...Achilles is an epic hero because he was noble, brave and was admired by the Greeks for his achievements. There are many characteristic traits that make an epic hero; going on a quest/mission, having god-like powers and dying a tragic death are just a few of the many traits. All of which fit Achilles and makes him and epic hero in Greek mythology. Going on a mission is one of the many epic hero traits that fits Achilles. Achilles set out on this mission because Hector had killed his best friend, Patroclus in battle, thinking it was Achilles. " 'I who did not help my comrade in his sore need. I will kill the destroyer of him I loved; then I will accept death when it comes' " (Hamilton 197). The epic hero was determined to kill Hector, and that...
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...The Iliad and The Odyssey as well as Virgil’s The Aeneid. While each hero in each stories encounters his own journey, there are common stages that they all go through to reach “heroism.” What defines an epic hero is someone who is wise and noble in counsel action or war. The epic hero has to have a semi-divine spirit and a god as a parent (Barua, Page 1). Achilles was a hero in each and every form of the word. He was extraordinary and is said to be one of the greatest heroes of Greek mythology. He embodied all the great values that made up a superhuman. Achilles was strong, courageous, and loyal but he was also just a man-A man with a grave weakness and without the love, fear and sacrifice of his mother, he would have surely met an earlier end. When he was just a boy, his mother, Thetis, did everything to make sure her son was immortal. She would burn him over a fire every night, then dress his wounds with ambrosial ointment and then finally dunked him in the River Styx (History.comStaff). The river’s waters were said to confer the invulnerability of the gods. This was the only way to ensure her son’s immortality. Thetis was supposed to cover Achilles from head to toe in the water but when she dipped him, she held onto his heel and it stayed dry. He was 99.9% immortal. From birth Achilles was destined to be great. Even though he was great, he was not perfect. Achilles worried about being an honorable hero so...
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...have done to the people, or the financial background should deny a person their own unique way of learning to recover from the suffering of the loss of a loved one. Gilgamesh, Achilles, and Oedipus are all tragic heroes who throughout their stories, show their companions. Throughout the epic poems/play, each person suffers tremendously with the grief of their loved ones. This is extremely important to today’s society and the past that people have empathy and sympathy for others, especially the ones we truly care about. To be a hero, a person must have a heart, if not then they would be considered abnormal or self-centered. A true hero will have these specific characteristics. Gilgamesh’s story is super important and interesting because he relates to society so much by the trauma he has been through. He lost his companion, whom was at first his enemy. Enkidu was a strong man; he was Gilgamesh’s equal. One hero was lost, so the other had to step up to the plate. Like many people, after losing a loved one,...
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...The hero, Perseus, was a compelling story to the ancient Greeks. His legend heavily influenced later ideas of heroic characters. In many ways, he was the ideal hero for the Greeks to look upon. sharing many of the same traits and mental patterns as the people, he became a way for people the people of Greece to glorify their own lives. Following Gilgamesh, and followed by the famous Heracles and Jason, the story of Perseus built a template for later stories. Perseus was seen as a hero to ancient Greeks because of how he followed the path of a hero, showed the traits of a hero, and created a hero’s legacy. The story of Perseus follows the same order as many parallel stories of heroic greatness, but with different names, goals and locations. His experience was universal given that he was not only made a hero by ancestry, but by his actions. A recurring topic in Greek mythology was people sending their opponents on impossible journeys that they are not expected to complete, but instead die from. Odysseus was sent into the Underworld on his journey, Jason was sent far east to steal the Golden Fleece from a cyclops in...
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...Comic hero compared to a tragic hero Craig is considered to be a comic hero compared to Hamlet and Archilles who are a tragic hero. Comic heroes is a hero who recovers from their flaws, however tragic heroes do not recover from their flaw for the reason to do in some sort of heroic sacrifice. Craig seems to have a worthless life and suffers from depression. Wanting to commit suicide to end his misery he decides not to for his family. Craig shows considerate feelings and seeks for help. The support from his friends and family helps him open up to his flaw and change his view in life. Successfully, Craig is able to recover from his flaw and live. On the contrary, Achilles lives a superior life as a demi god, and is highly admired as a warrior. Unlike Craig, Archilles only cares for himself. However Archilles too suffers from a flaw, Archilles is hubris. Archilles fights for the Greeks for his name to be remembered but knows his death will come. Unfortunately Archilles does not recover from his flaw, there was none to help him, and is the reason why he dies. Similarly to Archilles, Hamlet is a prince of Denmark. With no help he too suffers from a flaw that he is not able to recover from: indecisive. Making many failed attempts to avenge his father it accumulates the problem. Although Hamlet achieves his goal, his inability to act at the beginning causes the life of himself and other friends and family. Craig, Archilles and Hamlet are all around the same age with privileged...
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...amphora portraying Achilles and Ajax playing a board game, created around 500 B.C. (Arts) and the epic poem, Homer’s Iliad describes in great details the last few weeks of the war, written in 800 B.C. A more modern take on the war is the famous movie Troy with actors Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom, released in 2004. Here we have three different mediums, an amphora, a long poem and a modern film, yet they all tell the tragic bloody tale of the Trojan War. I will discuss the overall theme that these three pieces share,...
