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Hercules

In comparing the two stories of the Disney version Hercules to the Greek mythology’s story,  it can be clear that they are very much different with how they portray certain aspects of Hercules life. Love, Family, and lessons were shown  differently than how it originally played out to be all those years ago.

    The birth of Hercules in the Disney movie was between Zeus and Hera but in the Greek mythology Hercules was actually was from Alcmene, who was the wife of Amphitryon.

Hera was furious when she found out that her husband had an affair so she decided before he was even born to make his life miserable. When Hercules was only eight months old Hera sent two snakes to kill him but given his strength he inherited from his dad, he ended up killing them both.  Disney covered the secret very well by having Hades send his sidekicks (pain and panic) to transform into the snakes.

    When Hercules later grows up he learns that his parents aren’t really his but they are his adoptive parents. Very cleverly Disney had made his adoptive parents Alcmene and Amphitryon. The couple had rescued him when Hades sidekicks brought him from Mount Olympus to Earth, which ultimately they raised him to be their own. In Greek mythology Amphitryon was married to Alcmene and during his absence of military campaigns, Zeus took his place.

In time when Hercules meets his trainer Philoctetes, the argonauts have already made their voyage long before Odysseus, Theseus, Perseus, and Achilles. They belong to the past meaning that the Trojan War already took place. In mythology, Hercules was a descendant of Perseus. Hercules is a contemporary of Theseus and he already left the world at the time of the war. Odysseus and Achilles came after him, so Phil never trained him because he was a child when Hercules died.

Then Hercules meets Meg and it is her job by Hades to make Hercules fall in love with her. She apparently had sold her soul to save her boyfriend at the time but when Hades learned of Hercules still being alive he thought up a plan to rid him off a second time. The greeks said  according to some, Hera drove Hercules insane so she killed his wife and their children. Meg never sold her soul to Hades as he was never a threat to Hercules. It was always Hera because he was a reminder of her husband's affair.

    The Titans are represented as four elements in the movie; earth, fire, air, and water. Hades had freed them from the chambers Zeus had put them so that they would attack Heaven. Mythology believed that the Titans were not the same in a sense that Zeus created the Titans himself so that they would never rebel against him but when He became the ruler of the universe that is when they fought on Hades side.

        In the end Hercules renounces Heaven and he stays with Meg down on earth which the audience can assume they start a family. However mythology states that Hercules dies of poison, and burned in a funeral. Being reconciled to Hera, he married her daughter and had her children instead.

In theory, the two stories have different perspectives on how to tell they tell the same story. Between the adultery of Zeus and Alcmene, it led to a furious battle between Hera and her husbands