Hercules
Carson Sisk, Andrew Allen, Jacob
Democko, Abraham Abdurakhmon,
Zach Boyd
Heroic
Qualities
•Strong
•Brave
•Proud
•Confident
•Determined
•Hardworking
•Loyal
•Loving
Flaws
•Impulsive
•Uncontrollable
•Dangerous
•Murderer
•Dumb
•Easy to trick
•Can’t think for himself
•Thinks he is better than
everyone else
Infancy
• He was known to do great things when he
killed the two serpents by the throat in his
early childhood. He did not like to learn and
especially hated music, but people still knew
that when he grew up he would achieve many
great things.
Journey of Hercules
•Born in Thebes; son of Zeus and Alcmena
•Hera was jealous of Zeus’s affairs so she
put 2 snakes in Hercules’s and his brother’s
crib; Hercules choked them both to death
Journey of Hercules
•He didn’t like learning, especially music, and
accidentally killed his music teacher; he felt
crippling guilt
•When he was older, Hera drove him mad and
made him kill his wife, Megara, and their children;
he again felt terrible guilt and never forgave himself
•Hercules went to the oracle of Delphi who told him
he needed to be cleansed by doing whatever
Eurystheus told him to do
Tasks
• 1ST TASK: Kill the lion of Nemea by choking the life
out of him.
• 2nd TASK: Kill the Hydra by burning them off.
• 3rd TASK: Bring back alive a stag with horns of gold.
• 4th TASK: Capture a great boar on Mt. Erymanthus
Tasks

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5th TASK: Hercules must clean out the Augean stables, he does this
by redirecting the flow of two rivers to wash through the stable.
6th TASK: Hercules must drive away the birds at Stymphalus that
were a nuisance to the people.
7th TASK: Hercules goes to the island of Crete to bring back a bull
that Poseidon gifted to Minos.
8th TASK: Hercules is assigned to get the man-eating mares of
Diomedes, the king of Thrace. Hercules kills the king and drives off
the mares.
Tasks
• 9th TASK: brings back the girdle of Hippolyta after he kills the
queen of the amazons.
• 10th TASK: Bring back the cattle of Greyon (oxen) and brings
them back to Mycenae.
• 11th TASK: Tricks Atlas to bring back the Golden Apples of the
Hesperides by holding the sky up.
• 12th TASK: Bring back Cerberus, a three headed dog from
Hades.
Examples of Stupidity
• It was too hot and he threatened to shoot the sun
with an arrow
• He told the waters that he would punish them if they
did not grow calm because they shook his boat.
• He gets drunk at the house and figures out that the
queen was dead.
Achelous and Deianira
• Achelous was a river-god; he was in love with the girl
Hercules wanted to marry
• Achelous didn’t want a fight but Hercules started one
• Achelous took the form of a bull and attacked Hercules;
Hercules beat him and took one of his horns which
became the horn of plenty
• The girl (Deianira) became his wife
Admetus and Alcestis

Admetus is a king in Thessaly, and while Apollo is serving
him, the Fates decide that Admetus is to die. Apollo
convinced them to allow someone to die in Admetus'
place. Once Admetus learns of the news, he searches for
someone to take his place. Neither of his parents would
take his place, nor any of his friends, but eventually his
wife Alcestis decides she will take his place. When
Hercules hears of this, he feels bad for getting drunk and
rowdy in a time of mourning so he goes and fights Death
to get back Alcestis
Deianira and Nessus and Iole
• When Hercules took Deianira on a boat ride
with Nessus (the transporter), he was attacked
by Hercules after he insulted Deianira. Nessus
gave part of his blood to Deianira and told her
when Hercules fell in love with another
woman (Iole), she could use the blood to get
Hercules back to her.
Physical vs. Mental Strength
• Hercules was very strong and courageous but he was
not emotionally stable. He did not know how to
control his anger and besides that, he was pretty
stupid.
Death of Hercules
•
•
When Hercules rescues a princess, Deianira fears he is in love with the other girl.
She gives Hercules a robe dipped in the blood of Nessus, to make him fall back in
love with her, Deianira. Turns out, Nessus was a liar. The blood works as a burning
poison. Hercules is in agony but unable to remove the robe.
Hercules longs for death but no matter what he does, he can’t seem to die. Thus,
he asked his followers to create a pyre on Mt. Oeta. He then laid on it and was set
on fire. He went up to heaven, found peace with Hera, and married her daughter
Hebe. Finally, Hercules became a god himself.
Motifs and Themes

Guilt and Redemption: In the beginning, Hercules kills his
family under the influence of a madness from Hera. He
seeks redemption by consulting an oracle, who tells
Hercules to submit to his cousin Eurystheus and he would
be purified. After he's assigned twelve tasks to complete,
he can be redeemed. After he completed the tasks, he did
not feel redemption, and continued to kill and fight other
monsters. One day, he kills an innocent boy, and to atone
is sent to serve the queen Omphale.
CHARACTER ARCHETYPES
• Hercules- hero (killed many innocent people)
• Wife- sacrificial victim
• Death- was an anti hero because he was holding
the queen
• Serpent- evil (Hercules overcomes fear when he
was at a young age)
Other Archetypes
•Mountain: Hercules' fourth task takes him to a mountain where he
must kill a great boar. Hercules is also burned by his follower Philoctetes
on a mountain, where he dies. This is significant because it helps
Hercules understand death more, when death won't come to take him.
•Water: In Hercules' fifth task, he cleans out the Augean stables by
running two rivers through them, this represents a renewal.
•Island: The tenth labor assigned to Hercules took him to the island of
Erythia to return some cattle. On this island, he reaches the end of the
Mediterranean and erects two pillars as a memorial of his journey.
•Twelve: Hercules is assigned twelve tasks, twelve represents the
complete heavenly cycle, which is what will give Hercules his penance
for killing his family.
Story Summation
•Hercules learned how to care about others and not
only himself and how to better control himself
Lessons and Cultural Values
•Values show that the Greeks liked a strong man
who could defend himself, his wife, and his city
•Lessons can be to think before you act and to be
prepared for the consequences