Shrek as an Epic Hero

Joseph Campbell dedicated his whole life researching patterns that appear in almost every hero story or movie. He discovered that there are a few basics stages that just about every hero character goes through. This cycle is called “the monomyth” or more commonly known as “the hero’s journey.” This paper will compare and contrast Beowulf and Shrek and how each fits into the monomyth. Every story that involves a hero will subsequently follow the concept of the Heroes Journey.

Finally, the story brings in exaggeration to make the viewer think of something stronger than it actually is. When Shrek is sitting at home and the townspeople are coming to his house to kill him is one of the big exaggeration scenes. The men are sneaking up on his house and don’t realize he is behind them. When they start talking about what the ogre will do to them if it catches them, Shrek interrupts them. He then tells them that what they are talking about is a giant. “Now, ogres, oh they're much worse”(Shrek). This is the part where he says what an ogre

Farquaad is about to marry Fiona and Shrek wants to apologize to her. By spending time with Fiona, Shrek has become a better person, with a heart and is able to apologize. Farquaad's men attack Shrek. All the people laugh at Shrek being ugly. Shrek doesn't care and still tells Fiona he loves her.

Shrek leaves his ordinary world when he leaves his house, then goes to the Lord’s castle. Shrek leaves the Lord’s castle sets his way out to the castle which encases Princess Fiona. Donkey, Shrek’s mentor, helps Shrek throughout his tests. Shrek’s enemy is prevailed as soon as the movie starts. Shrek’s rival would be Lord Farquaad because he wishes to only marry the princess, so he can be a monarch. The earliest test would be where Shrek goes against the Lord’s men in a fight. This is where the Lord decided Shrek’s expedition. Without Donkey, Shrek would have never found the Lord’s castle. Shrek proceeds to go through another test. He must rescue Princess Fiona from the highest room in the tallest tower, without dying from the dragon or the lava that encircles the fortress where Fiona is held hostage until someone liberates her from her bedroom in the

After Shrek defeated the dragon, he was able to rescue Fiona. After he rescued Princess Fiona he realized that she was very different from what he imagined and she chastises him by saying that “[He] shouldn’t judge people before [he gets] to know them.” This eventually led to the atonement of the

In the movie, Shrek, directed by Andrew Adamson, the main protagonist Shrek experiences many stages of a hero’s journey. Throughout the movie, Campbell’s ideas are displayed as Shrek experiences changes that shape the way he views the world and ultimately leads to his metaphorical rebirth through the departure, initiation, and return stages.

“The whole earth is the tomb of heroic men and their story is not given only on stone over their clay but abides everywhere without visible symbol woven into the stuff of other men’s lives,” said Perculus (PR). You’re born, you live a little, and then you die. There is no simpler way to sum up life. Often times this is done through oral tales, paintings, and various other ways. For those whose lives were truly something great, something memorable, their stories are transcripted into writings. Whether these are simple biographies or symbolic fictional works, stories are often based on someone greater than the writer. These “epic heros” are protagonists that fulfill their potential of greatness through using their bravery, strength and

If you have ever found yourself captivated by a novel, or whisked away following a journey, you have most likely read an epic. An epic by definition is “a long poem, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the history of a nation”. Every epic has a main character that undergoes the same archetypal journey as all other heroes, an epic hero. There are specific qualities one must have to be considered an epic hero. Each epic hero possesses superhuman strength, displays a strong sense of leadership, and reflects their culture in a positive, admirable manner.

An epic hero is a brave and noble character in an epic poem, admired for great achievements or affected by grand events. The epic hero of a story embarks on a quest in search of fame and glory, and encounters challenges throughout their journey. No matter the adversity, the epic hero maintains bravery and courage, never backing down. However, what the epic hero does not know is that the “real reason for a quest is always self-knowledge” (Foster 3). In the epic Beowulf, Anonymous employes the affection of a king, bravery in battle, an eternal quest and a lasting legacy to show Beowulf as an epic hero.

An epic is a long, episodic narrative poem that recounts the adventures of a historical or mystical hero. Episodic narratives have a larger story broken down into closely connected, but individual and separate sections. Some important qualities that distinguish an epic are unrealistic antagonists, the Gods and Goddesses playing important roles, and a story involving the re-establishment of a proper leader. “The Odyssey”, by Homer, is an epic because Odysseus (the hero) faces supernatural antagonists, the gods and goddesses play an important role, and Odysseus is being restored as a rightful leader.

An epic story is one that combines elements of supernatural powers and heroic deeds with plebeian troubles. In Beowulf , the unknown author paints a typical yet magnificent tale that is one of the great epic chronicles of the Middle Ages. Like the poems of Homer, Beowulf possesses terrible monsters, men with supernatural powers, the search for glory, and deadly defeats. However, this medieval account brings a new element into the folds: the association between established religious forces and personal choices. The concepts of predestination and fate intertwine in this work with the idea of free will.

In the movie, we meet Princess Fiona. She is beautiful and is looking for her Prince Charming. Shrek is far from a handsome prince and is not what Fiona was expecting. It turns out, Fiona was not a normal princess, but actually a secret ogre at night. This is ironic because she would make fun of Shrek during the day and get angry at how he was not supposed to rescue her since he was not handsome.

American mythologist, scholar, and author Joseph Campbell popularized the study of patterns within heroic narratives in his 1949 book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Campbell’s theory, born from a lifelong study of heroic myths and narratives from around the world, is that the hero’s journey inevitably follows a common pattern of experience. By describing the universal stages (i.e., elements of the hero’s journey/story) that transcend temporal and cultural differences, Campbell’s theory manifests itself as the literary blueprint for the heroic narrative. Campbell’s theory of the narrative structure of the hero’s journey can be applied to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Tolkien’s

A comparison of Homer’s Achilles and Virgil’s Aeneas brings up the question concerning what makes someone an epic hero. Although each poet lived in a dramatically different time period, with different literary integrity, Homer and Virgil each portray an epic hero using different development of the characters, but similar themes and influences. Achilles and Aeneas demonstrate that an epic hero will do whatever it takes to fulfill their duties while simultaneously displaying the difference between Greek and Roman Society. The question will be answered by first, analyzing the individual characteristics of Achilles, a merciless warrior, and Aeneas, a civilized leader, then

The bloodhound howled out to the police men following after the tracker dog. She has been found. The terrified little girl, step by step, climbed up the ladder out of the old man’s hidden cellar; the police men dashed to her for comfort. The bloodhound is proclaimed a “hero.” Heroes have been cultural icons since the first of men. “The Iliad,” written, by Homer is an epic about the journey of Achilles, a demigod, during the Trojan War. “Sha-Nama,” also an epic-written by Firdawsi, is about a son on a quest for his father during the Persian and Turkish war. “Gilgamesh,” an epic written by early Sumerians, is about a king in search of immortality after his best friend’s bitter death. Moana, an adventure movie by Walt Disney, is about a young girl on a dangerous mission to save her people. Star Wars: A New Hope, a science fictional film by George Lucas, is about an adventurous boy working together with allies to restore freedom and justice to the Galaxy. Characters in a story who are set apart from society are often defined as a literary hero by reason of their leadership, a unique quality they possess, and an opportunity.