- I ordered the death of my brother. He injured me. I killed my mother's son. I
killed my father's son (Malta 2). When he says this, he is old and struggling to find
some shred of validity in a world of crime. The way he expresses his actions suggests
that he will never find a way to cut away from his life as a barbaric Mafioso. Both John
and Corleone's deaths act as their only form of escape they can find. They are too fed up
with the tedious and painful lives of alienation and invalidity that they lead. They also
both can not find any sort of rational distraction that can take their minds from the
pain of their tragic lives. While John's death is different from Corleone's in that
Corleone did not commit suicide, they are similar due to the fact that they serve as an
escape for each of them.
Although John the Savage and Michael Corleone take different paths in their journeys,
they have few differences in the nature of their births, battles, and boons. Each was
born with a similar kind of power. They both face death in the family. Lastly, the only
way that they can achieve true peace is through their own deaths. As Joseph Campbell
asserted, all tragic heroes follow a set course. John the Savage and Michael Corleone are
no different; the actions that make their roles so similar are those that ultimately lead
to their demise.
Bibliography
- Glass, Matthew. The Duality of Michael Corleone. Oppapers.com: Free Papers. 22 Mar.
2001. Page 1 of 1. 
- Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. New York: Perennial Classics, 1998.
- Malta, J. Geoff.  'The Godfather III' 1990 Quotes.  'The Godfather' Trilogy: The
Original Unofficial Site. 1995. Pages 2 & 3 of 14. 12 Sept. 2001.