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
Odysseus is not a hero because he lets his pride make most of his decisions, which gets him into difficult situations. Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus makes mistakes that causes his men to be killed. Most of these mistakes could have been fixed by Odysseus making better decisions throughout his journey.
Also in The Odyssey, Odysseus makes careless decisions which lead them into trouble. Odysseus makes a plan to stab the cyclops in the eye, which leads the crew members to run for their lives to get to their ships. In another place in the book Odysseus leads his ships to the land of the Laestrygonians. When they get there they see a giantess who then calls her husband. In the book it states, “ She at once called to her husband Antiphates, who immediately began killing my men.” Odysseus then cuts the cable from his own ship to save himself. Therefore, Odysseus is not a hero.
The majority of those who read The Odyssey consider the protagonist of the story, Odysseus, a hero. On many occasions, however, Odysseus makes decisions beneficial to himself alone. For example, when Odysseus and his men find themselves on Polyphemus's island, Odysseus's actions are self-centered and at the expense of his men. This can be said for most of Odysseus's actions in the story, as his main objective is to reach his home. Having his men by his side when he returns seems a trivial thing to him. Odysseus could be considered a hero, but many of his actions say otherwise. Due to the many unfaithful and self-centered decisions he makes in the story, Odysseus is not a hero.
Odysseus has a side to him that is very heroic and many people can look up to, in which he helps others without thinking of himself. When Odysseus helped save his men from Circe he was being selfless, and thus heroic. “I
Odysseus has many ups and downs. He is considered an epic hero because of his many heroic actions. One of his heroic actions was saving his crew from the cyclops cave. Odysseus brought potent wine, and got the cyclops drunk. He then blinds the cyclops with a heated sharpened timber stake. He then ties his men under the sheep so the cyclops can't see them, and saves all his crew from the cave.
Odysseus faces many challenges throughout the events of The Odyssey. However, it is through these challenges that Odysseus proves himself a courageous and intelligent person. He fights bravely in the Trojan war and puts himself in danger to save his men from Circe. He outsmarts the Cyclops, Circe and the suitors Although Homer puts Odysseus in a god-like light, he allows Odysseus to feel human by showing his flaws. He puts all his men in danger by shouting at the Cyclops and failing to properly warn them about the dangers of Helios’ cattle.
The Odyssey is a story telling about the long journey of Odysseus, and his adventures with his crew. It tells about his dangerous encounters with a Cyclops, sea monsters and Sirens, and eventually making it home safe to his wife, Penelope. Although modern literary scholars of The Odyssey have argued that Odysseus is a hero, closer examination shows that Odysseus is not a hero. He is selfish to his crew by making decisions to put them in danger, he is unfaithful to his wife on the journey and does unjust actions by killing the Cyclops without a good explanation, and going out of his way to a sea monster. These actions put his crew in jeopardy. While a good leader and a hero do selfless acts, Odysseus did selfish acts.
Odysseus is a hero because he has been trying to protect his crew, and he loves and protects his family. He protects his crew through many bad events that happen in the story, after all the whole odyssey is based on Odysseus trying to get home to his loved ones. Next paragraph will show the reader exactly why Odysseus is heroic. On page 115 as they are venturing by the Sirens, Odysseus is commanded to put wax in his crew members ears.
In homer's Odyssey the main character Odysseus is a person who only tries to help himself. Although he earns the trust of his men while in Troy, he loses it on his perilous journey home. Many times in the epic he manipulates others, commits foolish acts and is full of hubris. He tries to take shortcuts and as a result of this is men are killed and his boats destroyed. He plays with the lives of his men and he is punished for it. Odysseus is not a hero because, he is foolish, lacks faithfulness and is consumed by his Hubris and selfishness.
Odysseus: a hero in every way. He is a real man, skilled in the sports, handy with a sword and spear, and a master of war strategy. Most of the challenges and adventures in his return voyage from Troy show us this even if we had no idea of his great heroic stature and accomplishments in the Trojan war. I found in my reading of the Odyssey that most of the trials the gods place upon him are readily faced with heroic means. These challenges are not
Odysseus is a hero because he acts courageously while facing the many challenges he encounters. Odysseus’s shows great bravery when he engages in physical challenges. Odysseus daringly fights against the suitors, while significantly outnumbered: “For I must
Odysseus portrays himself as anything but a hero throughout Homer’s The Odyssey. Odysseus goes through his life believing he is the best. He has no regard for anyone’s feelings but his own, and he believes nothing and no one can harm him, not even the gods. Odysseus feels he is always the leader and no one can tell him otherwise. Odysseus should not be considered a hero because he portrays himself as a selfish man that failed his crew, and is controlled by his hubris.
Odysseus is one of the greatest epic heros in the history of literature. The Odyssey, by Homer, is an epic poem, which depicts the journey home of Odysseus. Angering many gods, this voyage takes him through multiple obstacles, and ends up taking almost twenty years longer than it should've. Throughout his journey, “The Son of Laertes” must get his crew out of trouble multiple times. He uses his intellect and other strengths to do so, and never gives up, no matter the circumstance. Even after losing everything he needs in a storm worthy of the gods, Odysseus still never gives up, and gets himself out of trouble yet again. Throughout his entire journey, coming home from the Trojan War, Odysseus repeatedly uses many heroic traits to get himself and his crew out of many unfortunate situations. These heroic traits, how Odysseus uses them, and the steps of his journey all come together to illustrate that he is an epic hero. Odysseus characterizes himself as an epic hero based on how he almost perfectly follows the characteristics of an epic hero, gets his crew out of trouble multiple times, and follows the Hero's Journey.
Another way Odysseus is also a hero is he always finds a way to survive whether he is in conflict or out on the sea. One of the many situations Odysseus survives is his encounter with Skylla. Six of his crew members do perish but through his hard work and dedication he survives. He makes another smart decision in choosing to go through Skylla instead of Kharybdis because only six of his crew members die instead of the whole crew. Another decision Odysseus makes to survive is not eating the cattle of Helios while on Thrinikia, his crew members choice in eating the hallowed cows results in their death, but Odysseus knew the consequences and did not touch a cow. Another way Odysseus' quick-decision skills helps him is when he chooses to leave the island of the Lotous-eaters, because he realized his whole crew would have fell under the curse if he had stayed there. Odysseus is also a master tactician whose complex plans save his crew and help him regain his crown. One of these plans was his ingenious idea to trick Polyphemos, which shows he is a hero by saving countless lives. Another plan he implemented was to kill the suitors which is also a success because Odysseus and Telemakos themselves kill over a hundred men without an injury to themselves .Odysseus is a quick-thinker whose resourceful ideas save many lives.
There are several traits and qualities that made Odysseus the character and hero he is and because of his circumstances, he could put those on display. In his dilemma with Polyphemus, he had to use his cleverness and intelligence to trick cyclops so he could escape from the cave. He also maintained vigilance. After Circe warned him, in book 12, that if he hoped to survive he would have to sacrifice some of his men he scoffed at the idea and instead tried to save and protect them on. He failed of course, but despite his shortcomings, it is very commendable because he very well could have simply saved himself, but he shows strong character as he tried to maintain a certain level of vigilance. Furthermore, Odysseus was virtuous and loyal to an extent. During his journey, he ran into two seductresses’, Circe and Kalypso, both of which he had an affair with.