Heroes and Legends: The Most Influential Characters of Literature

Overview

Course No. 2192
Professor Thomas Shippey explores 24 iconic literary characters who shaped world culture, examining:

• How heroes reflect changing societal values across 3,000 years
• The creative process behind legendary characters from Odysseus to Harry Potter
• Why certain archetypes endure and evolve through history
• The real-world impact of fictional heroes on politics and identity

Discover how these unforgettable characters reveal timeless truths about human nature.

Video Lessons

Ancient and Mythic Heroes

1. Frodo Baggins (34 min)
   The reluctant hobbit hero redefining courage
2. Odysseus (31 min)
   Homer’s cunning trickster and adventurer
3. Aeneas (32 min)
   Virgil’s patriotic founder of Rome
4. Beowulf (32 min)
   The monster-slayer with hidden depth
5. Thor (31 min)
   Norse mythology’s surprisingly human god

Medieval and Renaissance Figures

6. Guinevere (31 min)
   Arthurian queen of passion and politics
7. Wife of Bath (30 min)
   Chaucer’s proto-feminist pilgrim
8. Cressida (31 min)
   Shakespeare’s complex femme fatale
9. Robin Hood (29 min)
   The outlaw who shaped English identity
10. Don Quixote (31 min)
    Cervantes’ deluded knight and his antihero squire

Enlightenment to Victorian Era

11. Robinson Crusoe (30 min)
    Colonialism and survival in Defoe’s classic
12. Elizabeth Bennet (31 min)
    Austen’s sharp-witted romantic heroine
13. Natty Bumppo & Woodrow Call (32 min)
    Contrasting visions of the American frontier
14. Uncle Tom (32 min)
    Stowe’s controversial martyr figure
15. Huckleberry Finn (30 min)
    Twain’s river-bound truth-seeker

Modern Archetypes

16. Sherlock Holmes (31 min)
    Rationality personified in Victorian London
17. Dracula (33 min)
    Gothic horror’s seductive villain-hero
18. Mowgli (30 min)
    Kipling’s feral child of the jungle
19. Celie (31 min)
    Walker’s resilient survivor in The Color Purple
20. Winston Smith (32 min)
    Orwell’s doomed rebel in 1984
21. James Bond (30 min)
    Cold War glamour and danger

Contemporary Icons

22. Fairy-Tale Heroines (33 min)
    From Cinderella to modern revisions
23. Lisbeth Salander (32 min)
    Digital-age avenger with mythic roots
24. Harry Potter (34 min)
    Millennial heroism in Rowling’s wizarding world