Analysis of Azerbaijani folk tales in the context of Monomite Theory

Folk tales are texts based on narrative that shed light on the social, cultural, economic, political and psychological aspects of the societies they belong to with the symbolic codes they contain. They reflect the spirit of time as they contain social reflexes distilled from thousands of years of life experiences. Folk tales are the literary reflections of human beings' quest for knowing the world and the meaning of it, which were adorned with aesthetic and symbolic values. Folk tales are also valuable texts since they give clues to the desired social structure through the ideal hero and mediate the transfer of these thoughts to the future. Heroes are epic characters embodied by the collective unconscious that created them through folk tales. The transformation process of the heroes is, in a way, a micro expression of the maturation process of the society. In this regard, the stages that the heroes in the Azerbaijani folk tales go through in the transformation process are the mythical expressions of the existence stories in the collective unconscious of the Azerbaijani Turks. It is seen that the adventures of many Azerbaijani folk tales' heroes, which are examined within the monomyth theory created by Joseph Campbell with the titles of the hero's departure, initiation and return, begin without being included in the narrative. Therefore, the process that Joseph Campbell started with the departure of the hero can be started before the hero's birth, considering the Azerbaijani folk tales. Because many of the heroes of Azerbaijani folk tales are supported by the mythical universe before they are included in the narrative, and they are born with an extraordinary birth. In the process of evolving from ordinary people to mythic heroes after their birth, it is observed that there are behavior patterns that encourage heroes who are exposed to various internal and external stimuli to give certain reactions to certain situations and feed on the collective unconscious. These behavioral patterns, which are effective in achieving the ultimate rewards of heroes within the monomyth cycle, as well as in their physical and cognitive development, are collective unconscious elements defined as archetypes by Carl Gustav Jung. While Azerbaijani folk tales are analyzed in the context of monomyth theory, archetypes that lead the heroes to give common and/or similar reactions to certain situations are also discussed. Thus, the attitudes and behaviors of the folk tale heroes in the context of the monomyth cycle will be evaluated as the reflections of certain behavioral patterns coded in the collective unconscious of the Azerbaijani Turks, and their possible similarities and/or differences with the universal collective unconscious archetypes will be revealed. Keywords: Folktale, Azerbaijan, Hero, Monomyth, Collective Unconscious.