THESIS STATEMENT
Heracles favorite of the Greeks is a primary example of Joseph’s Campbell’s hero’s journey, proven by all the actions that Heracles has done during the span of his Life.
PURPOSE STATEMENT
This paper is to show that Heracles is the prime example of a hero’s journey through his actions and the struggles that he faced during his life until he was about to die but instead of death, his father, Zeus, saved him and he conquered the mortal realm, to become a god.
INTRODUCTION
The story of Heracles that comes to people’s mind is not what Heracles had to do during his life. Throughout the life of Heracles, he has shown that he deserved to be remembered as a great hero, through the opposition that he faced from the husband of Zeus, the king of the gods, wife, Hera, because he was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman. Hera is the main reason that Heracles had to complete the 12 labors.
Hera caused Heracles to go mad and kill his family. The only way for Heracles to purify himself was to accomplish the 12 labors that was assigned to him by his cousin Eurystheus as the oracle described: “As atonement for the dreadful killings, the oracles put Heracles in to the servitude of his cousin, King Eurystheus, who would impose upon the young hero the Twelve Labors, seemingly impossible tasks” (Reference book 68). Heracles must have completed these difficult trials to help him return to his usual life
The main reason that Hera hated Heracles is because he was the illegitimate son of her husband Zeus. Hera usually would show hatred for woman that Zeus had slept with, but in this case her hatred was for son of the woman. The hatred of Hera is also ironic because Heracles’ names even means “Glory of Hera”, but with Hera’s h...
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...ro. In the Helicon Encyclopedia of Literature they interpret Heracles myth as “Viewed as the personification of strength, courage, and endurance, Heracles and his legends may have been regarded as an allegory of the triumph of good over evil” (Helicon Encyclopedia). Heracles can be viewed as a story of good vs. evil because Heracles had to overcome the struggles placed on him from his opposition.
Some people will believe that Heracles is not a great hero and they criticize Heracles like the poet Tom Sleigh and in his poem. “[H]is own good opinion of himselfmirrored back indulgentlywhenever he committedsome indiscretion borne of selfishness:” (Sleigh C: 9 L: 12-16). Sleigh is showing that all people don’t have to like or admire Heracles. But according to the mono-myth Heracles is a hero and went through harder things that other heroes didn’t have to complete.
It must be noted that there does seem to be a discrepancy. Some texts imply that Zeus tossed him to earth instead of Hera. He landed on the island of Lemnos (Seltman 99). That is why the people of Lemnos were his favorites and that was why he always headed there to relax and recuperate.
Rouse, W. H. (1957). The Heroes: Heraclês. Gods, heroes and men of ancient Greece. New York: New American Library. (Original work published)
The first hero I will compare him to is Jason, who had a similar adventure. His adventure was made to claim a throne that was rightfully his, just like Odysseus' adventure to get home to Ithaca and regain his throne. They both faced many perils on the sea, and both persevered to reach the end of the journey and gain the throne.
Heroes are found everywhere. They are seen in movies, on television, in books, and in reality. A hero can be anyone from a friend to a fictional character. To be considered a hero, one must make selfless sacrifices, develop and learn, overcome challenges and temptations, and ultimately present their known world with a gift of any kind. Homer’s The Odyssey paints a picture of the supposed savior Odysseus. The irony of Odysseus’ situation is that he really is not the marvelous hero that many who read The Odyssey see him to be. When imagining a great hero, the words of cruel, unfaithful, selfish, or careless never come to mind, but the son of Laertes sets examples for each attribute. Odysseus makes many poor decisions that cause his dislikable traits to highly outweigh his few better ones. Several of his more prominent characteristics are exhibited on numerous accounts. Odysseus cannot possibly earn the title of being a hero because he harbors hubris, he displays a lack of faith, and his self-centeredness causes unfortunate events.
Schein, Seth L. The Mortal Hero: An Introduction to Homer's Iliad. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.
