Examples Of Archetypes In The Alchemist

    Most people think of a hero as a strong, superior, good-looking person that could never make a mistake. However, in a story called The Odyssey, a connection to real life reveals imperfections to be common in heroes. Each person has their low points and highlights, regardless of their “rank”. The author and epic poet, Homer, exemplifies our main character, Odysseus, to take on this idea of a hero throughout his writing. The time period took place in Ancient Greece, allowing Greek culture to relate to the poem. Different aspects of such culture and history may have influenced the works and creativity of Homer as well. A major point includes The Trojan War because it focuses in on Odysseus’ journey to bring Helen back home by devising a plan to destroy warriors in the city. Acknowledge this factor when reading The Odyssey, for not only evidence of heroism, but also other major points of archetypes, in which the device reflects the insights of readers in modern time and what is seen from Ancient Greek culture.

Though Athena takes the prize for interfering with Odysseus’ life the most out of the rest of the gods, Poseidon also fights and claims the controller, but he prevents Odysseus from reaching Ithaca instead of helping him (please refer to the quote from page 78). Because of Odysseus’ actions against Poseidon’s

In Homers epic poem “The Odyssey” there are many archetypes, many of which were the origin of the archetype. An archetype is a character type, place, or symbol, every culture shares. In “The Odyssey” Homer uses archetypes to evoke meaning to the story. Some examples of archetypes in “The Odyssey” are the temptress, and the father-son conflict.

The Immortal Aid When first looking at Homer’s Odyssey, people tend to think of Odysseus as a hero, and the main character, when in truth there are also others including his son and the immortals. As time goes on, Odysseus and his family continue to receive help from the immortals, leading to the idea that the role the immortals play in the story is an important theme. Athena, Poseidon, and Ino play a main role in the demise, protection, praise, and fame of both Odysseus and Telemachus, thus showing that mortals rely on the immortals for the outcome of their future. Poseidon is one of the three main immortals that play a role not only in the demise of Odysseus, but Telemachus as well. A notable example of when Poseidon unleashes despair on Odysseus is when he “…rammed the clouds together---both hands clutching his trident, and then churned the waves into chaos, whipping all the gales from every quarter, shrouding over in thunderheads” (5,321-323) showing that Poseidon goes

Archetype refers to a generic version of a personality. Archetypes are continually present in folklore and literature for thousands of years, including prehistoric artwork. The identification of archetypes in literature is to primarily find the behaviors and characteristics of the main protagonist, it is important to discover the ambiguity of how the traits change and develop throughout the rising

The god of the sea is so powerful that he can sink ships with his trident. He punishes people with his trident, and with rough waves in the sea. He also punishes people with sea monsters. He punished Odysseus because he made Poseidon's son Polyphemus blind, taunted him, and revealed Polyphemus’ real name. Polyphemus prayed to his father Poseidon and he cursed Odysseus. Poseidon was furious at Odysseus for doing that. Polyphemus was furious at Odysseus for doing that too. Just for doing that Odysseus was cursed for the rest of his

Human nature is one of the most complex things. People are constantly changing. Their ideas, opinions, feelings and thoughts. This usually occurs as people start getting educated on topics and get a better understanding of their surroundings. In the novel, The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, it is illustrated through Santiago’s hero journey as he embarks on his journey to find his treasure and follow his personal legend.

Poseidon, Athena, Aeolus, Calypso, and Hermes were the main gods/ goddesses involved in The Odyssey. The Cyclops, Hades, Circe and Scylla (the serpent) were the main mythological creatures involved in The Odyssey. Throughout the plot, Poseidon was portrayed as the enemy of Odysseus on his journey back home. Athena guided Odysseus throughout the whole ordeal and helped his son too. The minor Gods/Goddesses, such as Calypso, Hermes, and Aeolus helped Odysseus through smaller, less difficult problems. The cyclops, Hades, Scylla, and mainly Poseidon were the main characters that stopped or prolonged Odysseus on his journey back to Ithaca.

The Alchemist was written by Paulo Coelho and it was first published in 1988. It was originally written in Portuguese and has since been translated in 67 different languages. It has sold over 65 million copies worldwide and was awarded “Best Fiction Corine International Award” in 2002. It follows a story of a boy named Santiago who is following his personal legend. The Alchemist has many archetypal themes and symbols including wise old men, women, and the nature around him.

The way that their ship was destroyed by Zeus shows how they were punished for actively disrespecting Helios, which conveys how important reverence of the gods was to the Homer and the Ancient Greeks. Lastly, in what is perhaps the epitome of Poseidon’s wrath, Homer conveys the importance of respect for the deities. This value is portrayed in book 13 when Poseidon attacks the Phaeacian ship after they bring Odysseus home, “[striking] her to stone,” and, “[rooting] her to the ocean floor,” (291). This act of violence by Poseidon illustrates just one example of how mortals are punished for disrespect throughout The Odyssey. Because the Phaeacians chose to help Odysseus, thereby contradicting Poseidon and in a sense disrespecting him, they were punished which again, illustrates how disrespecting the gods, however unintentionally, can have disastrous and even deadly consequences. Homer’s use of violence by the gods in these three instances helps to convey the cultural norm of reverence of the gods in Ancient Greece.

Although a hero seems like a faraway distant character who possesses a unique ability that saves humanity, an everyday citizen in society holds the ability to impact the lives of others can become a hero. In the novel, The Alchemist, the protagonist, Santiago, travels as a shepherd but ultimately, follows The Hero’s Journey Archetype. As Santiago pursues a journey for treasure and self-knowledge, Santiago faces several difficult challenges and character-defining moments that assess his ability to succeed. Coelho depicts Santiago as following the stages of the Hero’s Journey Archetype such as The Mentor, The Abyss, and the Return to the World. Thus, Coelho employs The Hero’s Journey Archetype to demonstrate the

After looking at what the archetype means, we can see how this may affect the characters. In greek mythology “The

Throughout the Odyssey, the struggles of Odysseus are revealed to the reader through the well written epic. His journey is very difficult and he is haunted with the loss of his entire crew and seemingly impossible task of getting home to his family. While journeying homewards, Odysseus makes the mistake of harming the Cyclops, who happens to be Poseidon's son. Poseidon is so angry at Odysseus for the harm he inflicted on the Cyclops, that through the influence of all powerful Zeus, he punishes Odysseus along with his other children, the Phaeacians, who can be seen to parallel as well as contrast with the Cyclops.

Poseidon was the god of the sea, storms and the earthquakes. He was also considered one of the most bad tempered, greedy gods. He was very well known for his revenge, like for example blinding the cyclops Polyphemus, to get back at his father Odysseus. Poseidon also had a father and mother, Cronus and Rhea, although it was said that Cronus had planned to eat the children but Rhea had pretended to give birth to a colt instead, so he consumed it. After the gods defeated the titans the world was split between Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon. The sailors relied on Poseidon to help them have safe travels, although he spent most of his time at mount olympus over his palace on the ocean floor. Poseidon eventually got married after sending many messengers

The mortals in Greek world have learned about how awful it is to have a god as your enemy. In The Odyssey, the main character, Odysseus makes a brutal mistake that got a god to be his enemy. In book 9 after, Odysseus blinds Poseidon's son Polyphemus and tricks him to think his name is nobody. But, after he escapes, he shows hubris and starts to taunt, he mockingly gloats, “Cyclops- if any man on earth ask you who blinded you,