Perseus And Percy Jackson Comparison Essay

In the story “Danaus, Perseus, and the Gorgon” and “Percy Jackson and The Olympians The Lightning Thief” the similarities and differences between the events, archetype, theme, and how these three points have been modernized. One event that that was modernized was how Perseus/Percy was called to adventure. Perseus was called by the evil king to go kill Medusa to protect his mom from the king. Percy was called in a different way to save his mom, and that was by Hades. He needed to retrieve the lightning bolt in order to save her, and so he set off to go tell Hades he doesn’t have it. The battle with Medusa was similar but at the same time was more modern in PJATLT. In the original story of Perseus, there were three Gorgon sisters that turned people to stone at the sight of them. Perseus easily struck Medusa down by looking through the shield he was given, but in Percy Jackson there was only one Gorgon, that being Medusa

They both fit this because they both basically follow the Hero’s Journey exactly, some parts being left out, but the majority of them are there. They are both called by another person to save their mothers in a way, Perseus being told by the king to kill Medusa and Percy being told by Hades to find the bolt. They both don’t refuse the call and are eager to take their mother back. They each have their own guide that helps them along the way. Perseus’ helpers were Athena and Hermes and the way they modernize that in the story of Percy Jackson is that they the god’s kids and Grover to help Percy Jackson with his quest. They face plenty of monsters and challenges throughout their story and have multiple helpers along the way. The story of Perseus modernizes these fights to keep them entertaining and to show how the fights would mostly go down at this point in time. During the battle with Medusa, Percy Jackson used the reflection of his phone and mirrors to locate where Medusa