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Experience the oldest literary form
Study and analyze the genre of epic
Study and analyze other elements of
literature (character, theme, etc.)
Look for archetypes
Enjoy a fascinating adventure tale
Today we will discuss three things:
Greek/Roman mythology, Background of
The Iliad and Odyssey, Hero Cycle
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A traditional story rooted in primitive folk
beliefs of cultures
Uses the supernatural to interpret natural
events
Explains the culture’s view of the universe
and the nature of humanity
All cultures have their myths: Native
American, Greek, Chinese, Egyptian, etc.
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…was Chaos (shapeless nothingness)
Chaos had two children:
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Night (darkness)
Erebus (death)
“All was black, empty, silent, endless.”
Mysteriously, Love was born of darkness
and death.
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When Love was born, order and beauty
began to flourish.
Love created Light and Day.
Earth was created.
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She was the solid ground, but also a personality.
The Earth bore Heaven to cover her and be a
home for the gods.
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Mother Earth = Gaea (Gaia)
Father Heaven = Ouranos (Uranus)
They had three kinds of children:
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Three monsters with 100 hands and 50 heads
Three cyclopes
The Titans
These were the first characters that had the appearance of life,
although it was unlike any life known to man.
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There were many of them.
Enormous size, incredible strength
Cronos (Saturn): Ruler of the titans
Rhea: Wife of Cronos
Ocean: River that encircled the world
Iapetus: Father of Prometheus,
Epimetheus, and Atlas (also titans)
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Cronos and Rhea were
parents of
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Zeus (Jupiter, Jove)
Poseidon (Neptune)
Hades (Pluto)
Hera (Juno)
Hestia (Vesta)
Demeter (Ceres)
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Other Olympians include
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Athena (Minerva)
Ares (Mars)
Hebe (Juventas)
Hephaestus (Vulcan)
Apollo (Apollo)
Artemis (Diana)
Hermes (Mercury)
Aphrodite (Venus)
Dionysus (Bacchus)
Persephone
Lets take a few minutes to review
some of the Gods and Goddesses
alluded to in the epics The Iliad and
The Odyssey
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Roman Name:
Jupiter (also Jove)
Supreme god of the
Olympians.
Fathered many
characters in
mythology
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Roman Name:
Juno
Zeus’s sister and
wife
Jealous protector
of marriage
Punished the
women Zeus fell
in love with
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Roman Name:
Neptune
God of the Seas and
Waters- tempestuous,
violent and cruel
“The Earthshaker”
The god who opposes
Odysseus
Odysseus is also quick
to anger, violent and
cruel at times to this
god
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Roman Name:
Pluto
God of the
Underworld/
Dead
Kidnapped
Persephone
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Roman Name:
Minerva
Goddess of Wisdom
and War
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a war goddess
who fights to
protect the
homeland.
Sprang from Zeus’s
head
goddess who
favors Odysseus
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Roman Name:
Mars
God of War
Son of Zeus and
Hera
Bloodthirsty and
merciless
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Roman Name:
Apollo
God of
Light/Sun and
Music
Brother of
Artemis
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Roman Name:
Mercury
Messenger of
the Gods
Appears in
more myths
than any other
character
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Roman Name:
Venus
Goddess of
Love and
Beauty
Sprang from
the ocean
foam
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Nine daughters of
Zeus and
Mnemosyne
Inspired artists of all
kinds
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Goddesses who
presided over the
arts and sciences
“He is happy whom
the muses love.”
Clio, Urania, Thalia, Melpomene, Erato, Calliope, Euterpe, Terpsichore, Polyhymnia
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Roman Name: Parcae, Moirae
Three sisters
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Clotho (“The Spinner”)
Lachesis (“The disposer of lots”)
Atropos (“The cutter”)
They weave, measure, and cut the thread of
life for humans.
In The Odyssey
Cyclops
One eyed
monster, son of
Poseidon
Calypso
Sea nymph
Charybdis
bladder of a
creature whose
face was all mouth
and whose arms
and legs were
flippers and who
swallows huge
amounts of water
Scylla
grotesque sea monster, with six long necks three times a day
equipped with grisly heads, each of which before belching
them back out
contained three rows of sharp teeth.
again, creating
whirlpools
Circe
is a minor goddess
of magic, a witch
and enchantress
It’s good to know, during the Odyssey when we talk about
dates……
3000 years ago also can mean 1000 B.C.E
B.C. = Before Christ
B.C.E= Before the Common Era
A.D. = After Death
A.C.E.= After the Common Era
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Long, narrative poem about the adventures
of a hero
Shows values & beliefs of a culture
Includes a journey / quest
Encompasses vast setting (world)
Involves supernatural forces
Hero’s actions determine nation’s fate
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Iliad: the archetype of the war epic.
