Villians: Similarities Between The Hero And The Villain

Great Essays
Villians
Almost every story follows a similar formula, beginning with an exposition; the story shortly leads to the rising action, then promptly the climax appears, followed by an eventual wrapping up of the scene and the conclusion. As the story plays out, characters are created including a hero that we are supposed to love and admire. While on the way the hero meets new characters who provide context and clues that are important in the story. Typically, the hero is courageous, passionate, honest, confident, patient, selfless, caring, and everything that’s nice.
Of course, all stories include some form of conflict. The villain who has many of the same traits as the hero, but the villain’s traits are misdirected. As one author remarked, “The villains evil bring out the goodness of the hero, making the hero’s traits standout” (“Villain: Definition and Examples”). The hero and the villain are both needed to make a story compelling, as we cheer for one and boo for the other.
…show more content…
Though we can’t always control our circumstances, we can control our actions. Unfortunately, villains have chosen to be bad, even if they don’t recognize it at the time. Nobody is born as a villain, but through their choices, they turn against themselves in seeking for something greater: power, revenge, greed, money, or control. In Star Wars (2005), Anakin Skywalker chooses the dark side to gain more power and strength. He originally chose his path to preserve his wife's life, but his choice eventually led him down a path towards ultimate darkness. Although Anakin’s original intentions were out of love, the suitors from The Odyssey were driven by greed and control. Rather than displaying Xenia, the suitors were “rude men" (Homer 4), who enticed the mother of Telemachus, “sorely against her will” (Homer 13). The suitors came to Odysseus’ home, with bad hearts and all their greed, so they didn't see the pain they had caused

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Heroes are unique and different in their own ways. A hero will go the path they think is right and follow their mind. Some heroes have a tragic ending and others have a happy ending. For example, Beowulf from “Beowulf” was on a quest and was strong physically but had a tragic death. Mulan the main character from Disney movie “Mulan” on the other hand had a different quest than Beowulf 's and was strong mentally.…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Villains are an interesting bunch in that the same person can be seen as both minor/major, or helpful/dangerous. I guess the same could be said about heroes though. Chuck Klosterman, a best selling author, wrote an essay titled “Electric Funeral,” a chapter of I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined), which details villains of today-different types of technocrats. The three “villains” he mainly focuses on are Perez Hilton, Kim Dotcom, and Julian Assange, who each vary greatly on the spectrum of their acts. Hilton is a blogger who likes to post photoshopped pictures and articles, Dotcom created Megaupload, a website to post copyrighted material illegally, and Assange is the head creator of WikiLeaks.…

    • 1254 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout history epic battles between hero’s and villains have been told and reconstructed. The “good guy” or the hero, always beats the “bad guy” the villain, and they are traditionally two separate beings. Yet, now day it is becoming more and more common for the hero and villain war to be found in the same individual. As the world gets more corrupt, and as evils more easily finds its way to the common people, the battle now resides within those individuals. Within each individual there is a constant battle between hero and villain and it is up to them to decide which will prevail; the hero destined for greatness or the villain doomed to fail.…

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Joseph Campbell studied ancient greek mythology. After studying, the American Mythologist, Writer, and Lecturer, discovered that heroes in almost every story follow this same path called the Heroic Journey. He figured this out by seeing that all the heroes go through stages. For example, they refuse, they have tests/allies/enemies, and they are rewarded at the end of their journey. Everybody is a hero in their own story if you think about it.…

    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout history, no matter what story or film, there’s always archetypes which applies to characters. Archetypes are repeated personas used in works of film and literature , they help create and maintain the story so that it is interesting and helps define the characters. The movie O Brother, Where Art-Thou is one work of fiction that depicts archetypes well. There are just a few of the existing archetypes portrayed in the movie, but it shows just how diverse the community of archetypes is.…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “ A hero is an ordinary individual who find the strength to preserve and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. ”("Christopher Reeve Quote." ). Being a hero is a responsibility, but the ones who do not give up even when they are put in the most difficult positions and put their best effort forth in any situation. When having to choose a more epic hero, many qualities come into play. Between Gilgamesh and Noah, I believe that Noah is a strong hero.…

    • 937 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Two Faces of War Since we were young we all have heard and learned from our parents and grandparents that every story, including a fiction or non-fiction story, has a hero and heroine. The hero is usually a male who always fights against the evil villains and tries to conquer him. While the heroine is a female who supports the hero and helps him achieve his goals by sticking to his side while still having her own personal goal, which she is trying to obtain throughout the story. The hero and heroine tend to be the main character of the story whose jobs are to handle every situation intelligently and confidently. The outcome of the situations created by the hero and heroine are beneficial for all because they mostly do what is right for…

    • 1294 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Going Deeper through the Myths of the Ancient World. Mariana Peña 7a “The Hero's Journey” This is a way of narrating and analyzing how a hero(e) took his role in a story or myth. Myths explain stories were the character face magnificent phenomenons.…

    • 1502 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    A journey through Celtic Myth Heroes The clash of armor, the bloodshed of battle, the sound of battle cries. These are the stories of the greatest heros that went through the tragices and the challenges of becoming a hero. Cuchulain was one of the greatest heros in Irish Mythology. He is best known for his single-handed defense of Ulster.…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Defining of Heroism Heroism is a way of describing of how most heros work and their attributes, along with they are mainly used for people who mainly wear capes and saves people and uses what they have for saving the world in comics and books. Heroism is much more different than just having a cape, just saving others, and pleasing everyone that there is. Although, heroism is much more than that it can just be people who do not give up on their own goals, they are ordinary people who move forward, and they are people who put others before oneself. As such, a hero does not give up on their goals, they try to progress through it, and find a solution.…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Archetypes In The Odyssey

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Why is it that almost every story you read sounds the same. There's always a hero, a villain, a damsel in distress, and some sort of epic journey. The reason for this being that almost all novels share a common theme. These themes are called Archetypes. One of the most famous character archetypes is the great hero.…

    • 646 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Historically heroes and their tales have been around for centuries and revolved around certain cultures all around the world. The surroundings around these heroes change throughout each story, but the heroes themselves are all the same. The hero usually doesn’t decide to be a hero; he is usually chosen to become one by a great force. They usually all have a same basic plot story as well, they have to go on a journey and make great sacrifices along the way and along they plot of these stories he has to overcome these obstacles. Examples of these great heroes are Odysseus traveling back home after the Trojan War and Joseph ruling the people from Egypt out of a famine.…

    • 834 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Storytelling is easy as, picking your favorite book or novel and telling others about it. Most stories have a hero or a villain, which is basic common knowledge of any story. Archetypes are things that we use everyday without even realizing it. Archetypes are any idea, image, or basic unit of expression that appears in art, mythology, or around the world. Archetypes are also known as the “Stock Character” of the story.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When there is protagonist in a story, there exist antagonists. They are used as either an obstacle to the main character’s journey, or as another form of motivation to get through. Posidon, without a doubt, is the antagonist in The Odyssey. There may be many insignificant characters that are obstacles to Odysseus’s episodes of adventure; however, Poseidon’s existence becomes the main objection to Odysseus returning to Ithaca.…

    • 876 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In terms of plot, conflict, and so on, what’s the most typical story? The least typical?…

    • 2055 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays