The tale of a hero is one of the most classic of stories, told in various forms throughout the ages. Every hero, classical and modern, has different strengths, weaknesses, and challenges that they demonstrate and face along the way, exhibiting traits that prove them a hero. While there is no doubt that the central figures of the Greek myths of Perseus, Hercules, and Atalanta are all heroes, Hercules, strong both in will and physically, stands as the best example of a classic hero.
Heroes are not made without challenges, some of which they face early on in their journey. Hercules and Atalanta meet their first struggle as children, with the goddess Hera sending the former “two great snakes [that] came crawling into the nursery” (Hamilton 228), which Hercules promptly kills, and the latter being “left on a wild mountainside to die of cold and hunger” (Hamilton 246) by her father. In mythology, those who grow up unusually, like Hercules, Atalanta, and additionally Perseus, who is born in a bronze box and sent out to …show more content…
Some heroes, such as Perseus, “live happily ever after” (Hamilton 206-207), like he did with Andromeda, but for others, love is the most difficult trial of all. Atalanta’s romance is tragic for her, as “She declare[s] that she would marry whoever could beat her in a foot race, knowing well that there was no such man alive” (Hamilton 249), at least without trickery. A clever man named Melanion challenges her to a race, but drops three irresistible golden apples along the course so she would be forced to stop and pick them up, allowing him to win the race and her hand, ending Atalanta’s “free days alone in the forest and her athletic victories” (Hamilton 251). Hercules’ love results in his death after his wife, Deianira, gives him what she thought was a love charm, but instead forces agony upon the hero, leading him to end his own
Heroes are not made without challenges, some of which they face early on in their journey. Hercules and Atalanta meet their first struggle as children, with the goddess Hera sending the former “two great snakes [that] came crawling into the nursery” (Hamilton 228), which Hercules promptly kills, and the latter being “left on a wild mountainside to die of cold and hunger” (Hamilton 246) by her father. In mythology, those who grow up unusually, like Hercules, Atalanta, and additionally Perseus, who is born in a bronze box and sent out to …show more content…
Some heroes, such as Perseus, “live happily ever after” (Hamilton 206-207), like he did with Andromeda, but for others, love is the most difficult trial of all. Atalanta’s romance is tragic for her, as “She declare[s] that she would marry whoever could beat her in a foot race, knowing well that there was no such man alive” (Hamilton 249), at least without trickery. A clever man named Melanion challenges her to a race, but drops three irresistible golden apples along the course so she would be forced to stop and pick them up, allowing him to win the race and her hand, ending Atalanta’s “free days alone in the forest and her athletic victories” (Hamilton 251). Hercules’ love results in his death after his wife, Deianira, gives him what she thought was a love charm, but instead forces agony upon the hero, leading him to end his own