Greek mythology is known for its great mythological heroes one of which was Hercules. This hero deserved general recognition for his courage and strength. The name of Hercules is widely known in different mythological legends of modern time. This character is always presented as the embodiment of strength and power who can resist any difficulties and life obstacles.
His name is considered to be Roman; being the son of Alcmene and the God Zeus he experienced great level of unfaithfulness and cruelty in his life. The ancient mythology is rich in myths and legends describing the fate of the powerful god’s son. Being a little boy Zeus’ wife Hera wishing to kill Hercules managed to send serpents for his destroy; though Hercules managed to strangle those snakes and remain alive. His courage and power allowed him to kill a bear being young and inexperienced man. He is widely known in the Greek mythology for his 12 labors introduced by Eurystheus as a kind of penance. The labors of Hercules covered twelve difficult tasks created in order to test the courage of Hercules.
The character of Hercules and his achievements have been described not only in the sphere of mythology. The theme of his legends interpretation was to show the power of mythological heroes on the example of one of the most strong and powerful. The Roman and Greek mythological legends managed to disclose the peculiarities of Hercules’ adventures and achievements.
Hercules is considered to be a significant hero in the sphere of science and art. Hercules was recognized as one of the most great and powerful representatives of the Greek mythology; he managed to turn from a mortal person into the god. His bright achievements and victories brought him immortality. A bright representative of the scientific theories about mythological characters and events is considered t be Carl Yung. This great person of his time managed to continue the theories of Sigmund Freud regarding the functions of the mythological events. He managed to continue psychological approach and the theory of collective unconscious and archetypes. He considered that archetypes are always presented in the myth and legends.
“…myth-forming structural elements must be present in the unconscious psyche…” (Carl Jung and the Collective Unconscious, 2005).
According to his statements the identification of the Hercules myths should take a start from the identification of archetypes. It was stated that myth should be perceived symbolically; it not about the gods or physical world. The myths of Hercules should stress the symbolism of strength and power, courage and braveness rather than the story disclosing the process of man’s transformation into the god. He did not stick to the goddess of the myths. The legends of Hercules are perceived as the process of a male self development during the lifespan. Jung supported the idea that in myths people were usually motivated by a psychological energy pushing them for new achievements and psychological growth. He never agreed with Freud’s instinctual drives of aggression. Regarding the mythological nature Jung stated that his patients’ dreams were closely connected with his own theory of collective unconscious and archetypes. He tried to explain it by the fact that consciousness is based on the activities of people’s mind, sense and intuition while the world of mythology refers to the unconsciousness, psychological archetypes. Jung proved by his theory that each person had archetypes as they exist in human unconsciousness. They can be especially vivid when people are covered by the world of dreams or mythological stories.
Hercules is considered to be an example of a common archetype, a warrior archetype. He explained his warrior nature by the character’s desire to be superior to all others, to fight in order to protect; this archetype can be sometimes active in usual people because they understand and feel his function and role in life. Thus, Hercules is an example of the warrior archetype stimulating people for their personal qualities development somewhere on the unconscious level.