Essay about The 12 Labours of Hercules

Hercules is the story of a Greek God that has to complete twelve labors. Different stories interpret this story into their own versions. “The 12 Labors of Hercules” story is about Hercules, who is under a spell that Hera cast who murdered his wife and kids and has to complete twelve labors to be forgiven by the gods. In this story, Hera is furious because Zeus continues to cheat on her with other women. In the movie Hercules, Hercules, after eighteen years of feeling like he does not belong, finds out that his mortal parents found him with the Symbol of Zeus, and that he is the son of a god, Hercules then has to compete twelve laborers to prove himself a true hero and live a full immortal life with the gods. In this version of the story Hera and Zeus, the parents of Hercules found out that their son had been kidnapped and turned mortal, so they left him on Earth with a mortal couple. These stories vary in many ways such as characters, plot, and conflict. 

In the story “The 12 Labors of Hercules” and the movie Hercules Hercules is the main character. He completes the tasks in both stories and faces all of the problems. The stories focus on him and his challenges and how he overcomes them. Zeus is Hercules’s father in both stories, although he is more involved in the movie he is mentioned at the end of the story “The 12 labors of Hercules”. Hera is Zeus’s wife in both the story and the movie but her relationship with Hercules is different. In the story “The 12 Labors of Hercules” Hera is not Hercules’s mother and does not like him. She is very jealous because her husband, Zeus, had a child with another woman. Hades is the brother of Zeus in both plots, but he is a minor character in the story “The 12 Labors of Hercules” and in the movie Hercules, he is the main character.

Hercules has to complete the same twelve labors in both the movie and story, although the reason he has to complete them is different. In the movie Hercules, Hercules turns eighteen and feels like he does not belong because he is powerful. He then finds out that his parents found him on a trail with the symbol of Zeus. Hercules then goes to the Temple of Zeus for some answers, only to find out that he is the son of Zeus. He then wants to live on Mount Olympus with the gods and live a full immortal life, but he has been turned mortal, so he needs to complete the twelve labors to prove himself a true hero. In the story “The 12 Labors of Hercules” Hercules was put under a spell of madness where he goes crazy and murders his children and his wife. He then has to complete the twelve labors to be forgiven.

The conflict in both plots is very similar, someone wants to kill Hercules. But the difference lies with who wants to kill Hercules and why. In the movie Hercules, Hades is the villain and tries, multiple times, to kill Hercules. Hades wants to take over Mount Olympus and be the King of the Gods, but he has been warned that if Hercules tries to fight, Hades will lose, so he attempts to kill Hercules multiple times to be King of The Gods. In the story “The 12 Labors of Hercules” Hera is the villain. She is angry with Zeus for cheating on her so she goes after his son, Hercules. She sends snakes into his bed as a baby, but Hercules kills them. She then convinced his cousin, King Eury, that, after killing his family, Hercules is coming to steal his crown, which is not true. Therefore, after Hera persuaded King Eury, they listed twelve risky labors, hoping that he could die to complete these tasks. Hercules does not die and finishes all of the tasks. 

In the passage “The 12 Labors of Hercules” and the movie Hercules, Hercules, the son of Zeus,  has to complete twelve labors and the movie and story follow his journey while completing these tasks. Both stories outline Hercules’s journey, but the movie was definitely more entertaining. It included more of the Gods and had a much better plot. The story was choppy and grouped into parts. It did not flow and not many characters were in it. You did not read about any emotion of the characters and it wasn’t very entertaining. It was slammed together and not made into a nicely flowing plot. The movie had more emotion and characterized the characters much better, although the story and the movie had very similar conflicts, somebody wanted to kill Hercules. Hades and Hera were both Jealous. In the movie, Hades was jealous of Zeus, and in the story, Hera was Jealous of the lady Zeus had Hercules with. Both the story and the movie showed Hercule’s journey in Ancient Greece and how he completed the twelve labors.