The Sage

Throughout history, there have always been stories. From the myths of ancient civilizations long since past to today’s epic blockbuster movies, civilizations have used stories not only as entertainment, but as a way to convey ideas, or to pass down oral history through the generations. However, over time, as we look through these myths, books, movies, and other mediums, we find a common similarity in many of them. We find repeated patterns of situations, characters, and other parts. The patterns have been classified as “archetypes.” For instance, one of the archetypes we often see in myths, books, and movies is the “outcast.” The outcast is one who has been exiled from his home to wander the world without rest.

In Greek mythology, one of the well-known outcasts is Perseus, the son of Zeus and the daughter of the king Argos however, a god once prophesized to Argos that the son of his daughter would kill him, so he sent the child in a box across the sea to wander the world forever. Over this time, Perseus completed many fantastical quests, such as slaying the infamous Medusa. However, when he returned to his home and participated in a fighting competition, he was pitted against Argos, and accidentally hit him, thus fulfilling the prophecy.

In the Greek play of Philoctetes, Philoctetes is an outcast who has been left behind by his fellow soldiers after being bitten by a snake. His wound had become so foul smelling and his cries were so irritating, that the soldiers abandoned him on an island in the Aegean Sea. Greek heroes Odysseus and Neoptolemus arrive at the island in search of Philoctetes’s bow and arrow, which a seer prophesized would end the Trojan War. The two, knowing Philoctetes would attack any of the Greeks that abandoned him, decide to pose Neoptolemus as a mistreated soldier in order to get him close to Philoctetes. But, Neoptolemus is moved by the outcast’s misery and confesses the plot and begs him to join. Philoctetes agrees to join them, but only because Heracles declares a mandate that his wound shall heal when he arrives at Troy.

In the Holy Bible of Christianity, in Genesis, Adam and Eve are forever banished from the Garden of Eden, when they eat the forbidden fruit of God. This makes humanity itself an outcast. Also, the first children of Adam and Even, Cain and Abel, bring about another tale of an outcast.