Cerberus in Literature

In books it seems that Cerberus is most effective when the book is describing his characteristics. The objective of Cerberus was intimidation and fear which was caused during descriptions of him. In both books he was described as a large and ferocious beast and the hero didn’t have a chance at beating Cerberus unless the hero happened to be Heracles. His appearances were short but his effects were not. He had plenty of emotional effect on the characters in the stories. He scared Harry Potter so much that Harry couldn’t forget about the snarling, drooling dog that was in the same castle as him. He caused worry or problems to the heroes of the stories he was in just by being there. The fact that the hero knew that Cerberus was there caused plenty of fear. The most worrying part is when the hero knows that they have to go through or deal with Cerberus. When he appears he works as a large hurtle for the hero to jump, whether it is with intelligence or strength. The fact that the medium is a book causes the reader to gain their own visual of what Cerberus looks like. Although the book may say that he is giant and has snakes on him, the reader has the power of visualizing it and interpret how big he is, what the snakes look like, and what Cerberus’s facial expressions are. I think this causes the effects that Cerberus has on the audience to last a little longer because the visual originated in the mind of the audience, so it will stick there a little longer.

Harry Potter (Book)

Cerberus A.K.A Fluffy appears in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone as a hound tamed by Hagred. It is eventually found out that “Fluffy” is actually guarding a trap door. His Appearances are not very lengthy but each time he appears he does so in a way that is meant to cause fear and tension. At one point Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville are in danger of being found out of bed at night and so they hide in the closest room and as Harry described it “he was sure he’d walked into a nightmare” (160). He had found himself looking at Fluffy who was described as “a monstrous dog, a dog that filled the whole space between ceiling and floor. It had three heads. three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling moths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs” (Rowling 160). Not a happy picture right? There is nothing pleasant about suddenly being face to face with a three headed, drooling dog staring at you with all six of its eyes. The message he gives hear is GO AWAY and as it turns out that is because he was put there to guard a trap door. Cerberus is still keeping with his old style of guarding a forbidden door of some kind, and even when he has a name like fluffy. He even loses in the same way, by getting put to sleep by music like how he was put to sleep by a honeyed cake by the Sibyl. Overall Cerberus was in the story to be placed as a source of fear, tension, and as an obstacle for the heroes to overcome just as he always has been. He is there as the guardian not to be messed with… Unless you know his weakness.

Brush up Your Mythology!

The book Brush up Your Mythology by Michael Macrone talks about all of the most famous Greeks myths and Cerberus appears on a few occasions. One time when he pops up is during the twelve labors of Heracles and the last labor that Heracles had was considered the most dangerous one since the objective was “to visit the underworld and drag back the ferocious, three-headed guard-dog Cerberus” (116). Heracles succeeded in doing so and took Cerberus back home. Another story with Cerberus focuses on the fact that Cerberus only gets to eat when someone intrudes. Hades makes sure that Cerberus is starving so that he is all the more vicious when someone comes by. In this story he is given three heads with the tail of a serpent and a mane of snakes. This story does not pit a hero in a fight with Cerberus because the hero is not the son of some God. Instead the hero is Aeneas, who is the lead man in Virgil’s epic the Aeneid and he is accompanied by a prophetess called the Sibyl. It is obvious that the ferocious hound could not be bypassed by power so instead the Sibyl brought a honeyed wheat cake to give to Cerberus. The Sibyl happened to have added a sleeping potion just for Cerberus, so after he eats the cake he dozes off and falls asleep. He may have been described a a big scary Dog with terrifying features, but it didn’t matter after he had been outsmarted. After all he is a big scary monster not a scheming and intelligent one. The book also mentions that Cerberus had two sibling who were the Hydra and Orthrus and his father was Typhon a.k.a. Typhoeus who was son of Gaia and Tartarus. He is the vicious guard that you don’t want to fight unless you are the son of some God. At the same time he plays the part of the fool who’s lack of wit shows how great the hero’s wit is.