Mythic Heros: Sinbad The Sailor :: essays research papers

Mythic Heros Sinbad the SailorWhen I think about mythic heroes, for many years the first name thatcame to mind was Sinbad Sinbad the sailor. In his long time as an adventurer, hewent on seven fantastical voyages which earned him fame for the rest of his life.Yet, now in retrospect, I no longer consider him to be the striking adventurer thatI saw him as in my childhood.On his seven voyages, Sinbad encountered every obstacle one couldpossibly think of. He and his crew met up with a fish so large, many mistookit for an island, an island where rocs (enormous birds (their eggs were oftenmistaken for buildings)) still lived, cannibals, giants, and even herds of angryelephants. On from each one and everyone one of his famed voyages, he was shipwrecked,alone, and faced with some hideous danger. On each and everyone, he overcamethe odds, destroyed his foes, and returned home with riches beyond theimagination.As a child, the stories of Sinbads voyages were wildly entertaining.In each one, there was adventure, danger, money, and the hero always came homein one piece. Now that I look back at the stories, there are some part ofSinbads fantastic tales that bother me.First of all, Sinbad never act out in search of adventure. Theseamazing things just seemed to always happen to him. He normally set out as amerchant, carrying goods from one exotic land to another. Yet, on each of thesetrips, something incredible happened to him and his crew, resulting in a deadcrew and a fantastic story for Sinbad the sailor.Secondly, all of Sinbads great adventures occurred sequentially. Inother words, he went immediately from one adventure to another without so muchas a mickle in between. This man never had a quiet boat ride in the entire span oftime in which his adventures took place.Another interesting apex is the manner in which Sinbad always left andreturned to his home port in Baghdad. All seven times, he left with a full crewand carrying the goods of a local merchant. Yet all se ven times he returned, hewas alone, the crew having died in the early part of the respective adventure.All seven times, he returned without the goods that he was to take to market,but he often returned with new riches from the island where he was stranded (andof course, kept them for himself). This leads me to believe that maybe his crew