CLA labor of hero Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CLA labor of hero - Essay Example With regard to their births, Herakles, therefore, was superior in strength to Theseus as he hailed from a union between man and god (Powell, 2012). Herakles labors resulted as a punishment for his murdering of his wife – princess Megara and all their children albeit with madness bestowed upon him by Hera. Theseus labors, on the other hand, were because of his quest to claim his birthright by taking the sword and sandals back to King Aegeus (Powell, 2012). Both Herakles and Theseus were faced with labors, which they overcame despite everyone expecting them to fail. Herakles endured twelve labors while Theseus was faced with six labors. Herakles transcended his labors purely due to sheer strength while Theseus succeeded primarily due to his wit. Besides, Herakles was at most times supported by deities – Hermes and Athena - whenever he needed them while Theseus never had the support of deities. The hero-myth dichotomy refers to the hero’s movement from the normal world, into the supernatural facet where challenges are encountered and transcended, and finally the hero comes back to help men. The hero-myth has key markers such as one divine parent – for example Zeus in the case of Herakles. Another key characteristic of the hero-myth is that the birth of the hero may be unusual – such as in the case of Herakles where his birth was delayed by the intervention of Hera. Another key marker of the hero-myth is the great strength that the hero possesses – for instance – Perseus who kills the monster Medusa. Almost all of the Greek mythical heroes were male. This orientation depicted the state of affairs at the time in Greece where males were assumedly warriors while the females were expected to handle house chores and bring up children. One of the key roles of the male heroes was to deliver society from the enclaves of suffering, as well as suffering. In addition, the male heroes’