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Essays on the heros journey
Essays on the heros journey
Essays on the heros journey
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Everyone wants to get fame and fortune for doing something no one else dares to do. “Perseus” and “Psyche and Eros” are two very famous myths in Greek lore that include most of the aspects of the hero’s journey. Perseus and Psyche are similar because they are both naïve. However, they are different because Perseus shows bravery and Psyche shows curiosity. Perseus gets manipulated and volunteers to kill Medusa in an act to offer his services to King Polydectes. Similarly, Psyche gets tricked by her evil sisters to go against her husband’s wishes, but through her curiosity, she insists to find out who her husband actually is.
Both Perseus and Psyche portray similar characteristics in their own myths; one example of their similarities is that they are both naïve. Perseus falls straight into King Polydectes’ plan to get rid of him and marry his mother. As it states in the myth, “Perseus had foolishly permitted himself to be manipulated into volunteering to die” (200). This states that Perseus is very naïve because he gets tricked by King Polydectes into doing a suicide mission. This also proves that Perseus is naïve because he falls perfectly into the plan of Polydectes as he asks Perseus to give him a horse as a gift for his marriage, but his poverty stops him from doing that. So to prove himself, he agrees to kill the dreadful Medusa. Likewise, Psyche shows herself as a naïve person in her myth, just like Perseus. As stated in the myth, “‘With the knife in your right hand, cut off the head of the poisonous serpent. After he is dead, we will marry you to a handsome man’” (259). This proves Psyche is naïve because her sisters are jealous of her and they do not want her to live her life with a perfect husband. So they decide to form ...
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In conclusion, naïve is a characteristic that is similar in both Perseus and Psyche, yet they do not share the characteristics of bravery and curiosity as Perseus is brave and Psyche is curious. Perseus and Psyche present themselves as being naïve in similar ways as they both get manipulated by the archetypical villain of the myth. However, Perseus shows bravery when he volunteers to kill Medusa and Psyche shows curiosity when she wants to find out who she is married to. Heroes are not always perfect; they can achieve their goals in many different ways while succeeding or getting perished.
Works Cited
“Perseus” Mythology and You. Ed. Donna Rosenberg and Sorelle Baker. Columbus: Glencoe McGraw – Hill, 2006. 198 - 208. Print.
“Psyche and Eros” Mythology and You. Ed. Donna Rosenberg and Sorelle Baker. Columbus: Glencoe McGraw – Hill, 2006. 255 – 263. Print.
In the poem Perseus the character is Medusa's victims. That is the only one that is different from the other story. The setting isn’t as different as the other story but it is the only setting it is Medusa's cave. The events are that Perseus sees Medusa's victims then Perseus wanted to kill or destroy Medusa. Finally, the conflict of the story is that Perseus has a thirst to kill, its a problem because he wants to kill innocent people.
Harris, Stephen L., and Gloria Platzner. Classical Mythology: Images and Insights. 2nd ed. Mountain View: Mayfield, 1995
Morford, Mark P.O., Robert J. Lenardon and Michael Sham. Classical Mythology 9th Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Morford, Mark P.O., and Robert J. Lenardon. Classical Mythology. '7th ed'. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Grant, Michael, and John Hazel. "Athena." Gods and Mortals in Classical Mythology. Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam, 1973. Print.
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.
From before the dawn of civilization as we know it, humanity has formed myths and legends to explain the natural world around them. Whether it is of Zeus and Hera or Izanami-no-Mikoto and Izanagi-no-mikoto, every civilization and culture upon this world has its own mythos. However, the age of myth is waning as it is overshadowed in this modern era by fundamental religion and empirical science. The word myth has come to connote blatant falsehood; however, it was not always so. Our myths have reflected both the society and values of the culture they are from. We have also reflected our inner psyche, conscious and unconscious, unto the fabric of our myths. This reflection allows us to understand ourselves and other cultures better. Throughout the eons of humanity’s existence, the myths explain natural phenomena and the cultural legends of the epic hero have reflected the foundations and the inner turmoil of the human psyche.
Grant, M. (1962). Myths of the Greeks and Romans (1st ed.). Cleveland: World Pub. Co.
