comparison of Perseus and Hercules

Comparison of Perseus and Hercules

文化传播学院 09级1班 陈非非

Comparison of Perseus and Hercules

The “age of heroes” in Greek mythology is fairly well defined. It is the generation or two leading up to the Trojan War, during which most of the greatest Greek heroes were active, and from which the Greek tragedians took most of the material for their plays. It will be obvious that those tales share many repeated themes and motifs: the hero’s mysterious birth and his quest to regain his inheritance, the father or grandfather who tries to kill the hero out of fear; the impossible quest or set of tasks, imposed by a rival who seeks to dispose of the hero; the love-struck enemy princess who helps him, the descent into the underworld; the fated disaster and the attempt to evade it; most of all, perhaps , the contrast between the heroes’ public achievements and their tragic private lives.

Perseus and Hercules are two of the most important heroes in Greek mythology. Both of them share the themes and motifs just mentioned, but they have many differences in their lifelong. Here is the comparison of the two. Perseus

Perseus belongs to an earlier generation than the other heroes; he is, in fact, Hercules’ great grand-father. He was the son of Zeus and Danae, daughter of King Acrisius of Argos. The most important characters of Perseus, I think, are kind and honest. His characters were embodied in the following three parts: 1. Spare no efforts to protect his mother.

Perseus was abandoned by his grand-father, Acrisius, who was warned by an oracle that his daughter’s child would kill him. So he sealed the two of them up in a wooden chest and floated it out to sea. Perseus and his mother came to the island of Seriphos. But Danae was annoyed by the king of Seriphos, Polydectes. In order to protect his mother, Perseus was forced to finish the impossible quest that he would give the king the head of Gorgons. Helped by Athena, Perseus finally achieved the task and rescued his mother. 2. Rescue the princess.

By flying home with Gorgon’s head, Perseus passed over the coast of Libya, where he saw a beautiful princess, Andromeda, chained to a rock and menaced by a sea-monster. Perseus flew down, slew the monster and rescued the princess. After that, Andromeda became Perseus’ wife. 3. Spend whole life with one wife.

Compared with other heroes, Perseus was one of the few who spent his whole life with only one wife. I think that’s very rare. Hercules

Hercules was the son of Zeus by a mortal woman, Alcmena. Alemena and her husband Amphitryon were both grandchildren of Perseus. While Amphitryon was away one day, Zeus disguised himself as Amphitryon and spent a long night with Alcmena. So was begotten Hercules. The most remarkable characters of Hercules are

direct, brave and amorous. These were embodied as the followings: 1. Atone after fault

As a bastard child of Zeus, Hercules was always bitterly jealous of by Hera, Zeus’ wife. When he got married with Megara and gave birth to three children, he was set a fit of madness be Hera, in which he killed Megara and the children, taking them for monsters. Having recovered his sanity, he asked Apollo’s oracle at Delphi how he could purify himself of blood-guilt. 2. Complete Twelve Labors

Apollo’s oracle ordered Hercules to serve his cousin King Eurystheus for twelve years and carry out twelve tasks that he would impose. After innumerable hardships, Hercules completed the twelve impossible tasks. The other deeds which Hercules carried out, in the course of his Labors or afterwards, are far too many to list. This young man was immensely strong, utterly fearless and brave. 3. Marry three women

Hercules married three times in his life. Her first wife was Megara, who was the princess of Theban. Hercules married her as a reward for his services in battle. Afterward Megara was killed by Hercules. After the Twelve Labors were over, Hercules took a second wife, Deianira, who was a princess of Calydon, whom he won by defeating his rival, the river god Achelous, in a wrestling contest. Later Hercules fell in love with another woman, Iole, princess of Oechalia. But he was burned by the poison, which by way of a punishment for betray.