The Rash And Regret Of Hercules

The Rash and Regret of Hercules When people know nothing they are easily scared. The early Greeks were unaware of many things in their lives so, they made stories to cope with the inability to comprehend the world around them. The Greeks were a mischievous people who made many mistakes and one man in the strange Greek stories is the perfect embodiment of this quality. One of these stories was about a very strong man named Hercules, Edith Hamilton wrote about his story in her book Mythology. Hercules was a strong man who often hurt people unintentionally, but once he discovered his misconduct, he was quick to repent through glorious acts. Hercules’ impulsive actions resulted in the death of his family. For example, “Hera who never forgot a wrong sent madness upon him. He killed his children and Megara, too, as she tried to protect the youngest” (Hamilton 257). When people are mad, they tend to act without thinking, and Hercules, who was devoted to his wife, was not thinking when he killed her. Death is …show more content…
Throughout his life Hercules had many great adventures, one involving a centaur was fatal for his health. He was crossing a river with his new wife Deianira when a centaur tried capturing her. Hercules killed the beast, but not before the centaur gave Deianira some of his blood that he claimed was a love potion. Later in their lives, Hercules was on an adventure and a rumor went around that Hercules loved someone else. Deianira tried to use the love potion to renew Hercules’ devotion to her, but the potion hurt him and Deianira committed suicide out of shame. At that point, Hercules decided life was not worth living and had others make a funeral pyre for him. He was killed, but reconciled with Hera in heaven and married her daughter Hebe. As long as human nature allows people to act without thought, horrible acts will happen, but so will repentance and forgiveness for those