Hercules Research Paper

More clearly than the Bible, Greek/Roman mythology helps outline the life cycle that almost always applies to the traditional archetypal hero. With basic knowledge of the Bible we can determine right from wrong and its influence in real life when reading mythology. As the reader we experience this when seeing the actions the hero takes, as explained by Frye when he states, "... the central myth of the hero whose mysterious birth, triumph and marriage, death and betrayal and eventual rebirth..." (Frye, 67), explaining the archetypical story outline of the tragic hero. As an example of the archetype, the story of Hercules starts with the mysterious birth of a being that is half god and half man, with his father famously being Zeus. Following Hercules' diverse birth we also know he triumphed over the leader of the underworld named Hades, while also

Beginning around 700 B.C., stories by Homer and other Greek poets told of the lives of powerful gods who involved themselves in human affairs. Supreme among these gods was Zeus, but to the Romans he was known as Jupiter. Zeus was the supreme god and ruler of Olympus. He was known by many titles: Lord of the Sky, the Cloud- gatherer, the Rain-god, and Zeus the Thunderer. All of which are the most popular names dating back to ancient Greek history and mythology.

Hercules is not the hero that greek mythology glorifies him to be. His ruthless acts to “purify” himself from killing his family, are nothing but him following commands of robbery, whether it be of a life or possession. He is less of a hero and more of a modern day hired ‘hitman’. Hercules agreed to completing the twelve tedious labours, however bad they might be. If he was ordered to steal something, he would. If he was told to kill something, he would do it. His actions are more alike the ones of an assassin or hitman rather than a selfless hero.

There has been many discussions on the differences between Hercules and Heraclês. Disney likes to change stories to make them more child friendly. This creates differences between the original stories and the Disney take on the tales. In the case of the movie of Hercules and the story of Heraclês the main differences, that I will be focusing on is family value, true love, and comic relief.

Greek mythology has been passed on and retold over generations. Literature and movies have been created to entertain as well as provide specific themes based off of myths. There are many heroes that mythology talks about and each one has lived an epic life, but there is one famous hero that has been immortalized throughout history. Hercules is the son of Zeus and a mortal named Alcmene. Zeus impregnated her while her husband was away and this is where his story began. Zeus' wife, Hera, found out about the affair and was outrageous about his careless actions. She tried to prevent Hercules' birth; however, when that didn't work she sent snakes to kill the baby. Hercules was too mighty for the snakes and strangled them before they could even hurt him. As stated in this source, "Hera remained angry. How could she get even? Hera knew that she would lose in a fight, and that she wasn't powerful enough to prevent Zeus from having his way. Hera decided to pay Zeus back for his infidelity by making the rest of Hercules' life as miserable as she could" (Crane WEB). Hercules grew up to be a great young warrior and was all around. With this god-like strength, also came an uncontrollable temper that made him react at times without thinking, but later made him realize the wrongdoings of his violence. He later then married a woman named Megara and had two beautiful children. But one day, Hera instilled a fit of rage into Hercules and made him slaughter his family with his very own hands. He was shocked by his actions and asked Apollo for assistance since he was drowning in guilt. Apollo later then gave him specific tasks to help Hercules redeem himself for the bloodshed he caused. The hero was sent to Eurystheus, and under his strict hand, he was to accomplish twelve labors over the next twelve years.

When Hercules went to Eurystheus, the king eagerly started to think of twelve labors for Hercules. What Hercules didn’t know was that Hera was influencing the king to think of tasks that seemed to be impossible. However, no matter what task Hercules had to complete, he always came back with the task completed. After twelve years and twelve labors, he was finally released. Hercules’ went on to live a life full of adventures, and he even remarried to a woman named Deineira. Deineira became very jealous when Hercules took King Eurystheus’ daughter Lole prisoner for vengeance. She feared Hercules was being unfaithful to her, and wanted to make sure she was the only woman he loved. She took the blood of a centaur (that she was tricked into thinking would make Hercules love her forever) and smeared it on his robe, but it turned out to be poison. Hercules began to die when he put the robe on, but it ended up only killing the mortal part of him. Hera decided to end her

Secondly, without his courageous personality Hercules could not have overcome many obstacles. Hercules gained experienced of a quality hero and achieved appreciation “the hero is now ready to move into the special world where he will change from the ordinary into the extraordinary” (Seger 3) because he transformed into a new individual. Seger states that “this happens at the first turning point of the story” which is called the initiation (road of trials) therefore the hero is ready to begin with his task. For example, in the movie, Hercules encounters with many challenging task which were a battle of series monsters that were sent by Hades. His most important challenge was to rescue the tough-talking beautiful girl Megara who is secretly involved with hades to posses Hercules in falling in love with her and take over his power. But they both fall in love and it becomes