From the beginning of time, mythology has appeared to be one key method of understanding life’s confusions and battles. Within these myths lies a hero. From myth to myth and story to story, heroes experience what may be called a struggle or a journey, which lays down their plot line. Bearing tremendous strength, talent, and significant admiration, a hero holds what is precious to their audience, heroism. Over time however, no matter the hero, the hero’s role remains indistinguishable and identical to the position of every other hero.
Rosenberg, Donna. "The Labors and Death of Heracles." World Mythology. 3rd ed. Chicago: NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group, Inc., 1999. 100-05. Print.
Briefly speaking, Heracles is a sane man that is plagued by madness and has his innocence ruined. Heracles himself cause his ruin because of the ruin he has cause so many other people. His personality makes him his own worst enemy which leads to his demise. However, he still possesses qualities of a model son, good friend, and a caring and protective father. Furthermore, the Goddess of madness also protest again the deed that is to be done upon Heracles, showing that even the most mysterious, far-fetched character in this Myth supports the noble Hero.
Hercules, or known in Latin as Heracles, was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity. In art Hercules was portrayed as a powerful, muscular man wearing lion's skin and armed with a huge club. He was also described as being a macho man buffoon, who was very impulsive. Hercules’ home and birthing place is in Thebes, Greece. Thebes is a city in central Greece. It plays as an important setting in many Greek myths, such as the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus and many other important roles in Greek Mythology. The demigod, Hercules has an interesting origin, he is most famous for his 12 labors, and leaves a legacy in words and expressions.
Hercules was a hero known for his strength and courage and for his legendary adventures. But there is much more to him. He was the son of the god Zeus and a human mother Alcmene, which is a huge thing because he was supernatural to tall others around him. He was a demi-god. He was wife was called Amphitryon. Hera was jealous of the human mother and decided to try and kill Hercules by putting two poisonous snakes in his c...
Hella’s greatest friend, though he was guiltless.” (1303-1310 Euripides) This drastic change in his beliefs and the grief of losing his family breaks Heracles’s inner strength. Heracles believes that the gods have abused their powers for debauched purposes, and hence are no longer his gods. This is critical because as a demi-god, Heracles is meant to have a closer bond to the gods; however, he chooses to distance himself from them. Heracles says, “but I do not believe the gods commit adultery, or bind each other in chains, I never did believe it, I never shall; nor the one god is tyrant of the rest.” (1341- 1346 Euripides) After the set of unfortunate events he experienced, Heracles starts regarding courage and strength in terms of enduring
The idea of a true hero is varied from person to person, because each viewpoint has a different idea of the personality that makes one a hero. There have been many fiction and non-fiction heroes that show different character traits, which influence people’s definitions of a hero. However, each person’s unique thought about a hero still focuses about one central idea: a hero must prove himself in order to earn his heroic status. This is the cornerstone of all the opinions about heroes because heroes have to show their heroism in order to become who they are in the end. At the beginning they are inexperienced, ordinary people who go on their adventures, and face their fears and weaknesses, but they develop greatly throughout these journeys. After comprehending what true heroism is and following it only then will they become heroes even though each of them has different traits. In the epic poem The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus gains the title of hero during his journey back to Ithaka, from Troy, by proving to be one. It is through his characteristics and experiences that he becomes the well developed man at the end of the book. In truth, because of his confidence, loyalty, and difficult struggles, Odysseus becomes a genuine hero to the people he defended.
The word “hero” has several definitions. In Greek mythology, a hero was originally a demigod. A hero can be the principle character in a play, movie, novel, or poem. A hero can even simply mean someone who is discerned by outstanding courage, dignity, or power. Even though there a many different types of heroes, they have all been through a journey with many obstacles that they had to overcome. The journey of a hero is one huge cycle, starting at the home of the hero and ending at the same place, the home. There are two very important stages of journey cycle—the road of trials and crisis/salvation. The road of trials stage is basically the obstacles the potential hero had to overcome. The crisis/salvation stage is the disaster that occurred and how the hero was saved from it. Odysseus faced many obstacles, and there were many crises that he underwent. The journey of Odysseus was mythological. He left his homeland of Ithaca to go fight in the Tro...
Schein, Seth L. The Mortal Hero: An Introduction to Homer's Iliad. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.