There are many different heroes in religions and myths, who are typically the center of the story. The heroes that are in pieces of literature are Herakles, Mary, and Jesus. These heroes were chosen to fulfill a prophecy which people would later worship. Whether they were reborn or returned from the dead. In the hero myth of Jesus, he was reborn to show that their is a god who would give him powers. With these powers that are given to Jesus by God he would have disciples who would believe in his being. Mary was a hero who was involved with the same religion as Christianity. Mary was the reincarnation of Eve which is a characteristic of a hero. Herakles was a Greek hero who was granted immortality by rising from flames. Hercules grew stronger as time went by as David Adams Leeming said, "As a snake changes its old skin, so Hercules, as the flames consumed his body."(307) Every time the gods have seen that Hercules was getting weak they would boost his health and strength. All these heroes were put to fulfill their purposes to protect others or to show people to righteousness. Having these heroes in a mythological story can influence other people to become something they can believe in.
Interesting, within these myths it is clear that rebirth, reincarnation, and resurrection are important themes to all the heroes. Another theme that is closely related to being reborn that I notice frequently is that at some point within the story someone is also giving birth to the heroes. The creation of the hero is essential to these stories, the myth I read was about The Buddha and a large portion of the story explained how his mother conceived him. Lastly I find it interesting that Herakles was not actually reborn, but the gods gave him powers which allowed him to have more capabilities which can be seen as being "reborn".
ReplyDeleteKevin Ayala^
DeleteMy favorite type of myths were the hero myths. I find it very interesting when heros usually always have to go through some hardship and from then now realize they need to be a greater good. I found it important that some of your examples include religion. It shows that many Hero myths are important due to religions like Christianity. One of my favorite hero myths was the one of Lituolone a hero from a Bantu myth that went on to protect his mother and slay a monster that had ate thousands of people. Similar to these stories, it's usually always a male but in some cases like Mary, a female, that can lead people to victory or away from destruction. - Miguel Guzman
ReplyDeleteRobert Hayashi- I agree with you that most of these heroes where given birth for the purpose of protection or guiding people into a better positive route. It is just weird how most of these heroes were born unexpectedly or without conceiving in a physical way. They all came from know where and grew up to be protectors or important figures in peoples' lives. For me the oddest story I heard but was my favorite has to be the Water Jar Boy. His story to me was random because he was born from clay and was originally a jar. Eventually he became free of his jar form and searched for his father.
ReplyDeleteI agree to your point in which you said that all heroes in every piece of literature are given a purpose and are born to make a change. Mary, Hercules and Jesus were looked up to a lot and are believed in by the people which are now worshiped. The people would give them strength and courage to keep them going and make them feel powerful. These heroes make a change and were born to be remembered as the people who made a change in life. These stories by being read make people realize that there should be positive thinking and things should be changed or can get changed with one person.
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