Myth and the Evolution of Heroes

What is a ace? What get on withs to your mind when someone speaks of crampfishes and or cuneusines or Super Heroes and Heroines for that matter? Well lets see, Webster defines a super hero as a benevolent fictional spottyb every(prenominal) with superhu human beings powers and a hero as a person, typic totallyy a man, who is admired or idealized for their courage and dispatchstanding achievements, and is typically identified as a person of august qualities. A person who mint bequeath infer with. A man of the people. Or, the peoples champion if you will.These character types ar often used in media and education and can be utilise to almost any story, be it in literature, theatre, film, television series, games, or whatalways. In classical mythology we find some of the first of many accounts of these Heros. In all actuality they could be called the first super heros. Although they did non stand the superpowers that we come down to expect from advanced day super heros they put away make the cut. And in many ways the heroes of legend could be what you would expect from (and I do use this loosely) genuine superheroes.See the births, backgrounds, and lifes of these characters be a bit more on the adult grimace of the movie store so to speak. They tend to reflect that of real people and real life. Not the real life that is watered down and boxed-in(a) and fed to kids tho the hard life and reality that we all come to realize is reality the more we grow up. Their stories be that of struggle, humility, sacrifices, and all that audition and tribulation that you have come to know and loathe through out the years.But at the same time they stick with the layout that, as though prone to them of Russian scholar Vladimir Propp. See Propp broke down almost all myth with the topic of Morphology of the Folk tale. In this publication he depicted that all folk tales follow what is essentially a predefined course of action for almost all stories. Oddly enou gh this is still relevant to this day. A summary of which is the following The hero unremarkably has a birth that is very out of the normal. And from the moment of his birth he usually undergoes and over comes a threat to his life as a elegant child.As he grows up he usually under goes an extreme caper and or an extreme amount of small tasks that for some reason or another he feels or is expected of him to base his worth. Or these tasks maybe forces upon the hero by the antagonist. unremarkably these task are almost impracticable and the hero then begins to meet friends and allys that aid him on his quest. These quests usually involve all type of thrills chills and of course the possibility of finish for our hero. (Come on what epic story would be complete with out that? similarly these quests always come with some sort of taboos that the hero must not do. They usually exist in the form of challenges that conflicts with the up bringing of the character. Upon the over comin g of that challenge the hero usually grows up, if their a kid you start to see w here the hero is growing up. This concept is more often than not really popular with the long running cartoon stories of kids and helps the viewer make right along side our protagonist. The viewer then grows with them and grows up with the character themselves learning life lessons.This is a good and bad thing. Be rationality of this in modern society we have generations of children raised by stories as such. For some odd reason I guess lazy parents have taken these stories as alternatives to raising their children themselves. Ultimately shoemakers last is the ultimate conquest that the hero will end up facing. This usually comes in the form of some tour to the underworld or realm of the dead or whatever they call for to call it. In some instances the hero actually dies and is resurrected.I know of a few stories where the hero dies and is resurrected numerous times symbolic of the conquest over dea th or maybe just the moc magnate of it to show off the heroes might. That not even death can stop them. From this point the hero then usually reaches a point of enlightenment or transcends into a higher being. This is a rough summary of Propps outline unless most stories and heroes of legend commit to it. For example one of the most worthy of extraordinary births is Perseus. Zeus got a hold of his mother while she was locked up in an underground chamber.After his birth his mother raised him there for four years in secret. After Acrisius notice the birth of the child he put him and his mother in their coffin for an old sea mans burial. They set a float until they landed on the island of Seriphos and were discovered by the old fisherman Dictys. Even when the heros are young or in some cases in there infancy they under go tribulation. Like Oedipus whos name means swollen-footed. This is cause his feet were tied together when he was a baby so that he may never walk.He was to fulfil l a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother, and thus brought disaster on his city and family. So he was supposed to be casted out into the wilderness and go forth to die. Fortune favors the young hero and he is eventually taken in and cared for until he comes of age and has Propps states must under go labors to prove his worth. The growing pains of Heracles 12 labors are probably the most illustrious in all of classical myth. The labors of the characters journey are what transform the protagonist from joe-shmo to our loveable and courages hero.The meat and potatoes of the story, for it is here where they evolve into the hero. Cause their actions usually start from seemingly mundane but upon the completion of their mission they gain the praise of the people. In most cased because they end up saving a city, or a commodious amount of people from destruction. Or a young woman of noble birth that resides, as say a princess of a powerful city. In some really basic stories after the completion of this the hero becomes king or just saves the day and wins the girl and then lives happily ever after.In others the end of the labors are signified by the defeat of the antagonist. Like the violent death of Hector by Achilles. Some of my favorites are when upon the conclusion of the finale the hero dies. I know that sound kind of bad but the finishing is more real because in these versions just as in real life there isnt always a happy ending. Usually is these epics the hero is transformed into a legend and revered because of his ultimate sacrifice. exceed example of this is Oedipus. He had worked his way into the Gods favor and upon his death Colonus was blessed.And through his death he was made into a hero once again. This motif is all to familiar to Christians for it is capstone for their believe structure. Theses allegories of myth show us how heroes come to be and through Propps illustration of all folktale usher we see the underlying s tructure of all stories. And the evolution of all heroes.Works Cited Morford, scotch P. O and Roberet Lenardon. Classical Mythology 8th ed. New York Oxford 2007. Vladimir Propp Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation Inc. July 07, 2010. .