Monsters show that Heroes have courage because Heroes face them and kill them when a regular human would run away. Monsters are very frightful to humans because they represent two things that humans are afraid of. The first of these is the unknown or unfamiliar. Monsters are usually very hideous, with features like Medusa’s snake hair. The second reason why humans are afraid of monsters is that monsters usually pose a threat to their well being. For example, “a tribute of seven men and seven women were sent every nine years to be d

Monsters are usually a threat to humans in the sense that they may potentially hurt or kill them. Monsters are also commonly more powerful than humans and are therefore hard to get rid of. Since one cannot overpower a monster, one must outwit it. Heroes usually have greater wits than the average human so they are successful at outwitting monsters. Perseus avoids being turned to stone by entering, “the cave backward, looking into his shield (mirror) so he won’t have to look directly into the terrible face (of Medusa).” (pg.311). This is an example of Perseus’ greater wits because there are many men (The ones turned to stone at the entrance of the cave for example.) who did not think of using a mirror when entering Medusa’s cave. Perseus was also wise to plan ahead before going to kill Medusa. He brought with him the polished shield to use as a mirror and a pouch to put the head in to keep safe from seeing the monster’s face. Odysseus outwitted the Cyclopes more than once; the first was when he told him his name was Noman. When Polyphemus was injured he cried out to his friends that Noman had tricked him, his friends left him think that ‘no man’ had tricked him. The second time Odysseus out witted Polyphemus was when he blinded him but did not kill him, knowing that he was the only person in the cave that could remove the heavy boulder from the entrance way so Odysseus could escape. The third way that Polyphemus was outwitted by Odysseus was when, “Odysseus devises a way to esca

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