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Many hundreds of years from now our great comic hero's stories will be told to a new generation of humans, it will then be called a myth. That is exactly what our modern day myths, they are comics. When you look at our modern day comic book hero's you don't view them as a myth. "Myth as viewed by many modern intellect is primitive; trying to explain world of nature, production of poetical fancy…mythology is all these" (Campbell 8). As Superman is to our generation of mythology as is Herakles to the ancient Greeks of mythology. Both share very similar traits and qualities that a typical hero myth. As do most of the hero's in our myths, and not just noticed in our Greek hero myth's but also in Norwegian, Romanian, and Native American mythology. Most hero myth's share the same common motifs. However in this paper I am only going to concentrate on two of the most popular hero's. One being the incredible Herakles and the other being modern day hero Superman. When I am done with this paper you will see how the idea and the symbol of a hero have not changed over the centuries.
With so many cultures there is no one way to categorize all the worlds' myths into one category. Joseph Campbell, the foremost expert in hero mythology had been known for not concentrating on the differences of a hero but rather the seeks to show that most hero myth's have to same development and therefore must share a common value. (Segal 6) Similarities that exist from one cultures hero to another are; most all hero myths have the hero being a male and in the case of Campbell's myth's all of the hero's he studied were male (Segal 4), you will always have the good vs. the bad and the hero will always be the good, a hero will have an unusual birth, the hero will have strength that a mortal man will not be able to obtain, there is always a quest that a hero must act upon, the hero will have to overcome temptation, hero's have this need to perform good, and finally most all our hero's will have a tragic death. Most hero's will through out there life go through what is called the Separation-Transformation-Return (STR) model of mythology. (Campbell 0) It is a model showing that a hero must be isolated from his, I refer to the hero has in the male form because most classic hero's are male, community. He must leave his home to change into the hero; this will lead him on to his quest. That is your Separation. Where the hero truly becomes a hero is when he is challenged. This is the evil that he must over come to transform into the new being. Once he has over come his evil he is then considered a hero. The Transformation stage has just occurred. Finally, the hero must return to the community, when he does he is no longer the same person that he was when he originally left. With this is change he is able to bring a new view to the world thus changing the community as well. The Return is the final piece of that puzzle in the STR model of mythology. (Caprio interview) The same is with Herakles and Superman; they too will follow the same common traits and STR model. Most important feature is not the traits that are exhibited by the hero, but why is the hero exhibiting these traits. What is the significance behind the motif? When those question is answered you are then able to determine the meaning behind the myth, and that is all mighty goal of understanding mythology.
Before I can begin to analyze Superman and Herakles you must have some back ground of who are Superman and Herakles. The very first part of the hero is the hero's birth. Superman was born on the planet Krypton. Superman's father, Jor-El had explained all the attributes that his young son, Kal-El would have over the humans because the humans were inferior to them. He will be able to fly due to the atmosphere composition, he will be stronger than any human because of his denser molecular structure, he will be practically indestructible, and be faster than being. As young child Superman reaches the planet earth you get your first taste of his strength when he lifts up the car to help out his uncle change the tire. (Superman the movie)
When Herakles was born he was born of the great god Zeus. Zeus incase many of you are not aware of your Greek mythology is the king of all the gods after he was able to defeat his father Cronus in the epic battle for supreme ruler of the Universe. (Morford 50) Because Hera was the queen of the gods she was not pleased that Zeus had slept with a mortal woman. To get even with Zeus, Hera had sent two serpents to kill Herakles. To Hera's disappointment Herakles was able to choke the life from the serpents, one in each hand. (Morford 41)
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As you can see both Superman and Herakles have very unusual births. Now how many babies have you been be able to pick up a car? Or how many people have you seen choke a serpent to death, but Herakles did this as a child and one in each hand! That is amazing accomplishment for any mortal human. This is a common motif of enhanced strength and usual birth is seen through out all of out ancient hero myths. I believe that the hero must have a usual birth and childhood so that he is able to set himself apart from the rest of the world. Hero is able to do what no mortal human is able to accomplish, and if he is able to do the impossible, then he must be different, therefore the hero must have a usual birth. This is the set up for the hero leaving for his quest; every hero must have a quest. This leads to the first stages of the STR model, the Separation. The hero must leave his home to go on his quest.
The first action sets Superman on his quest, to create the first part of his myth, is when his earth father dies. He makes the comment, "With all those powers I couldn't save him." (Superman the movie) This has a major effect on Superman, here the hero must make a choice he can either use his powers for the easy road, "evil" or he can take the long road, "good". This is what sets our hero apart from the villain. Of course our hero's could take the simple road and decide that it is not worth all the effort to try and save everyone with their abilities that they have been blessed with. All heroes will take the more difficult road because in most mythology the difficult road is the righteous path. And the hero will always do what is moral. The hero also chooses the challenging path because a typical mortal being is not capable of doing what a hero can. The hero is able to overcome obstacles that sets apart mortal from a hero. (Caprio interview)
In Herakles choice between the "difficult road" and the "easy road", Herakles was not able to choose his ways. He was more or less forced to be a hero. As the myth goes Herakles was driven mad my Hera, the queen of the gods, causing Herakles to go on a mad rampage killing his wife and children. (Morford 41) In Greek times it was an unforgivable sin to kill your own family for any reason. Because of this sin Herakles was forced to be purified by performing what is called in "The Twelve Labors" of Herakles. Herakles could have easy left Greece and disappeared from the known existence. He was not forced by the gods to perform these tasks. He was only told that to be purified from his sins he must perform these labors. He knew in his soul that he must do these labors, because it was wrong of him to kill and must be justified so that he can have peace in his life. (Caprio interview)
Herakles first labor was to kill the mighty lion of Nemean; to do this it would require the use of a club. For arrows were no use against this magnificent beast. After getting close enough tackle the lion he was forced to strangle the lion with his bare hands to finally kill the lion. (Herakles Online Page) To kill a lion takes an unbelievable amount of courage, but to kill a lion with your bare arms and strangle him is beyond what a mortal man could do. This just shows the strength of Herakles and being able to kill a lion with his bare hands. He also kill this lion to save the city of Nemea from the terror of lion, thus exhibiting the trait that Herakles has the inherent ability to know that is morally right. This also brings me to the trait that all our heroes will face is the epic battles of "good" vs. "evil". When Herakles being the hero is good and the lion is the evil that opposes him.
Just as Herakles has his evils so does Superman. Superman stands for all that is good, "For liberty and Justice for all". However with every hero they must be an evil. Lex Luthor is Superman's evil, Lex is greedy, power hungry, craving attention, and cruel. Just as good is opposite of evil, Superman is the opposite of everything that Luthor stands for. Superman will stand up for the right, help those in needs, and put his own life at risk for those who need help. In the Superman movie he does not discriminate on who to help, first you see Superman help a little girl get a cat out of a tree and later in the movie Superman will help rid the world of nuclear bombs. (Superman the movie) If a hero is able to help the common man, and even the youngest of little girls, and help the world that has to say something about his character.
In all mythical battles the hero will prevail, because good always over comes evil. I believe that good always overcomes evil is instilled in us from ever since history was told. When we pass on a story it is told from our view point. We tell the story as it was told to us but we also want to add our slight bias opinion to that story. When the story comes from a bias point of view, you will not make yourself look as the evil. Evil then has been given the view as being opposite of good, and what ever you tell as being good obviously the opposite is evil.
Aristotle had saw there are five types of hero's in mythology. The first one being a hero who is all divine, you would call this your god such as Zeus taking control over the universe from the titans. Second being a semi-divine human usually immortal but must go thought the actions of a hero to reach this immortality, where one of their parents are divine, this is the case with Herakles of his father being Zeus and his mother being a mortal being. Superman would also fit into the second category; his parents are given abilities that a classical divine mythical god would possess. The third of our hero's are born of mortals but the gods had blessed, they are able to achieve abilities that mortal humans are not able to reach however they are able to die like any mortal, it maybe because of assistance from the gods but for what ever the reason they are superior to normal human, Greek hero Theseus. The fourth is our typical mortal human being, this is like you and me, but they are able to be put in the position to perform the actions of a hero, an example of this hero is Odysseus. The final of these heroes's are the moron who saves the day, he is at the right place at the right time, modern example of this hero is old cartoon character Inspector Gadget. (Caprio interview)
To fit into the category that Herakles and Superman you must be able to go where no human has ever been able to go. Both are able to do what most are not able to achieve. Superman is able to travel into space with out the use of oxygen pack to breath. He also is able to with stand bullets and hold up trains on his back. When he had to disarm the nuclear bombs he was forced to be apart of the steel in a railroad track to save humans from falling to there death, right after that he took all the nuclear bombs to outer space and throw them into the sun where they would be destroyed. (Superman the movie) For him being able to do so much with his abilities he is far superior to any mortal being thus giving him the status of semi-divine.
Herakles is not able to fly high in the fly or even able to with stand bullets. However, back in times of ancient Greece little was known beyond the Peloponnesian lands, so it would be extraordinary to go beyond these boundaries. Herakles had to perform the last six of his twelve labors in the non-Peloponnesian lands. One of the most famous labors was the retrieval of the Apples of the Hesperidies; the Hesperidies were the tree daughters of the night. They stood guard of the tree from which the apples grew. This tree was originally given to Zeus and Hera as a wedding gift from the mother earth. No one was sure where the location of these apples were, so assist him he had to search long and wide around the globe, to the Greeks this would be a universal search. After while he ran into a fellow named Atlas, he knew where the tree was and offered to help Herakles if someone could hold up the Heavens. Atlas returned with the apples and took them back to Eurystheus. (Morford 44) This symbol of the myth shows the over coming of death. The apples represent the meaning of immortality and the tree is a kind of tree of life. The journey that Herakles must make to the west is the overcoming the realm of Death. However because he is not totally divine he must need assistance from Atlas. All of these labors and feats that both of our heroes must perform are the Transition stage of the STR model. All during his quest he grows and learns more about not only his world but learns more about himself. The hero symbolically discovers his own true nature, "What makes the man, the man". Our heroes will encounter his true identity and his sole purpose in life. You will notice that the main difference between our ancient heroes and our modern heroes is that modern heroes will go on a quest of self discovery, an inward glance, while the ancient hero will take an outer journey, how strong is our hero. (Segal 4-5) What seems to be the final part in the hero's journey is his Return back to society. Once he returns back to society he is able to change the society just a bit.
The final part in our heroes' journey is his tragic death. All great mythical heroes' have a death. That is what separates them from a hero and a god. For a god is an immortal and will live forever. A hero is a mortal who has been given a purpose to do the bidding of a god. No different are out heroes, Herakles and Superman. Superman was killed by the great villain Doomsday, the both of the two battled fist to fist and both are killed at the end of the comic. (Supermanthemovie.com) Herakles is no different however after his death he was made immortal by the gods for his triumph over the twelve labors. His death was not of a glorious one, his wife, Deianira, was very cautious that Herakles had fallen in love with another woman so to try and win back his love she as sent him a beautiful robe. Dipped in the robe was the blood of Nessus, the centaur, it was told that his blood was a love potion. Once Herakles had put on his robe his skin had started to burn, the agony that Herakles had felt was unbearable and he could not with stand it. Shortly he had died and was taken up to the heavens with the other gods to live forever. (Morford 4)
I believe that heroes must die so that they are able to show that no one is total god. No one that is born on the earth is a god. That is what I feel myth of a hero is trying to say. Those heroes are our fantasies; they are what everyone wishes they are able to do. Have you never dreamt to be able to fly, or be strong as a hundred mortal men? Or if you have not wanted these gifts then maybe you wanted to just raise a family and be a good parent someday. That is a very reasonable goal, we as a society do not know how to achieve that goal that mission to be the perfect being. That is why we tell these myths of great hero's, they are what every single person strides to be, to be that perfect being that everyone could look up to. Some people all us hero's stories as a way to discover themselves. Whatever the reason for a hero myth, the point is that hero's have been around forever and will continue to be told because no one is able achieve all their aspirations in life. Maybe that is the meaning to life, to try to be all you can be. Or maybe the meaning of life is to try the best you can with what you are given. That is what our heroes have done. They did the best they could with what god had blessed them with.
Bibliography
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton, New Jersey Princeton University Press, 14.
Caprio, Professor Jim . Personal Interview. November 1, 00.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Hercules Greece's Greatest Hero. November 1, 00. March 16, 000 http//www.perseus.tufts.edu/Herakle/
Morford, Mark P.O., and Robert J. Lenardon. Classical Mythology. New York, New York The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group, 1.
Moschell, Adam. Personal Interview. November 1, 00.
Rank, Otto. In Quest of the Hero. Princeton, New Jersey Princeton University Press, 10.
Segal, Robert. Joseph Campbell An Introduction. New York, New York
Penguin Books USA Inc, 10.
Superman The Movie. Dir. Richard Donner. Perf. Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, and Christopher Reeve. Warner Brother, 178.
N.P. The Superman Movie.com. November 1, 00. October 00 http//www.thesupermanmovie.com
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