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Joshua Jones
Mr. B
English I Hour 7
9 February 2018
Hercules
Who really is Hercules? Hercules is a very strong god who battles with monsters. He is the son of Zeus and Hera. He is a hero. Hercules is a person to look up to. Hercules is an unusual character, what makes him is his use of weapons, his family, and his powers.
Hercules’ use of weapons defines who he is as a hero. One of his weapons is the club. In one of his battles he used for his victory against the Nemean lion. “First, Apollo sent Hercules to the hills of Nemea to kill a lion that was terrorizing the people of the region. (Some storytellers say that Zeus had fathered this magical beast as well.) Hercules trapped the
hurt by any weapon. Hercules knocked out the lion with his club first, then he
Hercules is best known for his twelve labours. That said, few people actually know why Hercules had to perform these labours. He is the man of everyone’s dreams – men and women alike. He had the physique, the complexion, the heritage, and the romance. Because of Hercules’ ancestry, he is automatically considered a hero.
The legacy of Hercules began when Zeus, the chief god, fell in love with a mortal woman named Alcmene. When Alcmene’s husband, Amphitryon, was away, Zeus made her pregnant. This made the goddess Hera so angry that she tried to prevent the baby from being born. When Alcmene gave birth to the baby, she named him Herakles (Romans pronounced it "Hercules"). The name Herakles means "glorious gift of Hera". This made Hera even angrier. When Hercules was an infant, Hera sent two serpents to destroy him in his cradle. However, Hercules strangled them, one in each hand, before they could bite him.
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.
The movie Percy Jackson : The Lightning Thief, can be considered an epic based on Percy's bravery,intelligence and honor. Percy Jackson, who has discovered himself to be a demigod which means he is partly human and Greek God. At just 12 years old his life was not the very best. His biological father abandoned him and his mother when he was a baby. He has a stepfather who treats him and his mother like they are worthless. Percy also does not do the best in school with his dyslexia and ADHD. Everything changes for him when demons and other mythical creatures falsely accuses him of stealing a lighting bolt from the Greek God Zeus. Anyone will do anything to get to get back Zeus lighting bolt more the fact that they would have control. But to prove that he didn't steal Zeus bolt Percy, Annabeth and Grover has to travel to
Julius Caesar was a very controversial emperor of Rome. Many saw him as a villain, but but he also proved himself to many as a hero. I believe that Caesar was a hero. He proved himself as hero when he started a program to make public jobs for the poor, rebuilt the cities of Rome, and brought peace and order to Rome.
A person will typically think a hero as one who is equipped with great strength or ability. But a hero is more than just being brave or strong. In the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus goes through many challenges and is faced with his biggest weakness: his hubris or excessive pride. Though, Odysseus earns the title of a hero because he exhibits courage, utilizes cunning, and overcomes his hubris.
To the world today, a hero is someone distinguished by exceptional courage, nobility, or strength; but really, anyone can be a hero. A hero can vary from someone as well-known as George Washington to someone as unheard of as anyone’s very own mother. Someone who has done a good deed for someone else is hero. The biggest heroes are the ones in well-known books and plays, such as Odysseus from The Odyssey, or have made a huge difference in the history of this world, like Mahatma Gandhi. Siddhartha Gautama is a hero, but not in the same way Odysseus or Gandhi are. Although these three influential people went through different journeys in order to accomplish different things, they are all heroes in their own way and have been through the same cycle of the road of trials and crisis/salvation.
William Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers of all time, uses Hercules as a persona of excellence throughout his play, "Much Ado About Nothing". Hercules, in Greek mythology, is a hero known for his strength, courage and legendary adventures. This gives the impression that Shakespeare liked the tales of Hercules.
Hercules the great hero and the son of the great god Zeus, was the most famous of all the Greek mythological heroes. Hercules was known for his strength, bravery, and adventuresome personality. Hercules like most heroes had a god as their father, and he had a mortal mother named Alcmene. Hercules like most heroes was not an ordinary mortal and a good example was his superhuman strength.
Jason is known for retrieving the Golden Fleece while Hercules is remembered for his 12 labors. Jason traveled to mysterious locations and received aid from two gods: Athena and Hermes. In addition to the help from Phineus, Jason returned with the glory of the Golden Fleece. He returned to his home to become the rightful king of Lolcus. Similarly, Hercules was also a special hero. He was a demigod who had superhuman strength. After murdering his family, Hercules was sentenced to twelve very dangerous labors. After Hercules died, he was considered as one of the greatest heroes in Greek Mythology.
Despite his fame, strength, bravery, and the killing of the Hydra, it’s still not enough to win him a seat among the Gods in the Disney movie. In the myth Hercules rewards for all his heroic acts and is deemed worthy of becoming a god.
Movies have evolved a great deal since the days when a couple fighting scenes and a small love story satisfied audiences. Today movie plots are much more complicated and have much more action, thanks to modern day technologies. Although these new technologies seem to make movies increasingly complicated, some crucial roles in movies will never change. One thing that has remained constant in the film industry is the role of the hero. No matter what the genera of the film and or when the film was made the hero’s always share similar characteristics and are put through similar series of tests to prove their heroism. When these tests are completed it seems to pull everything together in their films. Although the hero Shane in the movie Shane and the hero Ripley in the movie Aliens are from two separate generas and are also from separate time periods, the hero’s in each movie share characteristics and are put through similar tests that make them, in theory, one in the same. Heroic characteristics start to become evident right from the start of each of the movies.
There are many types of heroes (such as the ones in comic books, myths, movies, or even just everyday life heroes) but all of them have perseverance when they’re going through a conflict. Heroes are role models and they’re people that we look up too. They all have unique and special qualities that make one another different from each other. For example policemen battle crime everyday and when they’re overcoming a conflict they have determination, courage and other traits that people admire them for and that make them as a hero. Typically a hero is admired for their achievement/actions and qualities.
When I think of a hero I immediately think of someone who is strong, intelligent, handsome, and daring. Upon closer examination, many different qualities than these become apparent. Courage, honesty, bravery, selflessness, and the will to try are just a few of the overlooked qualities of a hero. The definition of heroism changes with the context and time. Heroes of the past are not necessarily heroes of present time and vise versa.