Epic_or_Tragic

Robert Neville: Epic or Tragic Hero I Am Legend, a movie with a thick plot and many complex aspects to it, is about a man by the name of Robert Neville played by the famous actor Will Smith. In the movie, his character is a lone survivor of a horrible infection in New York City. This infection turned the other humans and animals that were infected into horrifying vampire like nocturnal creatures who came out to search for normal uninfected humans. Unfortunately, Robert Neville and his dog Samantha were the only living creatures in the city that were not affected by this infection. Their blood was very attractive to these “vampires” so they did all they could to attack them. Robert Neville had a lab in the basement of his house to experiment to find a cure for this infection. It turned out in the end that his blood was the missing factor because of the immunity that his body had. Now, the question is, was Robert Neville an epic or tragic hero' An epic hero is a hero who is on a quest in pursuit of a goal that can affect the nation or cultural ways and on a quest for something of great value. This hero also possesses divine supernatural qualities and seems to be superhuman in the way that he is braver, stronger, and more powerful than others. While this epic hero is on his quest, villains who are uglier and more evil try to keep the hero from what he is set to do. The divine world or god-like world interferes with the human world. With these qualities, it is clear that Will Smith plays the role of an epic hero. In the beginning of the movie, we begin to understand the problem that has taken place in New York City. An infection has overtaken the area and the people. Neville’s wife and daughter were free from the infection and were allowed to be evacuated from the city to where they will remain safe. Neville also was free from the infection, but he felt that being an Army officer it was his duty to stay back and try to help rectify the situation. It ended up that he was the only non-affected human he knew of in the city. He worked hard everyday to find a cure to help the people and sent out a radio call everyday saying where he was and that if there were other survivors around, that he could be found there. The infected people seemed to be vampires in the way that they acted causing Robert Neville to either have to kill them when he saw them or to avoid then at all costs. At times, he was able to capture one or two for testing without being injured himself. However, these demons like creatures worked hard to harm him to prevent him from his quest to save the other humans. The infected creatures did not realize that Neville would be able to also help them and cure them from their sickness. Over the course of the story, Robert Neville was injured by these creatures a few times, one of which causing two other survivors to find him and help him recuperate. The woman who found him wanted him to travel with them to the safe land where the other survivors were but he insisted that his job was to stay back and to fix this major problem. In the end of the movie, Robert Neville was in his lab with the woman and her son who found him, trying to remain safe from the demon creatures that found way into his house. He knew that it was almost a lost cause but wanted the mother and son to remain safe so he put them in a little bomb shelter with a vile of his blood to bring to the safe land when they were able to leave. Once again, the woman tried to convince him to come along but he felt that death was inevitable. He shut the door for them, pulled the tab on the grenade, and jumped through the glass towards the creatures with the grenade in his hand. This action shows god-like and divine supernatural characteristics where Robert Neville died while killing the harmful creatures to save all of the other uninfected humans. Will Smith plays a truly epic hero in the movie I Am Legend. His character set a goal to save the nation from the infection and to help stop the population from decreasing any more than it already had. He displayed superhuman qualities through his strength, bravery, courage, and determination to continue on his quest. Also, he fought through any weaknesses he may have had, such as injuries he suffered, to portray god-like characteristics. Will Smith’s character was a martyr for all other surviving humans.