Julie D'augbigny and the Hero's Journdy

Heroes. What separates these people from the rest of us? And what deems them as heroic? Some say it is their noble qualities such as bravery, intelligence or physical prowess, but what is commonly believed as the most accurate definition is someone who in the face of adversity shows an incredible amount of courage and willingness to sacrifice what is dear to them. This heroism will often lead to an apiphany or moment of clarity, in which the hero will go through a transformation and grow from their experience.

Joseph Campbell’s monomyth, or the hero’s journey, outlines the steps fictional characters will likely take in their journey towards becoming a hero; the departure, initiation, and return with smaller steps within these categories. These steps not only apply to fictional heroes, but also real ones such as Julie d’Aubigny, a master swordsman and opera singer from 17th century France, whose flamboyant life parallels many key points within the hero’s journey.

According to Campbell, most heroic journeys begin with a strange or unusual origin story that makes the hero stand out from others and Julie d’Aubigny is no exception. She was born in 1673 to Gaston d’Aubigny, the secretary to the Count of Armagnac and master swordsman, who kickstarted her journey by giving her a proper education and fencing lessons alongside the court pages (“Julie d’Aubigny: Operatic”). An education alone was abnormal for a young girl in the 17th century, but what sets Julie d’Aubigny apart from everyone else is the fact that she dressed as a boy from a very young age and still managed to become lovers with her father’s boss at the age of fourteen who in an even stranger turn of events, married her off to Seur de Maupin. Soon afterwards the newly renamed La Maupin was left alone to continue her increasingly wild lifestyle, including her scandalous love affair with the Count (“Julie d’Aubigny Wikipedia”).

Conveniently enough, her love of love affairs eventually set the stage for the next two parts of the hero’s journey known as the call to adventure and crossing the threshold. In these steps of Campbell's monomyth something forces the hero, or in this case heroine, to take action and leave the life they once knew behind to begin their adventures. Julie’s call to adventure came in the form of Serranes, an assistant fencing director who was on the run from Parisian authorities for murdering someone in a duel. In 1787, the two became lovers and Julie, in a spur of the moment decision, ran away from the authorities and the only life she had ever known with Serranes (“Julie d’Aubigny Wikipedia”). The pair had travelled to Marseille, where she earned little money by singing on the street or giving fencing demonstrations while once again dressed as a man (Gardiner).

After becoming bored with Serranes (and apparently men in general), she began to set her sights upon the new challenge of becoming an opera singer, but was sidetracked by her amorous advances. This causes an even bigger challenge for her to overcome, beginning the next step of the hero’s journey; challenges or trails. This is often the bulk or rising action of the story in which the hero must overcome obstacles, win some duels, and prove their worth in order to continue their journey. Julie d'Aubigny’s life begins to get really incredible and complicated when she becomes lovers with a young woman, whose parents sent her into a convent for being in a lesbian relationship with Julie. In response, Julie follows her lover into the convent and takes the holy orders to become a postulate until she has the chance to carry out her brilliant plan. Her plan? Steal the dead body of a nun, placing it in her lover’s bed, and setting the room on fire to cover up their amazing escape. After that event, their relationship only lasted a short three months before the young lady went back to her family and Julie was charged in absentia with a list of crimes, as a male, leading her to be sentenced to death by fire (“Julie d’Aubigny: Operatic”). She then travelled to Rouen and begged her ex-lover, the Count of Armagnac, to somehow help the sentence over her head so that she could return