The story of Hercules and the twelve labors is a very popular Greek myth which depicts Hercules's struggles as he attempts to complete feats so difficult, that they were nearly impossible. These feats were called the Twelve Labors. These perils took Hercules twelve years to complete, and when he did, he emerged as Greece’s greatest hero. As Hercules goes through these trials, he goes through many steps of the Hero’s Journey. As a young child, Hercules was always different. He was much stronger than most infants. His mother was the goddess Hera, while his father was a mortal man making Hercules a Demigod, a mortal born from a God or Goddess and a mortal. Throughout his early childhood, Hera sent many dangerous beasts to murder baby Hercules so she wouldn’t have to carry the burden of this baby, who had many times, accidently hurt his mother with his strength. This is Hercules's unusual childhood, showing the first part of the hero’s journey. Throughout his young adult life, Hercules had many milestones including getting married and having children. Soon, Hera came back and decided to torture Hercules until he went crazy. Hera succeed in this and Hercules, in a blind rage, murdered his wife and children. After he came out from his ‘temporary insanity’ Hercules saw the full scope of what he had done. …show more content…
Completely ashamed with himself, Hercules prayed to the god Apollo who told him, in return, that he had to serve under Eurystheus, who was the king of Mycenae and Tiryns, for twelve years as punishment for the murders he