Andrew Son
Mrs. Slater
English 1
April 3, 2023
Odysseus Cannot Be A Hero
Poseidon keeping Odysseus away from his family would have saved all of Ithaca. Odysseus’s poor behavioral attitude of Hubris that both violates Greek values and modern standards shows how he should not be considered a hero. According to the Long Island Psychology Center, Atara Wertentheil explains that “arrogant thinkers are likely to have less adequate performance at work, in daily tasks, or in their personal endeavors” (Wertentheil). A hero’s strife to protect their fellow men has not been shown in most of the epic poem yet shows off violence to the people he loves most. In Gareth Hind’s adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey, he illustrates how Odysseus is not a hero by today’s standards regardless of his heroic moments, as his arrogance often controls him and
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Odysseus cannot be a hero due to his uncontrollable arrogance that harms others around him. For example, Odysseus endangers his men through their encounter of Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon, he boasts that “[the one that] put out your eye [was] Odysseus of Ithaca” (Hind 108). Odysseus used his arrogance to add onto a streak but would later regret his decision as he would be lost for eternity. By adding the unnecessary touch of inquiring that he was “Odysseus of Ithaca” instead of focusing on running away, it would cause his men to be endangered as the gods would now know the identity of the individual and curse Odysseus and his men on all his sails. Secondly, Odysseus’s nature of Hubris is when he sleeps with Circe after she releases his men from a curse that turned them into pigs even as his men said that they should leave (125). Odysseus ignores his men and his wife to sleep with Circe for satisfaction, something that would go against ancient Greek and modern values today. With Odysseus being delighted by Circe instead of