Free Essay About Perseus

A journey of a hero is described by Campbell in his “heroic cycle” in the form of stages. The first stage in Campbell’s cycle is a “call to adventure” where hero receives the call to the unknown. Perseus receives his call to the unknown when the King Polydectes pursues Perseus’s mother. Perseus declares that to keep Polydectes away from his mother he would do anything and he would even bring “the head of Medusa.” The King Polydectes accepts Perseus offer and thus begins the journey of our hero from the ordinary world to the world of the supernatural. But, to bring the head of Medusa was an impossible task without the Divine help. As Campbell’s cycle depicts once the journey begins a hero needs supernatural aid, and in the case of Perseus, Athena came to him as a magical helper. In this stage of his journey, Perseus receives aids from his allies to accomplish his task. The first challenge for Perseus is to find, a pair of winged sandals, a hat that would make him invisible, and a leather bag to keep the head of Medusa. After subduing Graeae --three old sisters who shared one eye-- and locating the Stygian nymphs, Perseus finds the tools that are required to accomplish his task. Thus, our hero and his allies prepare to face the biggest challenge of their journey the dangerous Medusa herself. However, our hero was able to accomplish his task and able to behead Medusa. While returning from his task our hero enters into the stage of “ordeal,” as Campbell would call it, where he confronts the greatest fear of his journey the formidable sea monster. Perseus fights against the sea monster to save the life of Princess Andromeda. Our hero is able to slay the creature and as a reward for his ordeal he gets the hand of Andromeda in marriage. Thus begins the journey of our hero from the world of supernatural back to the world of ordinary. Campbell remarks that before the end of the story a hero is tested one last time. And in our story, this last test of Perseus comes in a form of an inner test when he fulfills the Oracle’s prophesy and kills Acrisius unintentionally. Thus, as redemption he does not return to his homeland, but rather goes to Tiryns where he finally achieves the mastery of the two worlds, attaining the balance between the material and spiritual.
Campbell, Joseph. "Hero's Journey." Thewritersjourney.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.