Numerous lively heroes ventured into Persephone’s clutches with the hopes of beating death, yet she explains that despite their god-like strength they too will die. Two such heroes were Theseus and Pirithous. When Theseus and Pirithous attempted to kidnap the Queen of the Underworld she enticed them to sit in the chair of forgetfulness where their flesh fused to the cushions and refused to relinquish them (Taylor 268). Persephone appears many times to offer food, drink, or rest to weary heroes in the underworld in order to trap them there forever in the same manner that Hades tricked her (Taylor, 268). Because of Persephone and Hades’ antics many people hated them as gods, but Persephone’s cruelty serves as a reminder that while death is necessary it is not always kind. In the same manner that Persephone accepted her fate, mortals must also accept their own imminent
Perseus was born to Danae and the Greek god Zeus. Acrisius, the father of Danae, was told by the oracle of Apollo that Danae’s son would kill him. After finding out that Danae had her son, Perseus, Acrisius shut Perseus and Dane up in a large chest cast the chest out to sea. After a while out in the sea, they landed on the island of Seriphos, where they were saved by the king Polydectes’s brother, Dictys. Polydectes, after hearing about Danae, wanted her to marry him. In order to get rid of Perseus, so that no one would be able to stop him from marrying Danae, Polydectes came up with a plan. He pretended to be marrying the daughter of one of his friends and required everyone to bring him a wedding gift. Polydectes knew that Perseus, being very poor, would arrive empty-handed. Perseus vowed that he could bring Polydectes anything that he wanted and so Polydectes demanded Perseus to bring him the head of the gorgon Medusa, hoping that he would be killed. Perseus set off on his adventure to kill Medusa and while stopping to rest one night in an unknown land, Perseus realized how hopeless the adventure seemed to be. “Gorgons were horrible, instead of hair they had black serpents that writhed on their head, they had brazen hands that could...
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.
Hunt, J.M. "Greek Mythology Zeus Lovers." SDSU College of Education: Home Page. Web. 19 June 2011.
The legend of Perseus is told in many different ways, in two particular ways they are similar but yet quite different. The movie Clash of the Titans is primarily a story of Perseus and his dangerous journey to save the princess Andromeda, while the Edith Hamilton’s Mythology is a story of Perseus, his relationship with his mother and journeys to her.
Psyche defies Venus once again, Venus makes Psyche perform these certain tasks to prove she is worthy of her son, Cupid. Venus makes these tasks impossible knowing that Psyche will not be able to perform them especially since she is mortal. The first task is that Psyche has to sort a heap of seeds, wheat, and poppy into their own piles by nightfall. Psyche thinks to herself “how in the world am I going to finish this.” Then, little ants come and feel bad and decide to help her. They separate and divide until the work is done. Venus sees this and is very angry and says “Your work is by no means over” (p 130). Venus proceeds to give Psyche a piece of bread crust and makes her sleep on the ground because she feels if she were to starve her then that beauty of hers would soon go away. The next task is for Psyche to go near the river bank where there are sheep with fleeces of gold and wants her to catch some of their shiny wool. When she gets down to the river bank she hears a little voice tell her that if she waited until evening she could go and fetch wool that was caught on the fences. She takes a big quantity of it back to Venus but Venus tells her there was no way she did it by herself and someone must have helped her and that is unacceptable. The third opportunity she has to prove herself is to go to the terrible river, called Styx. Venus gives her a flask that she has to fill and Psyche realizes this would be the worst task yet because when she reaches the river it is so steep and rocks are all up on the sides, but to her luck an eagle swoops down and takes the flask and brings it back filled up with the water. The last task Venus has for Psyche is to take a box that she is given, to the underworld and ask Persephone to fill it with some of her beauty. She is supposed to tell her that Venus really needs it because she is worn out from nursing her son back to health.
In the movie, Perseus, the mortal son of Zeus, fights the monsters of the underworld to stop them from taking over the heavens and earth. The story according to the Greeks, Perseus, the mortal son of Zeus, goes on an adventure to recieve the head of Medusa to save his mom from marrying King Polydectes and along the way falls in love Princess Andromeda. Between the two stories there are similarities and differences in each version.