The Sage :: essays research papers

Throughout history, there have always been stories. From the myths of ancient civilizations long since past to todays epic blockbuster movies, civilizations have used stories non only as entertainment, but as a way to convey ideas, or to pass down oral history through the generations. However, over time, as we look through these myths, books, movies, and other mediums, we find a common similarity in many of them. We find repeated patterns of situations, characters, and other parts. The patterns have been classified as archetypes. For instance, one of the archetypes we often see in myths, books, and movies is the outcast. The outcast is one who has been exiled from his home to wander the world without rest.In classic mythology, one of the well-known outcasts is Perseus, the son of genus Zeus and the daughter of the king Argos however, a god once prophesized to Argos that the son of his daughter would kill him, so he sent the child in a recession across the sea to wander the world f orever. Over this time, Perseus completed many fantastical quests, such as slaying the infamous Medusa. However, when he returned to his home and participated in a fighting competition, he was pitted against Argos, and accidentally hit him, thus fulfilling the prophecy.In the Greek play of Philoctetes, Philoctetes is an outcast who has been left behind by his curse word soldiers after being bitten by a snake. His wound had become so foul smelling and his cries were so irritating, that the soldiers abandoned him on an island in the Aegean Sea. Greek heroes Odysseus and Neoptolemus arrive at the island in search of Philoctetess bow and arrow, which a seer prophesized would end the Trojan War. The two, knowing Philoctetes would attack any of the Greeks that abandoned him, fall to pose Neoptolemus as a mistreated soldier in order to get him close to Philoctetes. But, Neoptolemus is moved by the outcasts misery and confesses the eyepatch and begs him to join. Philoctetes agrees to joi n them, but only because Heracles declares a mandate that his wound shall heal when he arrives at Troy.In the Holy Bible of Christianity, in Genesis, Adam and eve are forever banished from the Garden of Eden, when they eat the forbidden fruit of God. This makes humanity itself an outcast. Also, the first children of Adam and Even, Cain and Abel, bring about another tale of an outcast.