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The Most Important Characteristics Of Odysseus A Real Hero

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What makes a hero a real hero? We know what a hero is we know Batman, Superman, Iron man, Captain America, Wonder Woman, and even Wolverine. We also know our everyday heroes firefighters, police officers, medical personnel, and even political leaders. We also know all of our favorite book characters. Sometimes we even think of ancient heroes, great warriors of old, but have our expectations changed since then? After all we know some of these “heroes” just for slaughtering their enemies. Do we define these people as heroes just because we’ve always known them this way. When I think of the most important characteristics that a hero can possibly have, three traits come to mind, these are charisma, courage, and selflessness. Who better to put to the test with this list than the ancient greek hero Odysseus.

Obviously a hero must be first and foremost smart enough to get through troubling puzzles, challenges, and obstacles. It is important to note that charisma can be the main quality of a great villain, as well as a great hero. Odysseus definitely has a lot of charisma, it is probably one of his defining qualities. The odyssey is teeming with examples of how smart Odysseus is just for example Odysseus is able to bargain with the witch Circe, go to the underworld and back, trick the cyclops into letting them out, and secretly set up a revolution inside his own home. One example of just how charismatic he is though takes a little bit of closer examination to discover, on line 16,

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