Western heritage Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Western heritage - Assignment Example The ideal person is defined as one who is responsible, law abiding and reasonable, he does what is right throughout his life and is considered a valuable member of the human race. In Cliffs Notes on Homer’s The Iliad entitled, â€Å"The Hero and Homeric Culture,† the Homeric hero is one who abides by social and cultural norms of the community and has to preserve the social and religious rites of the society (Mathews and Platt 45). This hero accepts no responsibility for his actions as he is deemed to be controlled by the gods. This belief leads to him not acting in an ideal way. The hero is seen as a proud and angry person who sees his personal honor as the most valuable thing. The ideal person is selfless and upholds other people’s wellbeing. In Cliffs Notes on Virgil’s The Aeneid Aeneas, the hero must possess characteristics such as tolerance, obedience to the will of the gods, and reverence for ancestors as seen through Aeneas. The true representation of an ideal character is, therefore, one who acts, not for his own good, but for the good of society as a whole. He is humble, righteous according to the morals laid down by the community and takes responsibility for his actions regardless of the consequences. The ideal person looks, for friendly ways to resolve conflict without resulting to war. Joseph Campbell’s book entitled â€Å"The Hero with a Thousand Faces†, examines the mono myth theory as â€Å"A hero ventures forth from the world of common day, into a region of supernatural wonder. Forces are there encountered, and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man†. Campbell describes the stages in mono myth: the hero starts the journey in the ordinary world he is then called into the extraordinary land where he undergoes tests and trials where he discovers his hidden abilities, he then chooses whether to return to the ordinary world to use