From Ancient Hero to Anti-hero: The Origin and Development of the Hero Concept

The concept of anti-hero that dates back to works of art in Ancient Greece period and emerges in historical timeline almost simultaneously with the existence of the term “hero” is so popular today thanks to literary and visual narrations. However, anti-hero is an ambiguous concept that does not have clear borders and characteristics and focuses on what it is not instead of what it is despite all these historical backgrounds and popularity. It is seen that anti-hero who is generally defined as “a protagonist having non-traditional hero characteristics”, “anti-thesis to hero”, and is reflected as the contrast principle in the novel as a practice represents the point which is opposite to social values, human being, and common approaches to the world. This article argues the definition of the term “anti-hero”, its roots, and development. Based on the definition of the term “hero”, the changes of hero in historical process is going to be referred in order to understand the term “anti-hero” emerging thanks to the contrast principle. The existence of the term “anti-hero” and how it is shown in fictitious texts during the process is going to be presented by emphasising hero’s changing characteristics after appearance of the genre novel