A story of the 10 year Trojan War
(estimated to have occurred around 1200
B.C.)
Began with Paris a Prince of Troy who took
Helen, wife of King Menelaus.
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Odyssey: the archetype of the story of a long journey; the
long journey can be see as a metaphor for living one’s life.
A story of Odysseus’ long and wayward journey from
the Trojan War.
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Concern eternal human problems such as the
conflict between GOOD and EVIL
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Written or told on a grand
in ceremonial style
scale and often
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The hero is a great leader who is identified
strongly with a particular people or society.
The setting is broad and often includes
supernatural realms, especially the land of the
dead.
The hero does great deeds in battle or undertakes
an extraordinary journey or quest.
Sometimes gods or other supernatural or
fantastic beings take part in the action.
The story is told in heightened language
Who was Homer?
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No one knows for sure
Greek storyteller
composed the Iliad and the
Odyssey around 800 BC
may have been blind, a group
of poets, or even a woman
FYI: For many centuries it was believed that the 'Iliad' was a
piece of imaginative and inventive fiction . In 1870, however,
the German scholar Heinrich Schliemann began excavations
at the place where Troy was believed to have stood. He
satisfied himself, and eventually the rest of the world, that
there had actually been a war fought there. The excavations
revealed that several cities had stood on the spot before the
one Homer celebrated.
The Illiad:
Achilles’ role in the Trojan Wars
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Achilles was the most important warrior in the
Greek ranks. His argument with King Agamemnon
led to his brooding and isolation from the war. His
friend, Patroclus, disguised in Achilles’ armor,
leads the men into battle. Hector bravely fought
whom he thought was Achilles and killed the
youth. Achilles, in rage, reenters the battle after
the funeral of Patroclus.
The Iliad takes place in the 10th and final year of
the Trojan War
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Trojan War was fought over Helen.
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Although, their were underlying currents of tension as the Greeks wanted
to control the trade of The Mediterranean.
Menelaus, king of Sparta, wanted his wife back.
Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, gathered the army together.
Agamemnon got the wind to sail the ships to Troy by sacrificing his
daughter to the gods.
Greeks own the war through trickery, the Trojan horse, created by
Odysseus.
Achilles, greatest Greek hero, died young in the last year of the war.
Agamemnon, killed when he returned home by his wife who had
taken another lover.
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Before we get into the actual
Trojan War, it is necessary to
understand Achilles’ place in
Greek culture. The Greeks
considered him a hero, who was
born of a mortal father and a
goddess mother, Thetis. It was
his mother who imbued Achilles
with his heroic powers.
Achilles was the son of Thetis, a
nymph, who had attracted the
attention of Zeus and Poseidon.
When Prometheus revealed a
prophecy that Thetis' son would
be greater than his father, the
gods lost interest. Thetis
married the mortal Peleus,
instead. The centaur Chiron
raised Achilles.
The Greek concept of a hero
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In the Homeric epics, the heroes give the reader (or
listener) the impression that, in order to be the best, to
achieve arête, an individual must sacrifice for the
society. Greek heroes often had superhuman powers,
though all Greek heroes and gods had a classic flaw. For
Achilles, his flaw is his heel, the only portion not covered
when his mother dipped him in the river Styx. In the Iliad,
Homer uses Achilles as a central figure to illustrate the
power of the gods, the role of fate in ones life and the ways
man should deal with the travails of life in a way that
continues tradition and protects the values of the culture.
After chasing Hector around the city walls three times, the two men finally
squared off in battle.
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BOOK I. Apollo is angry because Agamemnon has failed to let one of the god's
priests ransom a daughter Agamemnon had allotted himself as a war-prize.
Agamemnon reluctantly gives the girl up but insists on taking in her place
Briseis, a captive originally assigned to Achilles--hence the "wrath of Achilles,"
which is the epic's announced topic. Achilles complains to his divine mother,
Thetis, who persuades Zeus to let the Trojans prevail in battle until Achilles's
honor is satisfied.
BOOK II. Lured by a false dream sent by Zeus, the Greeks mass for battle, as do
the Trojans. Homer gives long lists of both and their allies.
BOOK III. Paris agrees to single combat with Menelaus to settle the issue of
the war and everyone on both sides hopes that the war will soon be over, but
when Paris starts to lose Aphrodite wafts him away. Even Helen is mad at both
Paris and the goddess.
