Hercules Second Hardest Labour Analysis

Hercules was the strongest man in all of Greece. He was so strong that one day he killed his wife and children in an angry rage. Hercules realized what he had done and asked the gods how he can pay for this terrible sin. The gods responded by telling Hercules to perform ten difficult tasks under the command of King Eurystheus. Hercules ends up performing twelve because he “failed” two tasks. These tasks seemed nearly impossible, but they were not match for Hercules. There were three that Hercules had a tough time with. The three hardest labours that Hercules had to endure were cleaning the Augean Stables, slaying the mighty Lernaean Hydra, and capturing the guardian of the Underworld, Cerberus. The third hardest labour that Hercules had to …show more content…
This is the second most difficult labour because it required multiple skills, it required the assistance of his nephew, and like the Augean Stables, this labour did not count toward the original ten labours. Hercules knew that he would have to use more than brute strength to take out this creature, so he used his brains and made his nephew tag along because he knew he couldn’t take out the beast on his own. As a result of his nephew tagging along to help slay the Hydra, King Eurystheus did not count this a labour because Hercules did not complete this task on his …show more content…
Hercules had to be persuasive in order to get to Cerberus, he had to use brute strength while grappling with Cerberus, and he had to use navigational skills to find his way to the Underworld and back. Another struggle he faced with this labour was fighting Cerberus. Hades would not allow Hercules to weaken Cerberus with weapons, so Hercules had to bare-knuckle grapple with the illusive dog. He managed to weaken Cerberus until he could no longer fight. The final struggle that Hercules had to overcome while doing this labour was using his navigational skills. Hercules not only had to find his way to, through, and back from the Underworld, but on his way back he had to carry a three-headed dog on his shoulders. Hercules truly is the strongest man in all of