EP 53: Transformation of the Notion of Marriage

In this episode of Pathways with Joseph Campbell, we hear Campbell’s lecture "Transformation of the Notion of Marriage", part of the Joseph Campbell Foundation’s Collected Audio.

Campbell traces a profound shift in the Western understanding of love and marriage, beginning with the troubadours of 12th- and 13th-century Europe and the emergence of romantic love as a challenge to socially arranged marriage. Through the stories of Tristan and Isolde, the Arthurian romances, and the Grail legend, he explores the tension between love and duty, social convention and individual experience.

At the heart of the lecture is an idea that runs throughout Campbell’s work: the importance of living authentically from what the medieval poets called the “gentle” or “noble” heart—a life guided not simply by inherited rules and expectations, but by the experience of being fully alive.

Pathways with Joseph Campbell is hosted by Brad Olson, PhD and is a production of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. It is produced by Tyler Lapkin. Executive Producer, Joanna Gardner. Editing and audio services by Dia Griffiths.

For more information on the MythMaker Podcast Network and Joseph Campbell, visit JCF.org.

All music exclusively provided by APM Music (apmmusic.com)