BOOK IV. The Olympians quarrel among themselves and help stir up battle on
the fields of Troy.
BOOK V. Athena helps DIOMEDES, the son of King Tydeus of Argos, wound
Aphrodite as that goddess is bearing her Trojan son Aeneas off the battlefield.
Ares comes to the aid of the Trojans, and Diomedes wounds him, too.
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BOOK VI. The Trojan hero Hector drops home during battle to make some
sacrifices. His wife Andromache begs him not to leave her a widow, but he
goes back to battle anyway.
BOOK VII. Hector wreaks havoc, and Apollo keeps Athena from helping the
Greeks. Ajax is chosen to face Hector in single combat; they fight till night
without result. Priam's brother-in-law Antenor advises the Trojans to give up
Helen, but Paris refuses.
BOOK VIII. Guided by Zeus, Hector leads a Trojan rout of the Greeks, but
nightfall keeps them from climbing the walls and burning the ships.
BOOK IX. Advised by Nestor, Agamemnon finally agrees to return Briseis to
Achilles and give him other great gifts, but Achilles won't come back. He knows
that his glory will mean his death.
BOOK X. Sent to spy on the Trojans, Odysseus and Diomedes capture a Trojan
spy and learn about a Trojan ally on his way. They kill him and the spy.
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BOOK XI. The next day brings another bloody battle. Nestor carries off one of the wounded.
Achilles sends his closest friend PATROCLUS (or Patrokles) to find out who it is, and Nestor
urges Patroclus to wear Achilles's armor and lead their men into battle.
BOOK XII. Led by Hector, the Trojans break through the Greek walls.
BOOK XIII. Poseidon disobeys Zeus and helps rally the Greeks.
BOOK XIV. Poseidon keeps Agamemnon from calling a retreat to the ships, while Hera seduces
Zeus and lulls him to sleep. Hector is wounded by a stone, and the Trojans are driven back.
BOOK XV. Zeus wakes up mad at his wife and sends Apollo to heal Hector, who comes back and
burns the Greek ships.
BOOK XVI. Achilles agrees to let Patroclus wear his armor and lead his men. The Trojans fall
back, but Hector kills Patroclus after Apollo stuns him.
BOOK XVII. There is a big fight for the battle of Patroclus. Menelaus goes to tell Achilles his
friend is dead.
BOOK XVIII. Achilles weeps and carries on. His mother Thetis promises to buy him some new
armor overnight. Just seeing him come out to the field of battle makes the Trojans retreat
some.
BOOK XIX. Achilles reconciles with Agamemnon and leads the Greeks to battle.
BOOK XX. Zeus allows the gods to join in the battle. The Greeks are supported by Hera, Athena,
Poseidon, Hermes, and Hephaestus; the Trojans, by Apollo, Artemis, Ares, and Aphrodite.
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BOOK XXI. The gods quarrel among themselves, while Achilles is
winning the day. The Trojans retreat within their walls.
BOOK XXII. Hector reproaches himself for not having retreated at the
first appearance of Achilles. He goes out to meet Achilles in single
combat and is slain. Achilles ties his body behind a chariot and drags it
off to the Greek ships.
BOOK XXIII. Funeral games are part of the magnificent burial Achilles
gives Patroclus.
BOOK XXIV. As part of his mourning, Achilles keeps dragging the body
of Hector around the tomb. Zeus insists that he give the body back, and
the gods help Hector's father Priam sneak into the Greek camp to beg
for it. Achilles holds the war off while funeral rites are held for Hector.
Homer's epic ends with Hector mourned by his wife Andromache, his
mother Hecuba, and even Helen, to whom he had been kinder than
most Trojans, many of whom understandably resented her role in
bringing on the war.
This is where The Iliad ends. The remainder of the story is told
recounted by Odysseus in The Odyssey
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A hollow wooden horse the Greeks built,
supposedly to honor the Trojans.
The Greeks pretended to leave and the horse
was brought inside the gates of Troy.
When compared to its source material (Homer's The Iliad)...
 In the movie Troy was sacked about a month after the Greeks
landed, whereas in the book the siege lasted over ten years.
 Menelaus was not killed by Hector but instead outlived him and
went on to live with Helen until his death.
 Agamemnon was not killed by Briseis. Actually, he was,
according to the story, killed by his own wife and her lover, after
he returned home.
 Achilles was killed long before the Greeks built the horse, by one
arrow. He is killed by an arrow through his heel that was shot by
Paris of Troy. Thus, by the time the Trojan Horse is built and
wheeled into the city of Troy, Achilles is dead.
