Heracles in Euripides: Hero or Villain - Assignment Example

Heracles is an ancient Greek hero known for representing the highest virtues of society. He is a classic hero who displays strength, invulnerability, and courage. He defends the innocent, protects his family from any kind of threat and was regarded as a superhuman (Holmes, 2008). The Euripides tragedy explains that Heracles’ father was the king of the gods, his name was Zeus. According to the Greeks, any human child that was fathered by a god was regarded as a hero who would one day save the Greek community from their problems.

Heracles had some characteristics that portrayed him as a villain. Besides his strength and courage, there was a noticeable lack of intelligence in some of his actions. For example, Heracles was seen walking around with a club as his weapon and would often look for trouble (Euripides and Allan, 2001). At one point he pulled his arrow and aimed for the sun because it was too sunny. He had too much pride which made him easily offended. Once someone had offended him, he took grudges very seriously and never forgot.

His massive appetite for food and women created an impression of how immoral Heracles was. Most of the Greek stories portray Heracles as a brutal, primitive and violent man because of the way he carried himself around and his choice of clothes. Most of the time he was seen walking around with a massive club, his customary lion skin garment with the head of the lion still attached (Euripides and Allan, 2001). He created most of his problems, for example, he once threatened a priestess of Apollo at Delphi when he asked a question and no one answered him.

Heracles, in his insanity, cruelly murders his sons while believing that he is engaging in another battle to save his people. Despite the fact that at some points of his life he was a villain, he had the helping heart of a hero.