Wise+Old+Man+Essay

The wise old man is a person who provides wisdom, guidance and knowledge to people that are generally younger than themself. This person also acts as a father figure or a mentor to the person that they are providing their wisdom to. He is always around when his students do not know what to do and needs guidance or needs advice. A wise old man sees life in a larger spectrum than their student does and can therefore guide them towards the correct decision to make. A wise old man also sometimes seems to lose track of their surroundings because they are so caught up in their thoughts.

The wise old man archetype is present in many different cultures. Greek mythology used the wise old man archetype in the story of Mentor. Mentor was the son of Alcumus and friend of Odysseus. When Odysseus had gone to fight in the Trojan War, Mentor was asked to take care of his son Telemachus and Odysseus’ palace (wikipedia.com). Mentor took care of Telemachus like he was his own son. Mentor taught Telemachus almost everything that he knew. There was one period of time in which Mentor had left Telemachus alone and had to go out on a trip for a few days. During this time, Athena came to visit Telemachus but she took the form of Mentor to hide herself from the suitors of Telemachus’ mother Penelope. Eventually, the suitors began to realize that the person who they thought was Mentor was acting a little strange. Athena noticed that they began to treat her differently and left the palace in the form of a swallow. Mentor had returned and Telemachus never knew the difference because the suitors never told him about Athena taking the form of Mentor.

Arthurian legend also had a wise old man figure to guide younger people. Merlin is not well known for being a wise old man but he taught King Arthur many things about the world around them. Merlin is best known as the wizard in King Arthur’s court but he was also Arthur’s advisor and teacher. Merlin stayed close to Arthur acting as his spiritual and fatherly guardian. When Arthur took the throne of Britain, Merlin was his most trusted advisor, counseling him both gently and with a strong hand but always with great wisdom. Merlin had taught Arthur many different lessons for quite a while but eventually Arthur saw Merlin for who he really was, a manipulative person (Encyclopedia Britannica). Although this depiction of Merlin that Arthur saw may have been true, Merlin never told Arthur lies about nearly anything. Merlin knew that he needed to still teach Arthur many things about different aspects of life so he gained the power of shape shifting. He would change his form and would teach Arthur and nobody could tell the difference.

The wise old man archetype is still used today in modern film. One actor who portrays the role of the wise old man archetype is Burgess Meredith. Burgess Meredith played Mickey Goldmill in the //Rocky// series. In the //Rocky// series Mickey is Rocky’s mentor and trains him to be the best fighter that he can be. Mickey was a boxer himself and knew the game well and knew had to fight even better. He showed Rocky almost everything that he knew about boxing. Together they won the heavyweight championship of the world. After Rocky had won the title he lost it to Clubber Lang and won it again but without Mickey. Mickey was dying and Rocky wanted to stay by his side but Mickey wanted Rocky to go and win the title. Another example of this archetype in modern film is Yoda in the //Star Wars// movies. Yoda is the oldest living Jedi and is sought out by many people so that he will train them to make them great Jedis also. Even though all of these people try to gain Yoda’s wisdom and knowledge he will only teach one person, Luke Skywalker. Luke goes to search for Yoda and travels to what he was told is Yoda’s home planet. Yoda ends up finding Luke but does not let him know who he really is. Eventually Luke finds out that this person that he has been talking to is actually Yoda and Yoda agrees to train Luke to become a Jedi master.

The wise old man archetype tells us that there is almost always an older and wiser person that is willing to share there knowledge of the world and the people around them. This archetype also tells that there is usually a character who needs guidance and wisdom. The wise old man also may want the person that they are giving this knowledge to to make a different choice in their life other than the one the wise old man previously made.