 Hector didn't kill Ajax; Ajax committed suicide.
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Briseis: In the Warner Bros. movie "Troy," Briseis plays the love
interest of Achilles. Briseis is portrayed as a war prize given to
Achilles, taken by Agamemnon, and returned to Achilles. Briseis
is a virgin priestess of Apollo. The legends say slightly different
things about Briseis. In the legends, Briseis was Achilles war
prize, and they fell in love with eachother. But then Agamemnon
took Briseis from Achilles. Agamemnon did this not merely to
make an arbitrary statement about his superior power -- as
shown in the movie, but because he had been obliged to return
his own war prize, Chryseis, to her father.
Achilles was enraged and refused to fight for Agamemnon. He
wouldn't fight even after Agamemnon had returned Briseis -untouched (as was shown in the movie). But when Achilles'
friend Patroclus died, killed by Hector, Achilles went mad and
determined to get revenge, which meant going to war.
Briseis and Achilles may have intended to marry (according to
some). She however was not from Troy nor related to Priam.
The Ancient World and Ours
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At this time in history, the idea of “king” must
be taken with a grain of salt. The king of an
area might simply be the person who owned
the most land, etc. Treasure was really just
anything that might have a use to the people
taking it.
Where in the
World
Where in the World
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Like Homer’s other epic, the Iliad, Odyssey begins in medias res, or in the middle
of things. Rather than open the story with the end of the Trojan War, Homer
begins midway through Odysseus’s wanderings. This presentation of events out
of chronological sequence achieves several different goals: it immediately
engages the interest of an audience already familiar with the details of
Odysseus’ journey; it provides narrative space for a long and evocative
flashback later in the text
Most important, the in medias res opening infuses the foreground of the story
with a sense of urgency. Were the narrative to begin with the happy victory
over Troy and the beginning of Odysseus’s trip back to Greece (a journey the
Greeks would have expected to be brief at the time), the story would start at a
high point and gradually descend as Odysseus’s misfortunes increased. By
commencing with a brief synopsis of Odysseus’s whereabouts and then
focusing on Telemachus’ swift maturation, the narrator highlights the tension
between Telemachus and the opportunistic suitors as it reaches a climax.
Spurred on by the gods, Telemachus must confront the suitors to honor his
father.
This is the primary story, the first and best example, the archetype of the story
of a long journey. Because the long journey can be seen as a metaphor for living
one’s life, this story has been examined more closely. The Odyssey contains the
morals, themes and values of the Greek society about adventure, hardship, and
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Odysseus is a very human hero. More than his strength, which was great, Odysseus
was known for his clever and agile mind. It was he who thought of using the Trojan
horse to gain entrance to the impregnable walls of Troy.
The story of The Odyssey follows his wayward struggle to return home to his wife,
Penelope, and son, Telemachus, after The Trojan war
Odysseus, who was later called Ulysses by the Romans, was king of Ithaca, a small
island on the west coast of Greece. When summoned to join his fellow chieftains in
the war against Troy, he could not bear to leave his young wife, Penelope, and their
son, Telemachus. He therefore pretended to be insane. To convince everyone of his
madness, he plowed the sand along the seashore as though it were a field. But Prince
Palamedes, who came for him, recognized this as a trick. To prove it, Palamedes
placed little Telemachus in the path of the plow. When Odysseus quickly turned the
plow aside to avoid striking his son, all saw that his madness was a pretense. So
Odysseus fitted 12 ships and went to Troy.
By the war's end he had been away from home for ten years. He filled his ships with
treasure taken from the Trojans and set sail. Ordinarily the trip from Troy to Ithaca
would have taken only a short time. The Greek gods, however, decided that it should
take Odysseus ten years to reach his wife and son. During those years he and his
men endured a series of hazardous and remarkable adventures.
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The main character or protagonist is heroically larger than life, often the source and
subject of legend or a national hero
The deeds of the hero are presented without favoritism, revealing his failings as well as
his virtues
The setting covers several nations, the whole world, or even the universe
The episodes, even though they may be fictional, provide an explanation for some of the
circumstances or events in the history of a nation or people
The gods and lesser divinities play an active role in the outcome of actions
All of the various adventures form an organic whole, where each event relates in some
way to the central theme
Typical in epics is a set of conventions (or epic machinery). Among them are these:
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Poem begins with a statement of the theme ("Arms and the man I sing")
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Invocation to the muse or other deity ("Sing, goddess, of the wrath of Achilles")
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Story begins in medias res (in the middle of things)
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Epic simile (a long simile where the image becomes an object of art in its own right
as well as serving to clarify the subject).
