Ben Chan
Lisa Lanyon
Hum 115-101
29 September 2015
The Hobbit in Comparison to the Journey of Perseus
Many elements of stories and myths follow Joseph Campbell’s Hero Journey
formula. The Hobbit and the story of Perseus, while both incredibly unique, follow the
same basic formula. The heroes of each of the stories are reluctant at first and must
overcome a series of tasks to reach their goal. Due to the Hobbit being a trilogy and too
long to be able to go into detail of all of Bilbo’s adventure without this being fifteen
pages, only the first movie will be used in comparison.
The myth of Perseus begins with him and his mother living on the island of
Seriphos with a fisherman named Dictys who rescued them from a chest they were put
into. They were put into the chest by Perseus’s grandfather, Acrisius, who was told by an
oracle that his daughter’s son would kill him. Perseus’s mother Danae was apparently
extremely attractive. Her beauty was so well known that the king of the island,
Polydectes asked to marry her, but she rejected him. Polydectes would have forced Danae
to marry him, if it wasn’t for Perseus, who grew up to be a very strong man. So
Polydectes devised a plan to get rid of Perseus. First he would pretend to get married so
everyone would have to bring wedding gifts. Perseus, who was very poor, did not have a
gift for the king. He offered to bring Polydectes whatever he wants, so he asked for the
head of the Gorgon Medusa. Polydectes knew he was sending Perseus to his death.
Perseus didn’t want to leave his mother but he had to keep his word, so he set off
looking for Medusa’s lair. He began to realize how dangerous his journey was, when
Athena and Hermes both appeared to help him because he was also a son of Zeus, which
means he was their brother. Hermes lent Perseus his sandals while Athena let him use her
shield. With the help of these things, he wouldn’t have to look directly at Medusa and he
would have a fighting chance. They then tell Perseus to go the cave of the Graeae, who
were three women who shared one eye. Perseus stole the eye and used it to blackmail
them into telling him where Medusa’s lair was. They tell him to find the Nymphs who
had Hades Helmet so he could turn invisible and magic bag that could safely hold
Medusa’s head.
Perseus then heads to Medusa and her sisters lair to finally do what he set out to
