Essays on Heroics

“Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes has remained an instrumental piece of literature since its publication in 1605. The success of “Don Quixote” may be in part to its underdog hero and his quest to achieve his dreams despite ridicule from his peers. Some critics have gone as far as saying that “Don Quixote” was “the best literary work ever written”. To understand the importance of “Don Quixote” one must break down the novel and examine the theme of chivalry and heroics to see why “Don Quixote” is truly a literary work that transcends time and entertains and inspires many ...

The Lord of the Rings film series are a trilogy and one of the best epic fantasy mythological films. The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring, directed by Peter Jackson, is a movie based on the novel written by J.R.R.Tolkien. My goal in this paper is to review the heroics of the fictional protagonist Frodo Baggins, describe how his experiences are universal to the humankind, and how Frodo is considered a model by which people can comprehend their experience and cope with enormous and often mysterious task of being human.

Hobbits are usually not considered humans; however they are ...

Alone, the word ‘epic’ denotes a number of central ideas pertaining to size, volume and length; these ideas are also central to an epic poem. Traditionally, epic poems are long in length and usually deal with an extremely involved plot: heroes, wars, battles between gods, and journeys are usually integral plot devices. They also have a number of key characteristics which help to define them as such. The purpose of this essay is to explore what defines a poem as being an epic with reference to two key examples of such poems: The Odyssey by Homer (and translated by Robert Fitzgerald) and ...