Star Wars Term Paper

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Epics

Each era has its own epic, from the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf to the Grecian Iliad, the Hindu Ramayana, the British King Arthur, or the space age Star Wars. Yet it seems that certain elements remain the same, as if a single myth was repeating over and over again. These elements are the high ancestry or social status of the hero, the degree to which the hero's actions determine the fate of nations, his superhuman and courageous feats that uphold the standards of his culture, the presence of supernatural events and beings, the scope of the action involving many nations or a journey, heroes who make long and often philosophically important speeches, and the treatment of universal ideas.

As in Aristotelian tragedy, it is important in great epics that the hero be of noble birth or great social status. For example, Beowulf is a great hero and slayer of giants, but he is also a noble from a far-off country. In the Iliad, all the central figures are nobles or commanders, and the poet specifically says he cannot name everyone who went to fight but only the leaders. Achilles is the son not only of a kind but also of a minor deity. In the Ramayana, we also see a character who is deified to some degree. While Prince Rama's parents are both noble mortals, he is seen as an avatar of one of the greatest gods, Vishnu, who has taken human form. King Arthur, meanwhile, is not of divine birth but his birth was facilitated through magic.

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He is the child of King Uther, and true heir to the throne. This tradition of noble birth is also played out in the modern epic of Star Wars. Luke Skywalker is son of Anakin Skywalker, who we later find out was the greatest of the Jedi warriors and (according to Episode One) came from a virgin birth as a sheer manifestation of The Force.

Noble birth alone is not enough, though -- the character must also have an important impact. His actions determine the fate of his people. For example, Beowulf's killing of Grendel frees the entire region from living in fear. In the Iliad, the entire flow of battle depends of Achilles, and the Greeks lose without his help and win with it. His participation determines the fate of the Greeks and the city state of Troy. Likewise Rama's decisions make the fate of the nation over which he should be king, and his killing of Ravanna determines the fate of the demon's entire city as well as of all the holy men he has been….....

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