Defining the Anti-Hero: From Mythology to Modern Literature

What is the anti-hero? This essay will detail all that is needed to know about this vestige of literature, but the short answer would be a character with qualities that are good and evil. He may save the world at night, but this character often drinks at night, perhaps does drugs, or maybe even kills. An anti-hero is always toeing the line between good and evil. The character is an important part of many films, stories told in literature, and even comic books. In order to define what makes the anti-hero tick all these aspects will be brought up.

It can be simple to call a character of a story an anti-hero; coming up with the reasoning is a different matter altogether. As noted perhaps the character kills with impunity, takes advantage of the opposite sex, lies on every occasion, but does some deed of justice. Some anti-heroes find themselves in an odd predicament; they can be more popular than a regular hero. This is not always the case, but read on for evidence of this.

Comic books may not get the respect other forms do, but the clearest anti-heroes can often be found there. Perhaps the most popular anti-hero of all is Punisher. Punisher does society a good deed every time he kills a drug dealer or murderer, but that is exactly what makes him different from characters like Spider Man or Batman. The Punisher chooses to kill. He does so with his own form of justice: He is the judge, jury, and executioner. Because of this Punisher is one of the more popular characters in all of comic books. It is hard to write original stories, but every few years a writer like Garth Ennis breaks the character of Frank Castle (AKA Punisher) down and make him a bestseller. While Punisher has graced many successful comic book series there are many others who should be noted, but instead of going through them all perhaps the most important should be noted. Rorschach is one of the best comic book characters of all time. He came from the Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons twelve issue series "Watchmen," which is the best comic story ever told. Rorschach is similar to Punisher in many ways, and likely influenced the later tales of Punisher, but Rorschach had a madness to him that not even Frank Castle could compete with. Boiled down the character was more than willing to kill in gruesome ways or to play with people's minds; he was not the type you showed to children. Rorchach is the perfect anti-hero, and perhaps one of the best of all time.

In literature the anti-hero can be found in different varations, and even is present in the Bible. Consider the story of Jacob: Who would lie to their father to gain a birthright? Who would fight with an angel to gain their name? The perfect anti-hero; a person who does wrongs to make himself better off. Jacob is not a villainous character, but neither is he a hero. Another anti-hero popular in fiction is the character Conan. While Arnold Schwarzenegger played the character out for revenge and conquest well, the original Robert E. Howard stories painted an even better picture. A real hero would not get drunk, kill with impunity, or seek out revenge for something wrong they did. They could think about these things, but acting upon them is a different matter, and is the chief reason Conan is an anti-hero.

Lastly, the anti-heroes of film are as common as in any other form. Clint Eastwood popularized the anti-hero in many of his western films, but there are superior examples to bring out. Rick Deckard is a former cop or "blade runner" in one of the better films of all time, "Blade Runner." He is a washout of a man with little really to live on except for his drinking habit and any other way to avoid life. While he does have an awakening that perhaps moves him towards being a classic hero, Deckard is one of the finer anti-heroes ever imagined.

There could be a longer list of anti-heroes, but surprisingly the term has only recently become common usage. Now it is easy to call Tony Soprano an anti-hero, but a century ago the term was not as common. Anti-heroes will continue to hold the audiences interest because they treat society in a different way than the classic hero. In the end these characters of literature, comic books, and film bring a different dynamic to the ordinary story.