Similar to Prince Hal and the eponymous narrator in The Invisible Man, Stephen, from James Joyce’s A Portrait of an Artist as A Young Man, is a hero to himself by the end of the novel.  Although Stephen is not a hero to other people, he rescues himself from his sinful self and from dogma to become an artist.

At the beginning of the novel, Stephen indulges in sinful thoughts and actions.  When his “eyes, opening from the darkness of desire,” realize that what he has been doing is wrong, soon repents and becomes very involved and aware of his faith.  However, this repentance hinders his imagination.  Stephen finally recognizes the path he has to take to become an individual who “will not serve” to conform to people’s expectations.  This rollercoaster of a road to self-discovery is part of what makes him a hero.  He is able to “encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience” and change his way of looking at the world and is able to use his words to express his individuality and his understanding of the world.

Another aspect of Stephen’s heroism is his fearlessness.  Stephen “[does] not fear to be alone...And [he is] not afraid to make a mistake, even a great mistake” because he acknowledges that every great artist makes mistakes.  He can’t experience the world without experiencing failures and mistakes.  He “will take the risk” of losing everything he knows to find beauty and create it.  He is able to look at the world and think he can change it with his art.
Stephen is a hero because he saved himself from conforming to society’s expectations of him.  However, Stephen is not a hero because he does not put other people’s needs above his own.  Although Stephen has many characteristics of a hero, like fearlessness and the ability to discover himself, he is not a hero to anyone else but himself.