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Why is Perseus a hero
Essay about perseus
Legend of medusa full story
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Benjamin Marmaras
Miss Haaland
English II 3 December 2017
The Hero who Killed Medusa
Who was the hero who killed Medusa? The hero who killed Medusa was Perseus. He killed the Gorgon who could turn mortals to stone with a look, he was set out to sea in a wooden box as a kid, and saved the princess Andromeda. He was a hero who was very deadly, used his power for good, and was a victim of unfortunate events.
Perseus was a hero who was very skilled and dangerous. His most notable feat was to kill Medusa. He grew up on the island of Seriphos. This island was ruled by King Polydectes. The king wanted Perseus's mother, but Perseus wouldn’t allow it. Polydectes was trying to figure out how to get rid of Perseus. When he overheard Perseus boasting that he could kill Medusa (“Perseus”). The King seized his opportunity and issued a challenge to Perseus. The
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His mother was the daughter of the King of Argos, King Acrisius. Her name was Danae. Acrisius consulted the oracle for information of his future and was told that he would be killed by his daughter’s son. In his fear, he locked his daughter in a bronze enclosure to prevent her from getting pregnant. While she was locked away, Zeus came to her and got her pregnant. After she had Perseus, the King discovered the child and locked both his daughter and Perseus in a wooden box and sent the out to sea. Zeus favored Perseus by speaking to Poseidon and convincing them to calm the seas. Eventually they washed up on Seriphos and were found by a fisherman named Diktys. Diktys and Danae raised Perseus on the island and he led a mostly normal childhood. As he got older he was known for his courage and strength. The King of Seriphos sought ways to get rid of him, but was unable to until he was heard boasting that he could kill Medusa (“Perseus). He was very unfortunate in his early years because was locked in a wooden box and would have died if Zeus had not
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.
The Task, In Perseus the main task that happens is when Perseus a demigod, son of Zeus goes out to capture something special. Perseus sets out on an adventure to kill Medusa and capture her head to bring back as a gift. The hard part is that in one glance eye to eye at Medusa you will automatically turn into stone. Therefore, this was a hard feat to accomplish and it was one that he wanted to fulfill after he told they guy who was going to marry his mom he would bring them Medusa’s head. He laughed at him and that was a sign of determination for Perseus to accomplish his goal
In ancient Greece, Gods and Goddesses had forceful authority over humans. Therefore, the Greeks sought to serve their Gods and Goddesses to the maximum of their ability. It was mainly because, ancient Greeks saw the Gods as a source of power, both mentally and physically. Religion had an important influence in their daily lives. Religion served as a guideline by which the early Greeks strictly followed. Furthermore, religious principles influenced humans in their actions toward Gods. Ancient Greeks would give up anything, including their lives, if they required to. That is the mundane world that the hero lives in, but as a reason of an extraordinary event, his life taking a turning point leading him to go to a quest to discover who he is. In the Ordinary world phase, Perseus who is a simple fisher...
An anti-hero is the protagonist of a story who lacks some attributes almost always present in a hero, such as selflessness and mercy. Where the hero will save the antagonist at the end of the story if such an opportunity presents itself, the anti-hero will most likely leave his or her foe to rot and choose to forgo saving the life of an enemy. The anti-hero might go as far as to hasten the humiliation or death of said enemy to further her or his own agenda. In Euripides’ play, Medea, Medea shows aspects of an anti-hero in how she deals with her problems, such as manipulating others to save her own skin, cursing those who have wronged her and destroying them, and scarcely ever displaying heroic characteristics such as mercy and sympathy; even as she takes Jason’s only hope for solace away.
His grandfather, is King of Argos, his name is Acrisius. Acrisius had a daughter named Danae, however he wanted a son. So in search for an answer towards having a son, Acrisius went to the Oracle of Delphi. The Oracle said that Acrisius’ daughter, Danae would be the one to carry a baby boy, but this child would kill Acrisius. To avoid his own death, Acrisius created an underground chamber to lock his daughter in, therefore, she would be unable to conceive a child. Little did Acrisius know that Zeus would shape shift into golden rain and conceive a child with Danae. Naturally, Danae gave birth to Perseus. When she was let out of this underground chamber Danae met Polydectes. Polydectes was determined to make Danae his wife and that is exactly what happened. Perseus was unable to grant his mother and Polydectes a gift, so he was told to bring back Medusa’s head. Perseus was successful in retrieving Medusa’s head. On his journey back home he met a beautiful Goddess who was in distress. Perseus saved her from a horrific sea monster and they instantly fell in love and wanted to be joined together in holy matrimony. However, Andromeda’s uncle was no too pleased with this decision. He wanted Andromeda only for himself. Therefore he planned to murder Perseus but was unsuccessful since Perseus had the advantage of Medusa’s head. Perseus showed Andromeda’s uncle Medusa’s face and he then was turned to stone. When he returned home with the gift, he found out Polydectes was abusing his mother. Instead of giving him the present he used it against Polydectes and turned him to stone as well. Acrisius became aware of what Perseus was capable of doing so he decided to flee. Although that didn’t help as much as he believed it would. Perseus and his grandfather ran into each other at the Games Ceremony, in Larissa. When Perseus went to throw the discus it slipped from his grasp and clashed into his grandfather’s head, killing
Aegus, Theseus’s father, commands him to go to Athens. Theseus becomes determined to choose the perilous land passage from the peloponnesus across the Isthmus of corinth to Athens and had to face different types of enemies. “Theseus made land travel safe between Troezen and Athens and earned fame and honour”(Roseberg & Baker 246). Theseus confidence not only allows him to accomplish finishing the dangerous passage, he also made two easy ways to get there. Perseus meets a beautiful girl name Andromeda. Andromeda explains how the lord of the sea sends a ravenous sea monster upon their land. “I will rescue your daughter, in return Andromeda will be my wife” (206). Perseus was confident that he would defeat the monster. Knowing that her life would have had to be sacrificed, Perseus was confident in his abilities and is aware of his own strength which leads him to be positive in the defeat of the monster. Although Perseus is
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...
