Maximus and Odysseus While watching the film Gladiator with my girlfriend I realized the striking similarities that heroes share. However, I always wonder who is more of a hero. The definition or hero is a person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life. So let us compare the two heroes as the dictionary defines them. In the end I hope to be able to define who is a greater hero. Maximus was a great warrior in the Roman legion under Emperor Marcus Aurelius. His first courageous feat occurs when he defeats the last of the Barbarians of Germaina. Leading his army along a 12 year campaign he brought it to an end. Next he risks his life as he defies the new Emperor …show more content…
Odysseus suffered the wrath of the gods, cannibals, giants and even had to wrestle Poseidon. Maximus had to fight in the coliseum against outrageous odds, battling with live tigers nipping at his heels, and ultimately in the end he was mortally wounded before his last battle. Now in defining whoa greater hero was I looked at the reasons they had for their journey. Odysseus just wanted to reach home after a long battle. Odysseus had a son and wife waiting at his house as well. Odysseus had gone through a great battle just as Maximus, and he endured trials just as Maximus. Maximus at first wanted to get home, but then his quest was more for revenge, and closely followed by seeing his wife and son again. Maximus endured trials, battles, but the thing I believe that makes Maximus more of hero than Odysseus was that he never had relations with anyone other than his wife, and in the end only needed to kill what was absolutely necessary to kill. He showed mercy letting his one on one opponent live. Odysseus killed many suitors and only let one live because he believed he wasn't truly out to get his wife, but more so to the fact that he could sing the tale of the events later when it was all done. Revenge is much simpler than other factors. I believe at first Odysseus was out for glory at first, I think that is the real reason he was in the war. Maximus stated from day one that he only wished to return home so he could be with his family. I think the inner
“The Man to Send Rain Clouds” by Leslie Marmon Silko: This story tells of the death of a tribal elder (Teofilo). Upon his death, his grandsons, Leon and Ken, secure his body and proceed to apply their cultural rituals for a burial. “Before they wrapped the Oldman, Leon took a piece of string out of his pocket and tied a small gray feather in the old man’s long white hair. Ken gave him the paint. Across the brown wrinkled forehead, he drew a streak of white and along the high cheekbones he drew a strip of blue paint.” (Silko, 439) Not knowing much about Native American beliefs I do know that feathers and face painting is a large part of their culture. This is the first clue given that the characters in this work are Native American. After gathering his body they proceed to bring him back to they have an interaction with the local Catholic priest, Father Paul. During this interaction, the family members don’t tell Father Paul that their grandfather has passed when he asks did they locate him. At once I could tell that there is a rift of some nature because the ritual they just performed on the body would be in stark contrast/opposition to a Catholic burial. The author of this novel is describing the encroachment of religion on Native American culture. This is again shown when Ken and Leon stop by the church to ask Father Paul to use holy water to the graveyard. The reasoning for the sprinkling of the holy water is so that Teofilo could send big thunderclouds from the
So both Telemachus and Odysseus are the same when it comes to the definition of a hero because they are both brave and courageous but in different situations. Telemachus and Odysseus have some differences when it comes to being heroes. Telemachus is different from Odysseus because he stood up to the suitors, but he was known as an emotional person so this was not expected from him. Odysseus is different from Telemachus because he fought against the Trojans and he led his men away from the dangers they faced along the way. These two situations are different because Odysseus’s situation was more deadly and could have gotten him killed, but he got him and his men through it all with courage and determination.
When many people get hurt, emotionally, physically, or even verbally, it triggers chemicals in your brain, and whether or not you want to, it makes you want to get revenge just so that you know the other person can hurt just as much as you did. OR you’re just mean and cruel. It all comes down to whether or not you take your anger, sadness or frustration out in a healthy, kind, and careful way. After Odysseus revealed his identity as a beggar, and began hating on all of those people who were involved in taking his home away, and devising a plan to massacre the suitors and reign control of Ithaca, he automatically just made a situation ten times worse than it had to be. The punishment made were way too severe. There must have been so many people that did not deserve it. What Odysseus did was not justified.
When you think of a hero what usually comes to mind? Is it masculinity, or someone with attractive features in appearance, or someone who has the strength of ten men? A boy named Tyler Doohan, an 8 year old boy that tried to save his family from a fire in his trailer home, died trying to save his grandfather which was his best friend. He sacrificed his life to save his family, which is what Odysseus did in both part one and two, he tried to save his crew but their actions cost them, and he saved his wife and son from the suitors invading their home. Odysseus does fit the role as a “modern” hero.
Odysseus is a hero because of all the determination and bravery he exhibited during his journey home. Although there were a number of times that he proved he was a hero, his biggest accomplishment was defeating the suitors that tried to take his kingdom and beloved wife,
In the end, I think Odysseus is a hero because although he does make mistake and although no one is perfect he tried his best to get him and his men home safely. Odysseus has many good qualities consisting of quick thinking, creativity, protectiveness, and many more. He also has bad qualities like curiosity and ignorance. So even though people make mistakes and don’t always do the right thing I think that they can still be a
First, Odysseus is not a hero because he is a foolish leader who makes many mistakes on his journey back home to Ithaka. His first mistake is his decision to let his men raid and
As he finally outsmarts the cyclops, Polyphemus, he taunts him, letting his pride and anger take over instead of his mind. The narrator recounts, “I called back with another burst of anger, ‘Cyclops — if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so —say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out your eye, Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca!’” (9. 558-562). Odysseus has the chance to arrive home safely, but instead his emotion leads him to lash out. This results in Poseidon's fury, which is easily avoided. This prolongs his journey by multiple years, which draws out his journey to go back to his family. Once Odysseus finally arrives home, Athena disguises him as a beggar. Not being able to control his anger, when another tramp insults him, they start fighting which he could have abstained from doing. The epic states, “Tongue-lashing each other, tempers flaring” (18. 39). Odysseus could have easily stayed quiet and accepted his inhumane treatment, and yet his emotions take control and he starts a fight. Odysseus reveals himself as a greater threat than he wants them to know, and this causes the suitors to have mass amounts of anger and hatred towards the beggar. With the suitors multiplying fury, Odysseus is withheld of precious time he needed to fulfill his roles as a king again. An exceptionally vast consequence for Odysseus foolhardy actions
Campolo believed that “evangelical Christianity had been hijacked because it had seemingly become anti-gay, anti-feminist, anti-muslim, and pro-war. According to Campolo, the Religious Right hijacked it because they believed to be evangelical you had to be a radical conservative and hate everything you don’t believe in, rather than respecting them.
After many heroic deeds and much danger and peril Odysseus journeys to the underworld and back, escaped the sirens, evades Charybdis and Scyylla, and loses all of his men. His men eat the sungod’s cattle even after promising Odysseus that they wouldn’t, so Zeus kills all of his men by striking their ship with a bolt of lighting (Odyssey 11-13:1-452).
A hero is a man of courage and ability who is admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. A hero is a person who does not come along very often in any time period. He is a special person, who is a step above the average person in the way that he handles any situation that may arise.
By looking at the epic The Odyssey by Homer, there are a lot of contacts between human and immoral, the relationship between Athena and Odysseus, which make me interesting, also this is important for the story. The relationship between Athena and Odysseus is the key for the story, because Odysseus had received a lot of help from Athena, their relationship is the reason to explain why would an immortal Athena who never interesting or attracted by any male either mortal or immortal, but only a human male, Odysseus, and helps Odysseus in either direct and indirect ways to get back home and take average to all the suitor in order for Odysseus to get back his family and his land.
Achilles and Odysseus are quite different in the way they view combat and take down their enemies. Achilles seems to rely on his physical prowess, often charging in headfirst into battle using surprise and brute force to overpower his opponent whereas Odysseus has a tendency to use his intelligence and cunning nature in both the battlefield and politics as he stealthily plans the demise of his unsuspecting opponent. “Gnashing his teeth with rage, Achilles leaped from his chariot, made for his enemy, and lunged out at him with his sword” (341). Even when faced with a seemingly invincible assailant, Achilles uses his anger and sheer power to overtake Cycnus and impulsively attacks his unblemished skin in the hopes to end his life. It is Achilles’ agile and finesse in battle that has led to many victories for him. Even though the reasoning for his actions are more simplistic and even quite animalistic in some scenarios, it is this godlike strength and vicious temper that makes him the physical embodiment of a vengeful hero and in the Greeks stories he possesses all of the physical traits a hero should exemplify. “For now Odysseus began to boil with envy and thought up a despicable plan to end his rival” (342). Odysseus is quick and decisive in his actions but he relies on his sly nature to defeat and overwhelm his opponent in battle. Odysseus is valued for his wisdom and fair counsel, he has experience in the real world and this shows in the way he manipulates and even plays
Ironically, Odysseus’ need for his own gains/earnings lead to many losses, whether they were mental roadblocks or physical casualties of not only his men but his loved ones back in Ithaka as well (for example, his mother who died of old age and stress over her dear son being gone for so long). According to Barry B. Powell, the ancient Greeks favor the type of man “who loses everything than the man who regains all”, which is actually really unusual but it fits perfectly with Odysseus’ character (Powell). Another instance that leads the ancient Greeks to calling Odysseus a hero is the fact that in the Odyssey he is viewed as a comic-typical hero wins and gets the girl. The ancient Greeks evidently like the intellectual man whom displays honor and intellectuality in their everyday life, and Odysseus is a clear title-holder for the position that they’ve been looking for to call their
- The protagonist in the story, he was a general that led the Romans to victory against the Barbarians which made him earn the favor of Marcus Aurelius. Maximus is a brave man that seeks justice and vengeance for his murdered family.