Criticizing Murdock

    Maureen Murdock's model of the heroine's journey is somewhat like Victoria Lynn Schmidt's model and the Hero's Journey, but is generally more restrictive and harder to apply.  It would still be much easier to just have one definitive monomyth that was more broadly applicable and didn't discriminate based on gender. And that emphasis on gender and to a lesser extent on spirituality is the main problem with Murdock's model. It's difficult to apply when it forces stories to revolve around or heavily feature these concepts and as a monomyth it definitely shouldn't, though much like Victoria Lynn Schmidt's model it may not be entirely intended to be a monomyth. However, if it was broader and more about identity that just gender it would be more easily applicable, like in the case of Quicksand where it uses some ideas from Murdock's model but in the context of race. 

    While it's not as useful as Victoria Lynn Schmidt's model, they two do have some interesting similarities. The first of these is the shift from the feminine to the masculine in Murdock's model, which is somewhat like Schmidt's betrayal step. they both center around the heroine coming to hate their world and ultimately rejecting it which starts the rest of the journey. The main difference is that Murdock's version focuses a lot on gender identity here where Schmidt's is more broad. Another two stages that are pretty similar is the illusory boon of success in Murdock's model, and the eye of the storm in Schmidt's. Wikipedia mentions that in Murdock's version the heroine overcomes her initial obstacles, but it's a hollow victory, while in Schmidt's version the heroine is victorious, but it's ultimately short lived. They are essentially the same and what's more interesting about Murdock's model is that it doesn't mention gender here either. Both here and at the beginning of the story both versions have some fundamental similarities and the general structure of the two models is also pretty similar, as they're both centered around some kind of death and rebirth.

    However, there are many more differences between the two models than there are similarities. The most obvious of them being the emphasis on gender in Murdock's model, which makes the story much more focused on identity. Murdock's version also has an explicit road of trials, which is pretty similar to the one in Campbell's Hero's Journey, but Schmidt's model doesn't mention it. Murdock's model doesn't have anything like the illusion of the perfect world and starts at the betrayal or call to adventure phases. Schmidt's model is also more generally about coming to see the world form a different perspective and gaining a better understanding of it. However, in Murdock's version the final stage is described by Wikipedia as achieving spiritual balance, and while Schmidt also mentions a spiritual change, it's a smaller part of the journey.

    Murdock's model also has some similarities with the Hero's Journey, which is probably because it was in part a response to Campbell's model. One of the main similarities is that both of them have a road of trials phase where the hero/heroine faces a series of obstacles that they ultimately overcome and which helps them grow. However, in Murdock's model the heroine is also dealing with a "internal conflict" which fits with the focus on spirituality and identity. Campbell's version is less specific and just says that there is a series of challenges which the hero often fails some of. The other stage which is pretty similar between the two is the meeting with the goddess. In Murdock's version the meeting is right after the illusory boon of success when some crisis has occurred, and the goddess is essentially just inspiring the heroine to keep going and reconnect with her feminine side. In Campbell's model the goddess is meant to give something to the hero that will help them later, and it generally relates to the love of fate. While they have the same name the two stages are pretty different, and the two models in general are quite different which makes them hard to use as a monomyth. Murdock's version is still more restrictive than Victoria Lynn Schmidt's or Joseph Campbell's model but there are some stories, like Quicksand, that do somewhat fit with it. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroine%27s_journ

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey