Epic and Epic HeroEpic and Epic Hero

The OdysseyThe Odyssey

Warm upWarm up

What qualities make someone a What qualities make someone a hero? Can you think of any modern-hero? Can you think of any modern-day heroes?day heroes?

Epic Archetype: An epic hero is a Epic Archetype: An epic hero is a hero who serves as a representative hero who serves as a representative of qualities a culture appreciates of qualities a culture appreciates most.most.

Epics are long narratives told in elevated language, often relating the adventures of larger-than-life heroes.

Epic LiteratureEpic Literature

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In some way, epic heroes embody the values of their civilizations.

For example, a hero may demonstrate values of strength, bravery, or intelligence.

Epics are found in many cultures and share the following characteristics:

Elements of EpicsElements of Epics

• a physically impressive hero of national or historical importance

• a vast setting

• a quest or journey in search of something of value

• the involvement of supernatural forces

• a basis in a specific culture or society

• characters struggling against fate

Epic heroes are exceptional people who undertake difficult quests or journeys.

The epic hero, who represents the values of a society, is at the center of every epic.

Epic CharactersEpic Characters

Through the journey, heroes aim to achieve something of value to themselves or their people.

Epic heroes may experience many obstacles, or conflicts, along the way.

Epic CharactersEpic Characters

These conflicts are sometimes external, created by forces of nature or, as in many epics and myths, the gods.

Epic heroes also experience internal conflict.

Epic CharactersEpic Characters

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Faced with an internal conflict, the heroes struggle to overcome their own fears or doubts.

Tragic FlawTragic Flaw

Epic heroes generally have a tragic Epic heroes generally have a tragic flaw:flaw:

HUBRISHUBRIS: overconfidence and ego : overconfidence and ego that they can overcome or over that they can overcome or over challenge anyone or anything. They challenge anyone or anything. They often underestimate their opponents.often underestimate their opponents.

Most epic heroes have a foil.Character FoilsCharacter Foils

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A foil is a character that stands in stark contrast to another character.

For example, Superman’s foil is Lex Luthor, a villain whose evil contrasts with Superman’s goodness.

An Epic and Its Historical An Epic and Its Historical PeriodPeriodWe can look at an epic as an encyclopedia of the

manners, customs, and values that bind a civilization together.

Like myths, epics offer people a vision of where they came from, what their laws and values are, and their destiny.

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– Goes through the Epic Hero Cycle: Epic Goes through the Epic Hero Cycle: Epic heroes also all follow the same storyline. heroes also all follow the same storyline. They go through the same cycle.They go through the same cycle. They are special, or supernatural, from birth.They are special, or supernatural, from birth. They are charged with a quest.They are charged with a quest. They go through trials and challenges designed They go through trials and challenges designed

to test their strength and intelligence.to test their strength and intelligence. Epic heroes go to unnatural worlds that others Epic heroes go to unnatural worlds that others

may not enter.may not enter. Epic heroes get help from companions.Epic heroes get help from companions. Even when they hit a low point, epic heroes Even when they hit a low point, epic heroes

always come back fighting. They have a always come back fighting. They have a resurrection and then they are restored to their resurrection and then they are restored to their rightful place.rightful place.

11stst, 4, 4thth, and 6, and 6thth Period Period

Stop here and begin reading “The Stop here and begin reading “The Cyclops” StoryCyclops” Story

22ndnd, 5, 5thth, and 7th Period, and 7th Period Continue and take notes on your own Continue and take notes on your own

notebook paper.notebook paper.

Paris, a prince of Troy, was chosen to select the most beautiful Goddess and give her a prize. Aphrodite told him that she would give him anything he wanted if he chose her. So he did. He wanted Helen as his prize.

Aphrodite immediately went to work to keep her end of the bargain. Unfortunately, the most beautiful mortal

woman in the world was Helen, who was married to the Greek King Menelaus of Sparta.

Aphrodite brought Paris to King Menelaus’s kingdom, and when Menelaus went away on a trip, Paris wooed Helen, who actually fell in love with him but was afraid

because of her marriage to King Menelaus. Regardless, it took little convincing to go to Troy with Paris.

Helen by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

King Menelaus returned home to find that Paris had “abducted” his Helen. Menelaus went to his brother, Agamemnon. It took several years for the outraged Menelaus to assemble an army, and, when he did, kings and soldiers from all over Greece, including Achilles and Odysseus, sailed to Troy to bring back Helen…and…according to myth,thus began the TROJAN WAR!!!!

This story opens in the 10th – and last – year of the Trojan War. The war is at a stalemate (they can’t get behind that Trojan wall), and in the Greek camp there is much dissension amongst the Greeks themselves. The story of of that dissention and the wrath of Achilles, is the topic

of The Iliad (which ends with a 12 day truce in which both sides bury and mourn their dead. The focus of The Iliad

is WAR!!!

In The Odyssey, Homer starts by telling about the last days of the Trojan War in this second epic. The story relates that the man responsible for the fall of Troy is Odysseus. Odysseus conceived the plan to use the huge wooden horse (the Trojan Horse) to get into the gates of Troy. It worked!!!!! The Greeks defeated the Trojans.

Because Odysseus was instrumental in Troy’s destruction, he angered the gods who were sympathetic to Troy, and they vow that he will have a long and difficult journey home. This

journey, which takes 10 years, is the subject of Homer’s The Odyssey.