Everyone loves a hero. But what exactly is a hero? Over the ages there have been different ideas of what makes one person more admired, praised, and adored than another. Let's look at an ideal hero in Homer's, Sophocles', and our own time to analyze the makings of an ideal man, a hero.
ODYSSEUS
What qualities did this man possess to make him heroic? Athena, appearing to Telemachus as Mentes in Book I of The Odyssey, laments that Odysseus is not home to fight the suitors. So, a hero must be mighty in fighting. But we also see in Book VI how Odysseus can be humble and submissive as he interacts with the royal Phaeacian family. So, too, a hero must know when to show his humility. How does this idea of a hero change as, say, 200 years passes? Here's a look at a renowned figure presented by Sophocles.
OEDIPUS
Despite his unlucky fate, Oedipus was a respected leader. A quality people admired about him was his smarts. He saved the city from the Sphinx by solving her riddle by his own wit. This trait is admired by the chorus in Oedipus the King (132). Oedipus also had a quick temper. Maybe that wasn't quite so admirable a trait, but it's evidently included in Sophocles' idea of an ideal man. There's a slight shift in the idea of a hero from Homer's to Sophocles' time. It seems that at this point brains and problem-solving skills were considered more than physical strength. Although I'm sure Odysseus was clever and Oedipus strong, those weren't their most notable characteristics. How do these ideas compare to today's idea of a hero, or an ideal man?
IDEAL MAN
Fortunately enough, GQ has already tackled the question of what makes an ideal man. The results of their survey of 1000 men and women (Simpson, 2012) included characteristics such as good sense of humor, kind, honest, ability to speak more than one language, good listener, and intelligence. I wonder if Odysseus or Oedipus ever took calculus. . .
HERO
Ok, if we're talking about heroes, Iron Man definitely needs to be mentioned. Let's consider his characteristics. Or at least as RDJ has portrayed them. He's rich, successful, good looking, listens to ACDC, drives fancy cars, disobeys government officials, and has a goatee. Oh and he like saves people and the earth and stuff, too.
I'd say the idea of a hero, an ideal man, hasn't changed too drastically since Homer's time. Homer's emphasis was more on the physical and we don't care so much about their political position, but all in all everyone loves a doer of deeds and a speaker of words. Hopefully they're good deeds and good words. Who's your hero?
Odysseus was known as wiley Odysseus because he had great wit and was very clever. So perhaps, the two examples of heroes were even more similar than you thought. I feel like Iron Man really is what people today would view a hero. If you think of most "hero" movies, the protagonist is very similar. Batman is just another example of one of our heroes who is rich, attractive and most people care more about how cool it is when he kills the bad guy rather than the good (or bad) they represent.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I think is important to consider in our day is we care how that person became a hero. Both batman and ironman were rich, prideful people who went through an experience that led them to change to focus more on the public good than themselves. Homer's stories are about what people who are already heros go through.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you have written and would like to add to the idea by saying that one difference we may find is that in modern times we find stories about heroes that come out of nowhere. These characteristics are what transform regular men into heroes when they use them in difficult situations. In the stories we are studying, heroes seem to be chosen from the moment they were born, they were blessed with titles or the support of the gods. We have a few fictional heroes that seem to fit into this category but at the same time they have to go through certain rite of passage to be accepted as heroes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in that in some aspect we still have some of the ideals of what is an " ideal man" but i do think we have change a lot on who can be a hero now. i feel that now everyone as more of an opportunity to be a hero compare to the old days were only a certain of person was considerate a hero. i really enjoyed your post!
ReplyDeleteI think that it is really interesting how you somehow narrated the evolution of the idea of a hero. I agree with your point that a hero it is not only defined by its external appearance or by his strength, even though it was something very important to the Greeks, but rather by his brains. Let’s say that the physical beauty and strength was a plus, the thing that mattered the most was how well the hero planned and executed a strategy. However I’m not sure if that's what happen with today’s “heroes”. I think that sometimes we give more importance to the physical aspect than to the intelligence aspect.
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