Heracles, the greatest hero of Greece, is a demigod whose mortal life is dominated by a series of successes due to his extraordinary strength and failures due to his passions excessive. While his passions apparently cause him pain and bring misfortune, he ultimately achieves eternal glory through the hardships he endures. Through images of unnecessary conflict and violence, Heracles is directly and indirectly characterized as tragically flawed by a lack of self-control, indicating the need for proper judgment and intelligence to compensate for brute force. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Heracles' righteous inclination to self-inflict punishment in contrition for his avoidable misdeeds ironically becomes one of his greatest sources of suffering and thus one of his greatest sources of fame. Although "without his consent he could not have been punished by anyone" (227), he shows a "greatness of soul" (227) by always going above and beyond to make up for his wrongdoings. Unfortunately, this often led him to punish “himself when others were inclined to exonerate him” (227), subjecting himself to extremes that no other human being could resist. For example, to purify himself for killing his "sons and Megara" (229), he completes "the Labors of [Heracles]" (232), a series of arduous tasks that include feats such as slaying "the Nemean lion" (232 ), driving away the “Stymphalian birds” (233), and bringing “Cerberus, the three-headed dog, from Hades” (234). Furthermore, in his regret for having disrespected the home of his friend Admetus during a period of mourning, he piles "the blame upon himself" (241) and decides to fight against Death and "bring Alcestis back from the dead" (241) . Although he is successful in all of his tasks, he is never truly “peaceful and at ease” (236), meaning that the suffering he endures is useless in healing his emotional state. Heracles, the ideal Greek depicted as severely given to repentance to the point of self-harm, highlights the importance Greek culture places on proper reconciliation for one's actions, regardless of one's status in life. Heracles' great power, giving him the appearance of invincibility, overshadows his vulnerability to errors of judgment and accidental abuses of strength, which cause great suffering not only to himself but also to those around him. Heracles is often “conspicuously absent” (226) and does not apply his intellect to much of what he does. Instead, his emotions are “rapidly aroused and liable to spiral out of control” (226). For example, when he was a child, he "disliked his music teacher" (229), so he "brained him with his lute (229), striking 'a fatal blow without meaning to" (229). Another time , “with a careless stroke of his arm” (237), accidentally kills an innocent boy who serves him. Furthermore, mistakenly motivated by his sexual appetite for Deianira, Heracles fights “the river god Achelous” (236) although Achelous “has no desire to fight [Heracles]" (236). Heracles' warlike actions may allude to the Greek belief that the best way to solve problems is through conflict rather than negotiation. The tragedy of Heracles is the irony of contrasting his cunning during battle with a lack of decision-making skills and self-control outside of battle this reveals his apparent blessing, his great strength, as a curse that limits his success to conflict situations “do not get drunk” (242) in a house of mourning, he is intelligent enough to defeat Antaeus, a giant who is invincible until he “[touches].