The majority of people will look at Zeus, the king of the gods, as a kind and generous god, giving the mortals rain and punishing wrong-doers. Yet, he is most certainly less of a "source of all heavenly manifestations"(Pontikis) than often portrayed. Prosecuting a villainous criminal for what they have done has been viewed as a boring procedure, hours and hours pouring into what may or may not end up as a life sentence, but when the criminal happens to be a god with the risk of their immortality, things may seem a bit more interesting. Zeus should be prosecuted for death, on the stakes that he is a rapist, is selfish, and gives his peers unjust punishments for their mistakes.

Hercules faced these Labor with training, as a young boy. Heracles was trained by the famous hero mentor, Cheiron. Hercules went into these labors ready to face the world and to try

Hades is the gloomy god of death. He rules over the underworld and everything under the ground, including the buried dead and everything that is buried with them. This included coins and other treasure.

The gravity of the situation seems too heavy to handle. He is extremely overwhelmed; he has just been called upon to complete a daring adventure. His indifference is justified, since he has no idea what to expect on this journey. However, some sort of event takes place that makes the hero reconsider the possibility of going on the journey (Vogler). In Hercules, Hercules doesn’t know what he’s about to get himself into. He is quite surprised after he meets Zeus in his statue form. However, once Zeus tells him that he can be a god, Hercules becomes eager to set out on his journey

These labors were designated to him through King Eurystheus because of the unspeakable acts he committed. Hercules sought out many prophets, only in the end to return to King Eurystheus to complete his 12 suicidal labors. One of the last 6 labors completed was to capture the Cretan Bull. Minos promised Poseidon that he would sacrifice whatever the god sent to him. Poseidon sent a great bull, but Minos thought it was too beautiful to kill. So he killed another bull, and Poseidon grew angry so he made it rampage through the city of Crete. Hercules wrestled the bull to the ground. He carried the bull back to Eurystheus, but it could not be tamed so Eurystheus set it free. The 8th labor Hercules had to complete was stealing the Mares of Diomedes. Diomedes’ Mares are 4 men eating horses with terrible tempers. Diomedes kept the horses chained to a golden post to keep them from escaping. Hercules snuck behind the golden post taming the horses, and right before he could release them Diomedes soldiers began attacking Hercules. From hearing all the commotion Diomedes awakens. He is informed that Hercules is trying to steal the mares from a random foot soldier. Diomedes is irate and attacks Hercules.

Hercules was favored by the gods from few quest and even a labor. For the sixth labor the goddess Athena helped Hercules by scaring off the Stymphalian bird he had to do this because the birds were causing a plague with their numbers. Hercules shot arrows at the birds when Athena scared them. Hercules had many terrible experiences with love because of Hera. ”He was helped by Athena to drive them out of their converts. ”(Hamilton 172) Hercules was considered the greatest hero of gods because he had the most strength out of all and great emotion. When he was a baby Hera sent two snakes to kill him but Hercules held them both up and killed them. Even though he is called the greatest this didn't mean he was necessarily good most of the times when he did bad things it was hera controlling his mind. He killed his wife and three children when he was being controlled. “When Megara had borne three sons he went mad.” Later he killed his wife and children.

King Eurypterus told Hercules that the only way to cleanse himself is to complete 12 heroic labors. He added that performing these labors would cause Hercules to become an immortal god with honor restored. Hercules first labor was to kill the Nemean lion. The second labor was to kill the multi-headed hydra. The third labor was to capture Cerynitian without wounding it. The fourth labor was to capture an enormous boar. The fifth labor was to clean the stables of King Augeas in a single day. The sixth labor was to kill the stymphalian birds without entering the swamp. The seventh labor tasked Hercules was disposal of the Minotaur. The eighth labor was to bring the mares of Diomedes to King Eurypterus. The ninth labor was to retrieve the belt of the queen Hippolyta. The tenth labor was to capture cattle that belonged to Geryon, a monster. The eleventh

The twelve labours of Hercules is a myth because it is a story passed down all the way to today’s generation, making it be a traditional tale. Hercules is originally a Roman god; however, it is similar to the Greek’s version of Heracles. This myth is originally from the Latin language--which is typically used by the Romans. The twelve labours of Hercules was originally written by Peisanders and was then lost in 600 B.C. Hercules was born a demigod with supernatural powers that established the patterns of life as we know it. According to Synnøve Des Bouvrie and Bascom’s definition, the 12 labours of Hercules is a myth because it is traditional, remote, and true.