Perseus: Joseph Campbell's Monomyth

Perseus may be young and clueless, but his determination and strong-will helps him achieve his goal and represents the monomyth in action. Perseus’s journey all starts off with his departure. This step allows him to start his expedition to becoming a hero.

So, when it came to giving a gift to the King for his wedding he was poor, and could not give a gift. Instead of a gift, he offered his services to the King. The king decided to send Perseus off to slay Medusa. And bring her head back as a gift. Perseus uses his shield to see

On Perseus’ journey for Medusa’s head it was very much expected that he would fail and die, which was Polydectes goal. But in the end he prevailed and completed the mission, due to the fact that he had the luck and support of the Gods on his side. Throughout his voyage he was aided by the support of Hermes and Athena. This can be seen in Perseus’ use of Athena’s shield and Hermes’ sword that he used to attack Medusa. Also, without the help of Hermes, Perseus wouldn’t have been able to find the nymphs of the North, whose gifts (winged sandals, magic wallet, and an invisible cap) also aided him in the defeat of Medusa.

King Acrisius was king of Argos. He had an amazingly beautiful daughter, but he wished deeply for a son, so he prayed to the gods for them to give him a son. Apollo,the god of culture and prophecy, told him that he will never have a son in all his days and that the son of his daughter will slay him. Acrisius thinks of just killing his daughter,Danae, to prevent his prophecy, but fears of the punishment he will receive from the gods for this act, so he instead locks his daughter in an entirely bronze house and guards it closely. What he did not expect is for the king of the gods Zeus to come directly to his daughter and impregnate her. From this comes a son named Perseus. When Acrisius learns of his daughter's offspring, he puts both Perseus and Danae in a trunk and sets it off into the ocean. By luck or by the will of Zeus Perseus and Danae wash up onto a small island, where a kind hearted fisherman named Dictys takes in the two strangers. They live contently with Dictys until Dictys' brother, King Polydectes, fell in love with Danae. He decides to construe a plot to get rid of her son,Perseus, so that he can have her. The plan he comes is to convince Perseus to go and slay the woman-beast Medusa. He thinks this feat impossible by a mortal man, because any man who lays eyes upon her turns to stone. To aid him on his quest Hermes gives him a sword stronger than that of Medusa's scale. He also told him he would need equipment from the nymphs of the north, who's location was unknown by all except the Gray Women who are ray and live in gray.The three sisters share one eye between them all and

Odysseus thinks that his reasoning are final and his activities are constantly just and right, although he frequently allows his ego control his rational thinking, resulting harm to his group and messing with the gods’s plans. His men could have went back home Securely for it is the desire of Athena and the other heavenly gods who surround to her in Mount Olympus, however Odysseus takes it to himself to outrage and blind Polyphemus, the monstrous son of Poseidon, adored by his dad yet abhorred by the people, In this way distrusting their whole arrangement . Subsequent to being blinded by the heroine, Polyphemus tosses huge pieces of rocks at Odysseus's ship, nearly obliterating them at the same time. But instead of retreating for safety, Odysseus keeps on provoking Polyphemus and “[calls] out to the cyclopes again, with [his] men hanging all over [him] begging him not to”(Book 9, 491-492). His feeling of pride and presumption influences to disregard the requests of his people even in these critical circumstances . He will fulfill his own feeling of interest and pleasure without thinking of the result it would have on his crew. Despite the fact that he is bound to get away from all passings and assaults, his group isn’t so blessed. Their lives are in mortal peril since Odysseus considers them as child sheeps who should forfeit their lives for him when the circumstances comes, much the same as how mortals make conciliatory offerings of sheeps for the heavenly gods. He is willing to fulfill his own feeling of interest without thinking of his groups lives or their suppositions and is regularly infuriated when they negate his request. If they hurt his sense of pride and self-importance and pomposity , Odysseus will be overcome with outrage and

Polyphemus makes a show of hospitality at first, but he soon turns hostile. He devours two of Odysseus' men on the spot and imprisons Odysseus and the rest of his men in his cave for future meals. Much to his own demise, his own gluttonous nature takes control, leaving him in a drunken stupor and most vulnerable to Odysseys. Not only is he blinded, but he is also made to look foolish in the eye of the gods.

