Examples Of Heroism In The Odyssey

In the Odyssey by Homer, the epic of Odysseus' 10-year journey to return home after the Trojan War. Odysseus tries to return home to Ithaca, but the ten-year Trojan war and a series of delays have resulted in his absence of twenty years keeping him from Penelope, his wife. The epic of Odysseus’ 10-year journey to return home, the Odyssey, qualifies as an epic poem.
The Odyssey shows heroism, which is a characteristic of the Epic Poem. For example, when Odysseus’ men forgot their longing for home after eating the lotus plant he said, ¨I drove them, all three wailing, to the ships, tied them down under their rowing benches, called the rest…” (211-213). In this it shows that without Odysseus tying them down they would of not of been able to accomplish

For example, when Odysseus and his men came across Polyphemus, the cyclops who is the son of Poseidon, his shipmates depend on him to get them home safely when he said, ‘’If I killed him we perished there as well, for we could never move his ponderous doorway slab aside.’’(293-295). Here Odysseus’ men rely on him to trust what he is doing to get them home safely. It also shows that the fate of them getting home relies on the success of Odysseus decision on not killing Polyphemus. In addition, when Odysseus and his men were sailing home they came across the Sirens, beautiful but dangerous creatures that lured the sailors with their beautiful voices to their doom, where Odysseus said, “Going forward I carried wax along the line, and laid it thick on their ears. They tied me up, then, plumb amidships, back to the mast, lashed to the mast, and took themselves again to rowing.”(744-748). Here even though Odysseus was instructed to plug his men’s ears with beeswax and has them bind him to the mast of the ship from Circe, the devastatingly beautiful goddess-enchantress that turns Odysseus's men into pigs, seduces him it was still his decision to go along with it, which led to him and his men from falling to their doom. Odyssey even while trying to resist the Sirens beautiful singing got himself and his men past the Sirens successfully. In conclusion,

For example, when Odysseus was finally home he was being bathed at last when Homer wrote, “Athena lent him beauty, head to foot. She made him taller, and massive, too, with crisping hair in curls like petals of wild hyacinth but all red-golden. Think of gold infused on silver by a craftsman, whose fine art Hephaestus taught him, or Athena: one whose work moves to delight: just so she lavished beauty over Odysseus’ head and shoulders.”(1542-1551). Athena, the goddess of wisdom, purposeful battle, and the womanly arts, transformed Odysseus into a beautiful king, which made Penelope, Odysseus wife, look at him differently. This leads to Odysseus having to prove to Penelope that he is who he is as king of Ithaca and her husband. In addition, after Odysseus’ men ate Lord Helios, the sun god, kine he burst into angry speech and said, “‘O Father Zeus and gods in bliss forever, punish Odysseus’ men! So overweening, now they have killed my peaceful kine, my joy at morning when I climbed the sky of stars, and evening, when I bore westward from heaven. Restitution or penalty they shall pay— and pay in full—or I go down forever to light the dead men in the underworld.’ . . .”(923-930). Lord Helios gets Zeus to punish Odysseus and his men. This leads to Zeus bringing down an enormous storm upon their fleet and only Odysseus survived, because he hadn't eaten