The challenges, temptations, and abyss are what change initiates into heroes and show if they are up to the challenge. Edmond Dantes from The Count of Monte Cristo, Odysseus from The Odyssey, and Santiago from The Alchemist, and all face a number of challenges, temptations, and an abyss throughout their hero's journey and they all overcome these hardships, proving their heroicness. In The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantes has a paradisiacal life before his journey begins. While he is in the Chateau d’If prison, he meets a priest named Abbe. He teaches Dantes about God, economics, reading, writing, math, and science. These lessons are hard for Dantes to learn and understand, posing a great challenge, but he perseveres and is eventually successful. …show more content…
He battles Polyphemus, Scylla, and Charybdis, and has his crew’s ships destroyed by Laestrygonians. Once Odysseus returns home, he faces the challenge of fighting the suitors who have overrun his home. First, he must, “lineup twelve axes with their handles in the air and fire his arrows through the rings.” This task is hard to suitors but easy for Odysseus. At this point it is clear Odysseus is significantly more powerful than the average man. After completing the task with ease, Odysseus and Telemachus battle and kill all the suitors and Odysseus’ bravery shines brightly after successfully completing multiple challenges. The Land of the Dead is a place no man wants to end up and is described as a “‘...place of death and sorrow.’”; this is his abyss. He is forced to recognize his mortality and he realizes how much he misses his family. Long before this, Odysseus met the first of two temptations, Calypso. She attempts to persuade him to leave Penelope and stay with her, but she is only enchanting him.After seven years, Hermes finally frees him from her island. Odysseus sets out and travels with his men, eventually meeting Circe. She seduces Odysseus’ crew with her powers and lures them inside. Odysseus would have fallen for her spell too if it was not for his assistance from …show more content…
She is the threshold guardian and describes his dream about his treasure at the Pyramids. She tells him his dream is an omen and encourages him to go to the Pyramids. Just like Odysseus and Dantes, he faces challenges. His first challenge crossing the desert. Crossing the desert takes energy, time, and bravery and is a consistent issue. After miles of trekking across the desert for many weeks, Santiago eventually meets the Alchemist. They continue their journey through the desert until one day when three soldiers capture them. The alchemist makes a deal with the soldiers; if Santiago can turn himself into the wind in three days, they will be set free, forcing Santiago to face two more challenges. First, he must quickly learn the Language of the World. To do so, he thoroughly examines himself and the world around him. He has to learn that connecting with the Soul of the World is a very difficult task. Three days pass and it is now the day Santiago must turn himself into the wind. At the climax of the story, he steps out onto a cliff. The desert speaks to Santiago and asks him, “what is love?” Santiago, deeply in love with Fatima answers, “Love is the falcon’s flight over your sands. Because for him, you are a green field, field from which he always returns with game. He knows your rocks, your dunes, and your mountains, and you are generous to him.” This answer shows Santiago has grown up and
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Show MoreIn book 12 of The Odyssey, Odysseus and his remaining men encountered many problems that drastically changed the process of returning home. After the proper burial of Eplenor, Circe gives Odysseus advice to handle the dangers on the way home. Odysseus led his men to the island of Thrinacia, which contains the cattle of the sun. In this episode, Odysseus’s loyalty, bravery, compassion, and faith to return home with his men is shown, despite the many obstacles faced along the way. Odysseus faced many challenges in this episode that hardened and delayed his homecoming.
After their visit with Aeolus, Odysseus and his crew come upon Aeaea, the island of Circe. Circe tricks many of Odysseus’s men, turning them into pigs, requiring Odysseus to try to save them. With the help of Hermes, he manages to evade her magic and makes a deal with her. “Or swear me first a great oath, if I do, / you’ll work no more enchantment to my harm.” (10.76-77).
Odysseus is a warrior who has been through struggle after struggle, so the idea of a having an easy-out, a life of complete relaxation, is extremely tempting. Calypso is the cage that is trapping
In The Odyssey Homer makes Odysseus’ journey to his beloved Ithaca excruciating. Odysseus encounters many friends and foes throughout his journey and has to be a leader throughout his experiences. As an example, he encounters Polyphemus and Poseidon, both of whom make his journey mentally and physically painful. Odysseus faces countless scenarios in which he has to save multiple people in those situations. He also encounters the suitors, who are a group of men that try to marry Penelope, when he returns to reclaim his home.
