| Robin Hood's story began in the Middle Ages as nothing more than a series of adventure tales. However, a transformation of the Robin Hood tradition occurred with works written between 1598 and 1911, and it can be demonstrated that through these works the stories about Robin Hood made a transition from simple archetypal narratives of adventure to more complex archetypal renderings, moving from Joseph Campbell's idea of the monomythic hero as one who does physical deeds to one who does spiritual deeds. Furthermore, the continuing popularity of these stories, over more than six centuries and in all formats, can at least partially be attributed to this archetypal transformation. Anthony Munday's two Renaissance dramas (1598, 1601) began this transformation, which was then further developed in works by Peacock (1818), Tennyson (1892), and Noyes (1911), the latter fully developing the spiritual aspects of this mythic tale. |
