Berman 7
Josh Berman
Mr. Lundquist
Enriched English II
Hour 4
11/4/13
An Offer A Hero Can't Refuse
What makes a hero? Is it his courage to stand and fight when others flee? Is it his superpowers, usually given by radioactivity? Some say that he must perform some outstanding act during a horrific war or attack on the populous. None of these things make a hero necessarily; a hero is made by his actions within his legal ability. Spiderman's "villain" The Lizard has superpowers but yet is still a villain. Bank Robbers who get into shootouts with law enforcements are standing while others flee, but that doesn't make them heroes in the slightest. To themselves, said robbers have justified what they are doing. Legality is the restraining factor in said example. As with the Corleone family depicted in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, Sonny, Vito, and Michael all make illegal decisions that they justify within their own legal standards.
This family would certainly be heroes if they did their acts legally. If the case of Odysseus killing all of the suitors was brought to a modern day court, there is no way that he would not be convicted of several counts of first degree murder. He would be known as nothing more than a war hero turned serial killer. The basis in which Odysseus is a hero and the Corleones villains is based solely on the legalities of their actions, even though they are very comparable acts, decisions, and personal traits.
As when comparing two classic masterpieces, one must take into account the time periods in which they are based. Coppola's Godfather is based in 1940 America, after WWII because Michael is a WWII war hero, not to the same scale as Odysseus in the Trojan War, but he is...