Oedipus the Hero
What exactly is a hero? Is it someone who rushes into a burning house to rescue a child? Or is it a monk who abstains from worldly pleasures and comforts in order to be closer to the Gods? Joseph Cambell, one of the foremost authorities of Greek mythology, defined the literary hero as someone who accomplishes extraordinary feats in at least one of two basic realms: worldly or spiritual. If the aforementioned prospective heroes were the protagonists of a story and were transformed by their deeds and imparted the wisdom they learned on to others, then, according to Cambell, they could be viewed as heroes. Not only has Cambell defined the word hero but he has also outlined a simple cycle that most heroes follow. An annotated version of this ambiguous cycle would begin with a Call to Adventure, then the assistance of a helper, then an irrevocable crossing of the Threshold of Adventure, followed by an undergoing of an ordeal and receiving of a reward, and, finally the return of the hero with the quintessential solution. Although Oedipus clearly follows this cycle, he was an antihero rather than a hero.To better understand this, one must first follow Oedipus’s adventure in respect to how it fits into the Hero Cycle. Oedipu
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 970
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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