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Odysseus A Hero

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Is Odysseus a Hero? Heroes are often thought of as great figures that conquer evil, kill the monster, and save the day. Odysseus is often referred to as a hero. He is a strong individual striving to complete his goal, return to his wife and son and remove suitors that have taken his home. Although he is seen as a hero by definition and he appears to be one as well there are decisions he made that may not be truly heroic. In The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus decisions to value his crew's life, and completing and being victorious through hard challenges makes him an epic hero. Odysseus saving his crew and competing his goal makes him a hero. Odysseus runs into many challenges on his way back to Ithaca but he emerges victorious. Odysseus …show more content…

This is another case where he saves his crew because of the decisions he made, he chose not to eat the fruit and saved his men when they did. Odysseus thinks more about his crew than himself, while still keeping himself alive, but loss does happen. Odysseus doesn’t just save his after they get into a situation he tries to help them before they endanger themselves. Odysseus tries to keep his crewmembers from messing with cattle that could bring them harm on an unknown island “swear me a great oath: any herd of cattle or flock of sheep here found shall go unharmed” (Homer 21). Odysseus tries to keep his men from interacting with cattle that may hurt or kill them. His men do not listen and are killed. Although his men die, Odysseus tries to save them before they were in any danger. Odysseus is smart enough to save himself in many cases as well as try to save his crew and in some cases he does and in others there own stupidity gets them killed. Odysseus saves his crew in more than one case and that is heroic. Odysseus is a truly a hero he saves his crew in more than one case and tries to save them by giving advice. He also completes many challenges and emerges victorious. Odysseus on the surface is selfish and injures a cyclops after he invaded its home as well as kill many suitors that did the same thing he did to the cyclops, but when

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