THE JOURNEY OF THE HERO IN NIGEL TRANTER'S THE BRUCE TRILOGY AND KALKI'S PONNIYIN SELVAN

Abstract

The fact of human life is always comparative. Man lives comparing with the life of others. It is his innate moral quality to justify his soul with the benevolent ideas and the malevolent ideas that oozed from his subconscious level. Art and Literature has been evolved in this manner in all cultures. All of them have been developed in a comparative manner. Literature has been a medium inculcating life and how it ought to be and would not be. It shows the ideas through the images, symbols and recurrent patterns of life. They are called as Archetypes. They are the primordial images that dominate every mind from the myths all over the world. One such archetype that has been dominating in the literary genre is the Journey of the Hero. This type completely keeps the quest of the hero as its base. Nigel Tranter and Kalki are from British and Tamil Literatures respectively. Both are adept historical novelists. They have strong patriotism for their national identities. Their characters are the national heroes of Scotland and Tamil Nadu. The characters such as William Wallace, Robert Bruce, Aditya Karikalan, Arulmozhi Varman, 7and Vanthiyathevan from “The Wallace”, “The Bruce Trilogy”, and “Ponniyin Selvan” are well-known for their quest, adventures, feuds, battles and wars. Their journey and their accomplishment have been perfect examples for the journey of the Hero Archetype. Hence, the paper traces the quest of the heroes’ and their accomplishments to identify their archetypes.