His own grandfather put him and Danae, his mom, in a box and threw him into the sea when he was a baby! He accidentally killed his grandfather, Acrisius, when a he threw a flying discuss and the wind took it. He was participating in athletic games. The disc knocked directly into his head, but since he was older this just killed him. However, by killing Acrisius, Perseus was fulfilling a prophecy given before he was born. Everyone knows you can not interfere with a prophecy. According to http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/perseus/p/Perseus.htm since Perseus had killed his grandfather, he felt bad about reigning in his place. So, he went to the Tiryns where he found the ruler, Megapenthes was willing to exchange kingdoms. Megapenthes took Argos, and Perseus, Tiryns. Eventually Perseus was killed by Megapenthes(son of Proteus, Perseus’ half-brother). He didn’t have an unusual death like most heroes do, but that’s not what makes a hero. He was placed in the stars as a constellation. Now hopefully you understand why Perseus would be considered one of the best greek heroes.
Terrible Gorgon Medusa. Nobody was able to kill her because if you looked directly at her
Perseus grew up to be a strong fearless lad. One day he claimed to King Polydectes, “Oh, Host and Benefactor, I owe you too much gratitude to repay you with the common gift of a horse. I shall bring you the head of Medusa!”(Evslin.110) Perseus set off for his mission, he encountered the gray sisters and the apple nymphs forcing them to give him information about Medusa’s location. Then he went to Medusa with three gifts from the apple nymphs: a sword, a shield, and the Cap of Darkness. Successfully Perseus killed Medusa and while bringing Medusa’s head towards the island of Sephiros. He encountered a sea serpent who was creating trouble by the nearby town of Cepheus. Perseus drew out Medusa’s head and turned the sea serpent into stone. Throughout Perseus’s mission he encountered many obstacles and he handled each challenge in a smart and clever way, unlike King
Upon consulting a wise oracle, King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia were told to sacrifice Andromeda to Cetus. They had Andromeda chained to a rock near the ocean so that Cetus could devour her. Perseus found Andromeda chained to the rock and learned of her plight. When Cetus emerged from the ocean to devour Andromeda, Perseus managed to slay it. In one version, Perseus drove his sword into Cetus' back.
Perseus is portrayed as the hero triumphing over the demon and raising her powerless head as her trophy. After the severance of their relationship, Claudel created Perseus and the Gorgon (1902), a six-foot-tall marble statue. Claudel drew inspiration from Cellini, one of Rodin’s influences, and she used this to spite him, twisting the narrative of the myth. Perseus still holds Medusa’s head but the danger of the situation is still evident. Claudel highlights the tool Perseus uses to eventually defeat Medusa by fixing the gaze of both Perseus and Medusa on to the reflective material of the shield. Claudel drapes a cloth around Perseus’s body, hiding his genitals from the viewer’s eyes and removing the physical representation of his masculinity. Perseus is not burdened by excessive muscles; he is lean almost feminine. Claudel carves her own self-portrait onto Medusa’s face to show how mutually destructive Claudel and Rodin’s relationship was (Schmoll 94-98). Although Perseus murdered Medusa, she still wields the power to kill
In the 1981 clash of the Titans movie the King Acrisius of Argo imprisons his daughter Danei *Danaë because he is jealous of her beauty. The god Zeus visits her and makes her pregnant. King Acrisius in a fit of rage puts Danae and the baby, Perseus, to sea in a wood coffin. Angry, Zeus kills Acrisius and orders the god Poseidon to release the giant sea monster the Kraken to destroy Argos. Perseus survives, but his mother doesn’t, his journey by floating to the island of Seriphos where he grows up.
Hades shows himself to Perseus and with the rage of what Hades has done to Perseus, Perseus grabs a lighnting bolt from his sword and throws it at Hades sending him back to the underworld. Saving Andromeda and she offered to make him king and he had refused. Zeus asked if he wanted to join him in Olympus but refused and requested to stay a demi-god but Zeus granted him Io as a companion. In the story according to the Greeks Danae is the daughter of King Acrisius. When he had them put in a box and thrown into the ocean and saved by the fisherman named Dictys they both were still alive and Danae ended up falling in love with Dictys and they were married. Dictys’ brother King Polydectes wanted to take Danae as his wife, Perseus hearing the news he offered to pay any price for his mother not to marry King Polydectes. Sense Polydectes was afraid of Perseus he quickly made an offer that he will allow his mother to stay married to Dictys, only if he brings back the head of Medusa. Bravely, Perseus accepted his