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Frequent use of epithets ("Aeneas the true"; "rosy-fingered Dawn"; "tall-masted
ship")
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Use of patronymics (calling son by father's name): "Anchises' son"
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Journey to the underworld
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Previous episodes in the story are later recounted
Epithet
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Adjective or descriptive phrase regularly
used to characterize a person, place, or
thing. We speak of “Honest Abe,” for
example, and “America the Beautiful.”
Homeric Epithet: compound adjective
that modifies a noun. Ex: “wine-dark sea,”
“rosy-fingered dawn,” “the gray-eyed
goddess Athena.”
Homeric Simile:
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A Homeric or heroic simile compares heroic events to
everyday occurrences.
Example: “A man in a distant field, no hearth fires near, /
will hide a fresh brand in his bed of embers / to keep a
spark alive for the next day; / so in the leaves Odysseus
hid himself, (Lines 119-122)
The way Odysseus hides himself in the leaves to sleep is
compared to the way a burning coal is buried deep in the
embers to preserve a spark for the next day.
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Hero is one of those oft used words in our language like love and friends.
Heroes can come from anywhere and anyone can be one. In The Odyssey, we
are exposed to a mythical hero, the classic hero. In mythology and legend, a
man or woman, often of divine ancestry, who is endowed with great courage
and strength, celebrated for his or her bold exploits, and favored by the gods
was considered a hero. Some examples of these ancient heroes include Achilles,
Hercules, Perseus, and Odysseus. All of these archetypal heroes undertake a
journey or quest of some sort, which we refer to as the hero cycle.
There are three key stages in the hero cycle: Separation, Initiation, and Rebirth.
The three stages can be broken down into smaller steps, as seen in the
illustration below.
Separation: Heroes, people with special talents or gifts, first separate from the
world, departing from their everyday life patterns.
Initiation: Next, the hero has an initiation into a source of power, experiencing
trials and victories.
Return: Finally, the hero returns to society, bringing to it the powers gained
through the mythic adventure. In reintegrating into society, the hero may be
either honored or rejected by others.
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The epic hero is a “LARGER THAN LIFE PERSON” who
embodies the highest ideals of his culture and embodies LOYALTY,
VALOR/ COURAGE, SENSE OF JUSTICE, DIGNITY,
PERSISTENCE, and many other traits of the Anglo-Saxon culture
The epic hero usually undertakes a QUEST/ JOURNEY to achieve
something of great value to themselves or society
Epic heroes “LIVE ON AFTER DEATH”…meaning they are
forever remembered by those who live after them…achieving a type of
IMMORTALITY
Not a “Superman” with magical powers but a “REGULAR”
human whose aspirations and accomplishments set him/her apart
Overcomes great obstacles/opponents but maintains HUMANITY
Epic hero experiences typical HUMAN EMOTIONS/
FEELINGS, yet is able to master and control these human traits to a
greater degree than a typical person
The epic hero is an ARCHETYPAL character.
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Religious Figures
Star Trek
Braveheart
Gladiator
Hancock
Harry Potter
The Matrix
Finding Nemo
Shrek
I, Robot
Batman (any of the films)
Spiderman (any of the films)
Ice Age
Lion King
Introduction
Introduce what a hero is, and your particular topic
It will begin with an attention-grabbing sentence (hook) and give the author and the title of the work and lead the reader into
a clear, concise thesis statement that will accurately reflect the topic. The introduction will also begin to address your
“answer” to the “so what?” question.
1st Body Paragraph:
Discuss the 1st Stage for your hero: Separation. In this paragraph describe what character traits/ heroic qualities are illustrated
by your character. Include specific examples.
2nd Body Paragraph:
Discuss the 2nd stage for your hero: Initiation. In this paragraph, describe the trials your hero goes through as well as any
heroic qualities or traits illustrated by your character. Include specific examples.
3rd Body Paragraph:
Discuss the 3rd stage for your hero: Return. In this paragraph describe how others react to the hero’s return, and describe any
heroic qualities or traits illustrated. Include specific examples.
Conclusion:
The purpose of the conclusion is to bring the essay to a satisfactory ending. You do not want to introduce new ideas in the
conclusion, but you can extend the thinking into the realm of personal reflection (your thinking about the “so what?”
question). Do not simply summarize the main points of the essay; a good conclusion needs a good transition sentence as the
restated thesis.