The Difference Between Heroes And Villains

What distinguishes a hero from a villain? When assessing William Tecumseh Sherman’s goals and actions on the battle field, the lines aren’t always so clear. General Sherman commanded the Union army during the bloodiest war in American history: the Civil War. His march to the sea during the fall and winter of 1864 stands out as one of the pivotal successes for the Union, because of the brilliant tactics used to expose weakness in the Confederacy. Cutting off his supply lines, he led 62,000 soldiers from Atlanta to Savanna to demoralize the southern people. The actions Sherman took in order to successfully accomplish his goals during his march were undeniable examples of barbarity, using brilliant schemes to suffocate the southern spirit.

What would the world be without villains? What would become of all of the people who are very heroic, but have no way to prove it? That is where villains come in. A villain is a malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness Ursula from Disney's The Little Mermaid is a villain, but the Sirens from Homer’s Odyssey exhibit more evilness by tricking people, killing people, and being clever.

On June 28, 1972, James Richardson awaiting the subway train which would take him to work. He was stopped and ordered to “put up your hands, and get against the wall”. These directions were given by an off duty Transit Authority patrolman named John Skagen. Skagen’s actions seem unprovoked and unnecessary. After a short tussle the two men exchanged shots and Richardson fled the scene on foot. Two other officers that were on the main street above the subway station were made aware of what was transpiring below and rushed to the scene. As they approached the entrance of the station, Richardson who was fleeing the scene ran directly into one of the

Superman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman—what do all these characters have in common? They are all products of the human aspiration to be saved. The word hero is passed around too much these days. A hero is not a football player that scores the game-winning touchdown or the goaltender who saves his team from a loss. A hero is usually an ordinary person that did extraordinary things. A true hero is really never a hero at all; at least not in their own mind. However, there are various cases today in which we see the exact opposites of these characters, the anti-heroes. The anti-hero is one who cannot be classified as a hero, for that said character lacks natural heroic qualities. However, the anti-hero cannot be described as a villain either.

Merriam Webster defines a hero as a person who is admired for great or brave acts and defines a villain as a character who does bad things. These definitions may not be so indubitable as John Gardner takes a hero and villain to a whole new level in his novel, Grendel. Throughout the years of novels and short stories, heroes and villains have been constructed as strictly good versus evil, but what if there is good in evil and evil in good? Grendel and the epic, Beowulf, revolve around this idea of heroes and villains and good versus evil. Gardner’s twist on the stereotypical hero leads to the true definition of a hero being changed as he creates one who has a nihilistic view on his atypical life.

In Greece: Heracles and Dionysus, part 4 of the Introduction to Mythology book, it gives a multitude of examples that describes both Heracles and Dionysus as Hero’s, Anti-Hero’s, as well as, helps portray how they make order in the world. Heracles and Dionysus are illegitimate sons of the Greek god Zeus who both eventually achieve divine status, albeit through two completely different paths. Heracles or more commonly known by the Romans as Hercules, is one of the more recognizable hero’s throughout history, his stories are filled with feats of great strength, bravery, and cunning and is on full display in his series of twelve labors, where he earns his divine status. On the other hand,

Journey to Villainy There are so many different kinds of villains. There is not just one kind of villain and they are not all bad villains in the beginning like Anakin Skywalker on his journey to become one of the most well known villains, Darth Vader. A villain can be anyone who might have made some wrong decisions in their life and end up going down the wrong path. Some Individuals are born being a villain with their family not making the right decisions and they become villains because it is the only thing they know and may be good at.

Comic book characters represent the best and worst parts of society as seen through the eyes of the writers. Heroes emanate what the writers perceive as the ideal human, someone attractive with a strong moral code and a high tolerance for pain. Villains represent what the writers perceive as problematic, people who are overly ambitious, immoral and represent the “other”, both in appearance and beliefs. These characterisations reflect the views of society’s majority, white men, essentially the creators and controllers of pop culture. Captain America was a hero, the epitome of American Patriotism. He was strong, smart and morally sound and he fought American enemies, the Nazis and communism. Magneto, from the same comic universe as Captain America, was a villain aiming for the eradication of all non-mutants. The interesting thing about his evil acts is that they’re almost justified by his previous experiences with oppression, he’s the comic book representation of a victim fighting back and he’s represented as villainous for that.

