From Homer’s Odyssey to Star Wars - The Unchanging Path of the Hero

From Homer’s Odyssey to Star Wars - The Unchanging Path of the Hero

In the fiction world heroes have been one of the most entertaining figures. It has always been fun and interesting to read about heroic stories and about different obstacles that heroes had overcome. When someone mentions the word "hero" it is more likely to think of characters like Batman or James Bond, but it is for sure that if we had the chance to ask the same question centuries before, the answer would have been different. From comics or TV it is seen that heroes change physically and spiritually through time, but the heroic pattern stays always the same when moving from ancient times to today's heroes.

The first hero whose pattern I am going to unfold is Oedipus. Just like all other heroes he lives an extraordinary experience which normal people would not live, and that is one of the reasons that the heroic pattern seems so appealing to people. People could read and think about the situations that would not happen in their life, and the situations which people would be interested to know about. Going back to the topic, it has been foreseen that he is going to kill his father and marry with his mother. In the story these events come true and Oedipus becomes the new King, but the gods of the city curses him and his city. After realizing his sin, he sacrifices his eyes and blinds himself Oedipus contains courage, strength and he makes the journey that most of the heroes go through. However it is not clearly visible as modem heroes and it carries more of a symbolic tissue. With information told by a fortuneteller his parents believe that Oedipus is going to kill them, so they decide to take in action before Oedipus and try to kill him. Oedipus escapes by...

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...attern could change but there is a heroic pattern that always stays the same.

Works Cited

Star Wars, A New Hope George Lucas, Gary Kurtz. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher. Science‑ Fiction, 1977

Star Wars, the Empire Strikes Back George Lucas, Irvin Kershner. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher. Science‑ Fiction, 1980

Star Wars, the Return of the jedi George Lucas, Richard Marquand. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher. Science‑ Fiction, 1983

Batman Tim Burton. Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger. Science‑Fiction, Fantasy, 1989

James Bond, Goldfinger Guy Hamilton. Sean Connery, Honor Blackman. Action, 1964

Green, Roger Lancelyn. Heroes of Greece and Troy, retold from ancient authors. New York: H.Z Walck, 1961

Hendricks, Rhoda A. Classical Gods and Heroes. New York: Ungar Pubs Co., 1972