Odysseus, a King favored by the goddess of war and wisdom faced a twenty year journey of war and travel. This two decade journey of adventure came at the expense of crew and nearly his family. His failed leadership stems from his hubris that overcomes him at times, particularly when he leaves the island of the Cyclopes, Polyphemus. When Odysseus encounters Polyphemus, his crew becomes trapped in his cave as they waited on their host to welcome them, a common Greek custom. When they discover the beat didn’t plan on showing any hospitality and instead begins

Despite Odysseus’ receiving the serendipity of fate, Odysseus’ unfortunate encounter with Polyphemus and the resulting

Heroes have existed in society for centuries and have been presented in many forms. Whether they were personal idols, literary figures, or real people, heroes represent hope and victory against the evils of the world. People look for heroes in their everyday lives, or often, as characters in tales of extraordinary circumstances. Some of the most renowned literary heroes of all time come from Greek myths. Within these stories about heroic idols, it is common for many main plot points to overlap. Across different genres, locations, languages, and eras the progression of the hero’s journey remains relatively uniform. Generally, it contains three broad components: departure, initiation, and return. The tale of Perseus is a popular tale of an ostracized son of Zeus. Perseus and his mother Danae were nearly killed by Acrisius, Danae’s father, when he sent them out to sea in a chest. They were rescued by a kind fisherman, Dictys, and lived peacefully with him until his brother, Polydectes, decided he wanted Danae for a wife. He tricked Perseus into setting out on a venture to kill the deadly monster Medusa. These events essentially align with the progression of the hero’s journey. Therefore, throughout the myth of Perseus, the character’s quest follows the conventional pattern of the hero’s journey.

Persephone supports this pessimistic behavior when she states “ my husband, bored with their babbling, neither listen nor speaks… The weather is always the same. Nothing happens.” Stallings utilizes Persehpone’s status as someone born from Gods to display how patriarchal attitudes severely affect women in general. The author makes it clear that Hades is the culprit in his wife’s depression since her outcry is a product of his oppressive practices. The state of monotony displayed by Persephone exemplifies the horrors Ancient Greece because it proves the morbid nature that rules above it.By fusing the elements of a story and a myth, Stallings denounces the effects of patriarchy in Ancient Greece by highlighting the “deity status,” of Persephone to indicate how despite of her birth from the gods , she is still a victim of

Perseus was a child born from the daughter of Acrisius, Danae, and the god Zeus, and he wedded Andromeda after saving her from a sea monster.Perseus begins his adventure when the king Polydectes, king of the Island of Seriphos, tricked him to go on a journey to acquire Medusa's head. Polydectes only wanted the head of Medusa so he can send Perseus away and force Danae to marry him. Perseus gets help from some gods and slays Medusa. On his journey back he met Andromeda and got married to her. Once Perseus makes his way home, he learns that Polydectes forced his mother to marry him, thus making Perseus turn him to stone with Medusa's head for his mother's mistreatment.

A reversal in fortune is exemplified when two of Odysseus’s men are killed. When Polyphemus returns, he discovers Odysseus and

While in the woods with his soliders, Perseus discovers a sword in Olympus, as well as Zeus's sacred herd of Pegasi. Perseus refuses the offering of the sword and a Pegasus as assistance because Perseus does not wish to become a god. While, Calibos then tries to kill Perseus, Draco cuts off his hand, but Calibos' blood transforms into giant scorpions, which attack Perseus and kill all of his soliders, except for Draco, Solon, Eusebios and Ixas.

Poseidon became infatuated with Medusa, he seduced her into the temple of Athena (goddess of wisdom). Because of this, Athena became infuriated and took her anger out on Medusa. She was so angry that she turned the maiden into a Gorgon, a terrifying female creature with hairs of venomous snakes and whose glance will turn a person to stone.

I.Summary: Perseus and the Gordon Medusa begins when Polydektes falls in love with Perseus’ Mother, Danae. Polydektes realizes that he will not obtain Perseus approval over the courtship, but determined to win Danae’s love “by fair means of foul.” Polydektes comes up with a scheme to take Perseus out of the picture. Polydektes pretends to be in love with Hippodameia, Polydektes goes collecting horses as a gift for his bride. “Perseus, when asked for his donation, boasted that if necessary he would even fetch the head if the Gordon Medusa, so Polydektes took him up on his offer, sure that her could never return alive.”