Anti-heroes do not solely exist in the fictional world. There are people in the real world, everyday who fit the anti-hero description. They are… the Mob. In ancient times loyalty was purest form of respect. It was a way of life. One was loyal to his or her family, govern, king, and God. Hand in hand with loyalty, comes the right to revenge. The Mob is one of the few “societies” that has reserved that tradition. For example: when a family member is assassinated, it is not only the right, but also the duty of the surviving family to avenge that death. This loyalty to one’s own, coupled with the fierce determination to protect them, are incredibly heroic qualities. Organized crime families are oohed and ahhed by the press and pop culture, and have their own fans. While these people are not ideal role models, they possess heroic qualities worthy of aspiration.

Heroes, Villains and Antiheroes In Heroes and Villains by Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon, they argue that there are more to heroes and villains then what they appear to be while in comparison to No Sympathy for the Devil by Heather Havrilesky says, that we tend to cheer for the flaws of the anti-hero because we can justify their wrong doings for the greater good. As it is in the stories, all families have a hero, villain, and anti-hero. In real-life, heroes and villains are human beings. It is not immediately apparent who the hero is and who is the villain. As the famous expression states, “you cannot judge a book by its cover,” meaning that just because someone may appear to be one way doesn’t mean that is who they are.

What is the difference between the hero in a story and the villain? The hero is supposed to do the good and the villain is supposed to be against it. When it comes down to saving the day or ruining it, there always has to be a strategic plan that tackles all the odds. If there isn't a realistic plan to accomplish a goal then there might be risks and consequences in the process of trying to achieve the objective. Although Peter Stockmann is not as charismatic a leader as his younger brother Tom, Ibsen seems to support the mayor’s view of how organization and political systems must work to control the population and prevent chaos.

Heroes considered to be people who wear a tight cape and go to save the world. And is a villain considered to be a person who plots evil schemes against the hero. Heroes and villains are tended to be seen through the different perspectives of people’s eyes, but not all of the heroes or villains are recognized for their actions. At many times there tend to be many different people throughout the world who could be able to be there at the right time and the right place to make good decisions for others. On the other hand, there are some type of people that just could make wrong decisions and make places become a complete nightmare for others. Joseph Campbell views womens as a figure of happiness of creating families and

A super villain is defined as the antithesis of a superhero, and are generally embedded into a plot to foil the actions of a superhero during the climax of a story. Superheroes possess powers that are exceptional to any power or ability a human could normally achieve. Likewise, a supervillain must dominate special powers, abilities and apparatus to pose a threat to superheroes. While the superhero continuously tries to better society, the supervillain refutes their attempts in order to inflict destruction and dismay. Typically, their motives are derived from traumatic incidents that occurred in the early onset of their lives (Gullo 2016). Albeit for some, no traumatic past or bad accidents were inflicted on the lives of these villainous creatures, as their motive comes from passion, experience, and a drive for chaos.

True heros have consistently been shown to encompass villainous characteristics and Napoleon Bonaparte, although a tyrannical ruler, was no exception to this rule. The term hero at its core refers to an inspiring individual who is idealized for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. This person manages to not only overcome the tragic situation at hand, but conjointly is able to win over the public’s admiration. Contrastingly, a villain is defined by the observer as a malicious person who exercises their power in a way that hurts the general public and has a criminal intent. It must be noted that the line between heroism and villainy is ill defined and ultimately depends on perspective.

What truly makes a 'villain' to us? Is it the need to cause mayhem, a long, resounding evil laugh? Or just someone whose values run in opposition to ours? Whatever the case may be, we perceive these characters carefully, recognizing them almost instantly as forces to be reckoned with- That is, most of the time. In the next few paragraphs I aim to explore why what the most frightening of villains terrify us the most.