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Odysseus Jack And The Beanstalk Analysis

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The Odyssey is an ancient greek story and is from almost the end of the 8th Century, “Jack and the Beanstalk” is an english fairy tale from about 1734. The Odyssey and “Jack and the Beanstalk” are from very different genres yet they both share common archetypes which serve the same purpose such as the hero, creature of nightmare, tree of life, and good versus evil. This supports the “one story” theory that says all stories have the same common human experience. The Odyssey written by Homer is about a king defeating monsters to get back to his homeland. “Jack and the Beanstalk” written by Joseph Jacobs is about a boy who climbs up a beanstalk to steal riches from an ogre. The “Hero” archetype is evident in both The Odyssey and “Jack …show more content…

Both The Odyssey and “Jack in the Beanstalk” include hero archetypes that show the protagonists using their courage, wisdom and wit to save people and both exemplify and point back to the “One Story” theory. In The Odyssey and “Jack and the Beanstalk” the suitors and ogre represent the creature of nightmare, and the creature of nightmare’s purpose is to support the main characters heroic actions by failing. The suitors fit the creature of nightmare archetype. After Odysseus tells the suitors his plan to kill all of them Eurymachus, one of the suitors, says, “Fight I say, let’s remember the joy of it. Swords out!” (Homer 1259). The suitors fit the creature of nightmare archetype because they threaten the life of the hero by saying they will kill him. The suitors’ purpose is to show how much of a hero the main character is. The narrator says, “The suitors make various unsuccessful attempts to expel Odysseus from his post at the door [...] Odysseus and his men take this opportunity to launch their own attack, and the suitors begin to fall” (Homer 1260). The suitors show how much of a hero Odysseus is by failing to win the battle of one-hundred men to two. In “Jack and the Beanstalk” the ogre embodies the Creature of Nightmare archetype. When Jack first enters the ogre’s house his wife says, “My man is an ogre and there’s nothing he likes better than boys boiled on toast” (Jacobs 3). The ogre’s wife proves how the ogre threatens Jack’s life by saying

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