Examples Of Archetypes In The Odyssey

In the novel The Odyssey, Homer tells the story about Odysseus and his journey to return home. In the story we see that Odysseus can be characterized as the hero who is intelligent and curious. The movie Star Wars - A New Hope shows us Luke Skywalker’s journey to rescue Princess Leia and discover “the force.” In the movie Luke can be characterized as brave, courageous and quick thinking. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is the archetypal “hero” going on a journey, full of adventure, similarly in Star Wars - A New Hope, Luke Skywalker is the archetypal “hero” who also goes on a journey.
Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus shows the audience that he is curious and intelligent. Odysseus’ curiosity is shown through the quote, “Yet I refused. I wished/ …show more content…
As hero archetypes they help us better understand their characters traits and journey. For example, Odysseus’ journey is about returning and saving his home and as the story continues we identify his character traits, such as, curiosity and intelligence. Similarly, Luke’s journey to save Princess Leia and discover “the force” reveals his character traits, such as, bravery, courage, and quick thinking. As “heros” their journeys are full of hardships and trials. For instance, in The Odyssey, when Odysseus returns home one of his trials is to kill all of the suitors to restore honor to his household. Likewise in Star Wars - A New Hope, Luke has to destroy the Death Star and discover “the force.” A common trait both Odysseus and Luke have is the ability to think quickly to form solutions. For example, in the novel when Odysseus quickly forms a plan to escape the cyclopes using the sheep to hide under. Similarly in the movie when Luke quickly thinks to use the grappling hook to swing across the chasm to save the princess and himself from the stormtroopers. Both Odysseus and Luke are good representations of the hero