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...Swich fyn hath false worlds brotelnesse! And thus bigan his loving of Criseyde, As I have told, and in this wise he deyde.” The literary device repetition is used in this quote to put emphasis on his death. By repeating “Swich fyn hath” (Page 425), which means such an end, he tells that Troilus shouldn’t `have died and his pain and pity for him. By saying “Such an end to Troilus’s love! Such an end to Troilus’s worthiness! Such an end to his nobleness! Ect…..” he makes us feel pity for poor old Troilus. It talks up Troilus but at the same time makes you feel ill towards Criseyde she broke his heart and left him with such ease. Troilus is not referred to as a whiner which he is portrayed as throughout most of the book. He is portrayed as a tragic hero and Criseyde an evil witch for killing him though she was only doing what benefited them both. If she came back people may not look towards them kindly. So she’s more of the intelligent one and Troilus is the blind romantic, contrary to how they are portrayed...
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...The Crucible Critical Analysis Shakespeare believes that a tragic hero has potential for greatness, but is ultimately destined to fail. The character falls from greatness because of their ‘tragic flaw’. In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, the protagonist John Proctor is portrayed as the tragic hero. He fits this description for a number of reasons. His tragic flaw or Achilles heel, like many other tragic heroes is his pride. Compounded with conflicts with circumstances, this tragic flaw leads to Proctor’s loss of life and arguably the loss of his eternal life as well. One of the major requirements to being a Shakespearean tragic hero includes having a tragic flaw. Proctor places a great deal of importance on his pride or what he considers dignity and self-respect. He lets pride overshadow his life and actions. He would rather maintain his pride or die. As the play nears its end in Act Four, it shows that he would rather give up his life, rather than post his fake confession on the church doors for the public to see. He states, “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life... How may I live without my name? I have given my soul; Leave me my name!” (Miller, 133). John is too prideful and unwilling to stain his reputation. He prefers to die rather than have his name stained because of a fake confession. He wants to leave his name intact for his family. Another example of this is illustrated in Act Two, where Elizabeth urges Proctor to go...
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...Name Course Tutor Date Ancient Greek Heroes vs. Modern Heroes Introduction The word hero brings to mind different things to different people, since people tend to have different concepts of heroism. This is particularly the case with regard to the concept of heroes in ancient and modern societies. As times have changed, the definition of heroes has also changed, in keeping with the changes in the modern society. However, ancient and modern heroes do share some similarities, which act as the basis of heroism regardless of one’s perspective. In view of this, a hero can be described as a courageous person, who deliberately sets out to conquer obstacles for the benefit others or one who performs extra ordinary feats. The aim of this paper is to compare and contrast ancient Greek heroes with modern heroes, for the purpose of understanding both concepts of heroism. Differences There a few differences between modern and ancient Greek heroes, one of them being the religious background of the ancient Greek heroes. In Greek mythology, heroes were usually religious figures, specifically demigods. They were usually born from liaisons between mortal and immortal parents. These heroes were favored by the gods, hence were able to accomplish supernatural tasks, which were beyond the abilities of normal men. Hercules’ mother for instance was a mortal, while his father Zeus was a Greek god, who disguised himself as her husband. As a result, Hercules was a demigod, and was able to accomplish...
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...is a classic example of a tragic hero by Aristotle’s standards, in that all five of the established tragic traits are applicable to Macbeth’s character (a noble birth, Hamartia, Peripeteia, Anagnorisis, and Catharsis). The narrative of Macbeth follows the timeless trajectory of a tragedy; Macbeth comes from a place of serendipity, and over the course of events, finds himself plummeting into defeat as a character. Through critical analysis of Macbeth’s core traits compared to the core traits of a tragedy, it becomes apparent Macbeth is ultimately responsible for his tragedy and his downfall as an individual, because it was his own hubris which drove him to bring about the prophecy he heard. To acknowledge this fully, one must first simply observe both the actions of Macbeth and the core elements crucial to a tragic hero, as according to Aristotle for the sake of consistency in a historical theme of narrative. Aristotle’s traits of a tragic hero are as follows: a noble birth, Hamartia, Peripeteia, Anagnorisis, and Catharsis. To begin with, the first element of a tragedy we are faced with in Macbeth is of being of a noble...
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...The Unheroic Hero who Impressed me Most in Greek Mythology – Jason Zhang Sijing 【Abstract】 This paper centers on my own opinions about Jason – a famous hero in Greece mythology. With the help of Medea, who had become his wife afterwards, Jason had led the heroes of Argonauts to get the Golden Fleece successfully. However, the story of he and she was not a romance but end up with a big tragedy. To me, Jason was not a hero as typical as others in Greek mythologies, he was just a man with all his weaknesses which led to his death. 【Key Words】 Greek mythology; hero; Jason; Medea; Argonauts 1. Introduction Among numbers of Greek mythological stories I have read, the one of Jason’s impressed me most. Jason was famous for his role as the leader of the Argonauts which consisted of almost all the famous heroes in Greek at that time. These heroes included some familiar names such as Heracles, Perseus, Theseus and many other unfamiliar ones. They were all gathered together for Jason’s quest to find the Golden Fleece, which was in order to get his throne back from his uncle Pelias. During this long adventure he fell in love with Medea, the sorceress and the princess of Colchis. Only with her help could Jason have done his work. Nevertheless, Jason betrayed Medea in the end, which turned his story into a big tragedy. In his story we are more likely to see a real man instead of a perfect hero. So, this essay is trying to focus on the differences between Jason and other classical...
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...Humanity and Leadership in the Iliad Many values found in The Iliad correlate with our society today. In the ancient epic poem by the bard Homer, Agamemnon, the leader of the Achaeans, and Hector, the hero of the Trojans, stand out as two radically different types of leadership. Hector is considered the tragic hero of the poem; he is both the devoted family man and the patriotic champion of Troy. Agamemnon is the cruel, harsh commander-in-chief of Achaeans, driven by self-gratification and greed. However, as drastically different as the two leaders are, they also share certain similarities. Both are fundamentally human and have their own unique flaws and admirable characteristics that coalesce to influence their individual styles of leadership. Hector motivates his army with promises of glory and loot, while Agamemnon uses ridicule and humiliation to motivate his army. When Hector needs a spy to learn if the exhausted Achaeans are still guarding their ships, he begins with promises of glory and material objects. He offers “a chariot, two horses with strong necks, the best of the breeds beside Achaea’s fast ships”, with the alluring promise of “what glory (the spy) can win” (286). Instead of selecting a spy through intimidation or goading, Hector appeals to his warriors’ desire for glory and luxury. Glory, or kleos, is one of the most sought after ideals in both the Achaean and Trojan armies, and Hector knows this. By appealing to these desires, Hector motivates his...
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...Rodriguez 1 Priscilla Rodriguez English 4 Mrs. Pla 7 December 2011 Achilles People posses both negative and positive personality characteristics in themselves as an personality. Achilles in the Iliad in an example to this statement. In the Iliad Achilles is a great warrior, also fights in the Trojan War. The big leader Agamemnon that hates Achilles takes all the credit when he wins the battles. There's a Prince names Hector that Achilles later wants revenge on for killing his best friend Patroclus. The anger rages, the people fight, day of the Trojan War arrives thats when the tragedy and the life of Achilles is taken. Achilles demonstrates negative and positive behavior. Achilles is loyal, brave, and obeys the gods, but he is also revengful, quick to feel anger, and has no remorse for who he has killed. Achilles has a cold heart at times but also is a great warrior. He fights anyone that gets in his way. Fearless for the decisions he makes, also fearless against the gods. As Achilles saids, "As my life came frome you though. it's brief, honor at least, from Zeus who stormed in heaven I call me due" (Book I ). This means Achilles is a valorous warrior among the greeks. Also earned hands of Briseis for himself. He rages his anger and goes by himself to kill Hector. He goes on his own will instead o ftaking the whole troop with him. Achilles is capable of feeling sympathy. His caring side of knowing that is his father will sooner feel the same way...
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...play when he sees how Gilgamesh is treating the people. Enkidu and Gilgamesh became good friends and partners in adventures. He gains a great lot of experiences and a kind of love from Gilgamesh. Through his adventures with Gilgamesh he ends up loosing his life and right before he dies he wishes that he had stayed in his animal world and not join the world of man. Enkidu gets sick and tells Shamash that he wishes the hunter never met him, “…he cursed the hunter to his heart’s content” (p129). He ends up gaining a great friend and looses his life, through the friendship. Achilles comes off as a tragic hero. He comes off as a selfish warrior who does not care for his people. He is all for himself. He can be seen as heroic for his frightening skills and his part-god abilities. In the lliad Achilles, does not improve over time. He acts on his own rage and personal feelings. You can feel sorrow for Achilles,...
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...Virgil affirm this idea because throughout each book, characters that learn from prior mistakes are successful when faced with challenges, whereas those who practice prideful thinking eventually reach a shameful downfall. In The Iliad, one prominent leader who fights during the Trojan War that demonstrates admirable qualities was Achilles. Seen in Book 18, this great Greek fighter acknowledges his arrogance for withdrawing himself from the war and sending his comrade Patroklos, to his death. Achilles and Patroklos shared a mentor-mentee relationship where Patroklos admires this great warrior, however by Achilles displaying such selfishness, his heroic status diminishes. After recognizing the disgrace of his actions, Achilles assures his fallen comrade, Patroklos that he will redeem his status by avenging Patroklos’s death. This decision justifies Achilles as an honorable person because after admitting his mistakes, he goes on to fix them. Achilles’s heroic redemption is seen in Book 24 of the text when he not only kills his comrade’s murderer, but he also goes on to return the enemy’s corpse. After dragging around Hector’s body for 12 days, Achilles comes to realize that the sorrow he experienced on account of his father’s unburied corpse is being imposed by him on King Priam, Hector’s father. As a soldier one is...
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