Yes, Penelope struggles greatly with a very important decision throughout the course of the story. In the background of the main plot, Penelope struggles with a very important decision throughout the time Odysseus remains lost at sea. After many years without Odysseus’ return, the prospect of a new marriage inclines itself onto Penelope. The sons of the noblest families come to live with Penelope in order to court her for marriage.
He felt obligated to remain with her in a perfect paradise for seven years. However, throughout the entire time he was trapped with Calypso, Odysseus felt that he was wanted elsewhere. Thus, he longed to return to his home and to his dearly loved Penelope. Odysseus’ passion for being with his wife ultimately won the call for him to return home.
What if another man comes to the oasis in pursuit of finding a wife and believes Fatima would be the one he should marry. For days, Santiago lay in his bed awake. He thought about his two options, but decided to leave. This shows how strong his trust in Fatima was, but it also shows how strongly he believed in achieving his personal
Odysseus tells his stories to the Phaeacians, who gave him a safe passage home to Ithaca. Odysseus shares his adventures to the Land of Lotus Eaters, getting trapped in Polyphemus’ cave, having his men turned into pigs by Circe, journeying into the underworld for directions home, getting lured by sirens, his fight with Scylla and Charybdis, and his crew eating the cattle of Helios, which led him to his imprisonment with
His desire to return to Fatima is what drives him to succeed. However, the desert is not able to help him, and so Santiago also expresses his love for Fatima to the wind. He wants to be the wind not only to prove to the tribesmen that they were indeed travelers, but to return to Fatima, and to be “able to reach every corner of the world, cross the seas, blow away the sands that cover [his] treasure, and carry the voice of the woman [he] love[s]” (146). He then also tells the wind that, “When you are loved, you can do anything in creation. When you are loved, there’s no need at all to understand what’s happening because everything happens within you, and even men can turn themselves into the wind.
He meets a priest Abbe Faria who helps figure out how his conspirators locked him up. • Dantes escapes prison and is seeking revenge. He takes the identity of Count of Monte Cristo. A very powerful and wealthy person. He uses his new identity to find the people that put him away so he could get his revenge.
Odysseus, a war hero, struggles to return home with his men.(CD) Odysseus acts with much bravery, as is shown in his conflict with Polyphemus, however he sometimes allows his pride to get the best of him.(CM) Odysseus often shows guile, being the mind behind the Trojan horse. (CM) Odysseus tries to work together with his men so they can get home.(CD) This does not work well at times, as his men act somewhat mutinous.(CD) Overall, Odysseus maintains a very strong motivation, and he displays usefulness in difficult situations.(CM)
In The Inferno, Dante is the hero of the story. Dante is the man exiled from his home as a result of his political struggles and beliefs with the choice between evil and good. Dante’s heroism is in the form of humanity as he faces the challenge which all human beings struggle with. Dante’s courage is tested as he journeys through the rings of hell. According to Dante, “therefore look carefully; you’ll see such things/as would deprive my speech of all belief” (Alighieri, Dante. 1854).
While at the Oasis of Al-Fayoum, the elder chieftain of the oasis tells Santiago the story of Joseph of Egypt. Joseph was enslaved for being a dreamer, but he persevered and managed to become an important counselor to the Pharaoh of Egypt. This Personal Legend could have suited Santiago because of his connection to the Soul of the World. The Soul of the World is a spiritual unity that binds all forms of nature together. Santiago knew he wanted to follow his dreams; it was helpful when he learned that “When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it” because he knew he was now destined to complete his goal, and not somebody else’s (Coelho 64).
Naturally, he has much to be proud of: his sexy and loyal wife, his bravery, and his victorious battles from the Trojan War and beyond. However, his arrogance creates a weakness in his character that negatively impacts himself and the people around him. The evolution in Odysseus’s personality turns him from an arrogant flaunter to a humble man, and demonstrates that the strifes he encounters during his journey home is not simply new experiences, but also his beginning of a profound revelation. Starting from the middle of the mountain, Odysseus’s new transformation will allow him to soar to the top with eagle
•Edmond Dantès: Protagonist. Edmond’s unequivocal happiness is cut short when his enemies, who are blinded by their jealousy and self-bitterness, plot against him. Edmond’s gullibility and willingness to incoherently trust everyone around him precipitates his downfall. His destruction of character and desire for vengeance leads him to overstep moral boundaries. With the transformation of Edmond into the Count of Monte Cristo, he experiences a metaphorical death, the death of his virtuous self.