Essay: The One True Hero

This was one of my oral reports for my English final this year, in essay form.

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One of the classic components of stories all throughout literature is the existence of a hero. These heroes have come in many different forms, from Hercules to Bilbo Baggins. As different in character and physique as these heroes may be, they share many common characteristics. Edith Hamilton recorded the stories of a wide range of characters with these qualifications in her book, Mythology. One hero who is not often referred to as such is Jesus Christ. While at first his servant’s story may seem completely contradictory to the wild adventures of Hercules and Bilbo Baggins, his story has much in common with theirs. He did not conquer his enemies through brute force like Hercules did, nor did he have a magic ring to make him invisible as Bilbo did. Instead, Jesus conquered the enemies that no hero before or after him can: sin and death.

To understand why such different personalities can have the same title, one must understand the essence of what it means to be a hero. One of the most essential aspects to a character being the hero of the story is that such a character must be given a quest. This can be directly called a quest, or it can be something the character chooses to do himself to right a wrong. The hero could be sent to retrieve a stolen object, rescue a damsel in distress, or perform any other noble act. On the road of his quest, the hero usually undergoes some sort of change, especially if the hero is not likable at the beginning of the story. At the end of this road, the hero is always victorious. Such heroes are not necessarily confined to literature—they can also exist in real life, but are easier to identify in literature.

In general, heroes in literature and in real life are equally important, though in different ways. Some real life heroes, such as firemen, are renowned for rescuing people in distress, just as many heroes in literature do. These heroes affect our daily lives in a more direct way than literary ones do, and often in a physical way. We have much to learn from the fictional lives of literary heroes, particularly as children. When children are introduced to and immersed in fairy tales, they are taught to rejoice with the hero when he is victorious over the villain of the story. Because these stories are entertaining and as a result can stick with us our whole lives, the morals behind the stories stick with us too. Above all, stories with victorious heroes teach us that our own enemies can be defeated by someone who is brave enough to take a stand.

Hamilton’s Mythology captures a wide range of Greek myths that can reach adults as easily as children. While there may be cultural differences between our lives and those of such mythological characters, many of the villains defeated by heroes in these stories relate to our own personal demons. One well-known hero from Greek Mythology, Hercules, was a strong warrior who defeated many enemies, but went insane and killed his whole family as a result. He then spent the rest of his life trying to atone for his sins, as many people from our own age try to cover over their sins with good deeds. None of the heroes presented in Greek myths are perfect—each have their faults. These heroes complete the quests given them, but they cannot complete the ultimate quest of all mankind—to defeat sin and death. Jesus Christ fulfilled this ultimate quest of mankind by atoning for all sins on the cross and defeating death by rising from it.

Hercules never could atone for his sins no matter how hard he tried, let alone atone for anyone else’s. He also did not defeat death. Even though he became a god according to the myth, he could not defeat death for everyone else. Death still reigns after Hercules’ quests were completed. The same goes for any other hero aside from Jesus. While we can learn from them the value of bravery and noble deeds, we must also take from them the understanding that only one man could and has defeated man’s greatest enemies. If we can admire literary heroes with so much zeal, how much more should we worship and serve the one hero who not only taught us as literary heroes do, but also saved us personally? No debt we could pay him would ever be enough, but he paid the price all the same because he loves us.