Definition, characteristics, structure and examples of a Myth and a Legend

1. Literature 1

2. LEGEND
What is a Legend?
◦ It is a semi-true story, which has been
passed on from person to person and has
an important meaning or symbolism for the
culture in which it originates.
◦ It comes from the latin legenda or légere,
whih means “to read”.
◦ A legend usually includes an element of
truth or is based on historic facts, but with
“mythical qualities”

3. Characteristics:
◦ Set in the present or recent past.
◦ Are supposedly true, and used to scare,
teach, inform, or entertain.
◦ May be based on true events, but are
changed or exaggerated over time.
◦ Handed down from generation to
generation, usual through an oral history.
◦ Explain why a natural occurrence occurs

4. Origins:
◦ All over the world there are extraordinary stories—stories that once upon a time were
believed to be true but are today limited to the sphere of ancient myths and legends.
◦ The word “legend” was first used during the Medieval, and it was applied to the lifes of
the saints, Jesuschrist and The Virgin Maria. Through these stories the church wanted to
teach good behavior, virtues, miracles and fantastic punishments of the saints.
◦ Later, the stories were told by the jugglars in squares and gardens. Stories about real
heroes (King Rodrigo, Cid Campeador, King Arthur) were attributed with unreralistic
features to exalt the power of the nobilty over the rest of the mortals.
◦ During the Colony, in Mexico, characters are common people that are involved in
unrealisic events in order to punish or reward them for their behavior.
◦ Literary legend was born in the XIX Century during the Romanticism.
◦ Legend is the antecedent of the Short story.

5. Structure:
• What is the story about?
• Blends real facts and fantastic facts.Plot
• Where was it created?
• It always has a popular origin.Origin
• What behaviors do the characters represent?
• They are common people but in the story they
aquire supernatural characteristics.
Characters
• Extradiegetic or external (third person)Narrator
• Where and when do the events happened?
• Time, place and society.Time/Setting

6. Example: Sasquatch (bigfoot)
◦ Did you know that the Sasquatch
was believed to live in the forests
of Washington state?

7. Example: Johnny Appleseed

8. Example: King Arthur and the Knights
of the Round Table
◦ Possibly based on an actual
person, or even several
people, in ancient Britain.
◦ Stories were told, retold,
exaggerated, changed, and
added to over hundreds of
years.
◦ Used to teach moral lessons
about chivalry.

9. MYTH
What is a Myth?
◦ It is is a legendary or a traditional story that usually
concerns an event or a hero, with or without using
factual or real explanations. Through these stories,
ancient cultures try to explain the origin of life, the
world, the human being, a place or natural
phenomenons.
◦ These particularly concern demigods or deities, and
describes some rites, practices, and natural
phenomenon.
◦ Typically, a myth involves historical events and
supernatural beings.

10. Characteristics:
◦ A traditional or legendary
story, usually concerning
some hero or event, that
people believe is true at the
time.
◦ Usually contains nonhuman
◦ Characters (gods, demons,
demigods)
◦ Explains some practice, rite,
phenomenon, or why
something is the way it is.

11. Origin:
◦ Myths have been created in every culture
around the world. They were the first
response to the human curiosity about
natural phenomena and the origin of life.
These unexplained forces were represented
by the gods.
◦ Ancient cultures like the Egyptian,
Mesopotamian, Hebrew, Chinese, Indi,
Mayan, Aztec, are rich in myths.
◦ Greek myths are the best known in the
whole world. Most of greek myhtology is
gathered in The Theogony (Work and days),
written by Hesiod.
◦ Rome inherited us myths too, created by a
strong greek cultural influence. These
traditions were passed to other cultures as
well.
◦ Roman mythology decreased when
Emperor Theodosius formalized christianism
in 380 B.C.

12. Types of Myths:
1. Cosmogonic: Try to explain the origin of the world. (Caos –
Greek)
2. Theogonic: Tell the origin of the gods. (Huitzilopochtli – Aztec)
3. Anthropogonic: It is about the origin of the human being.
(Adam and Eve – Hebrew)
4. Etiological: Try to explain the origin of an element of Nature.
(Prometeus and the fire – Greek)
5. Scatological: It is about the human fate after death. (dogs
help souls to cross the river – Aztec)
6. Moral: A battle between good and evil, opposite moral
principles. (Perseus and Medusa – Greek)

13. Structure:
Plot
• What is the
story about?
Narrator
• Extradiegetic
Characters
• Who are the
protagonist
and the
antagonist?
• Hero, god or
human?
Time/Setting
• Real o
fantastic
place
• Ancient or
actual time

14. Example:
Pandora’s Box
How evil came into the
world

15. Example:
Persephone &
Demeter
Why winter comes
each year

16. Example: Orpheus
Loss is inevitable.
Myths do not
need to have
happy endings. In
fact, most of
them end very,
very badly.