American actor and activist Christopher Reeve defines a hero as “an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles” (brainyquote.com). In the epic poem The Odyssey, Odysseus fits this explanation of what Christopher Reeve believes to be a hero. Although Odysseus matches what Christopher Reeve believes to be a hero, he is actually not. Having stated that, Odysseus may be a leader but is not a hero. A hero is someone who cares for everyone putting his personal welfare last. Odysseus did the exact opposite by leading his men into danger and practically killing them himself. He is not open minded, very stubborn, and goes against his subordinates. Odysseus is very clever, however he is not very open minded with his subordinates as well as the gods. He won …show more content…
He put his men in danger at the Cyclops's island for personal gain. His men wanted to leave because they were scared and terrified of what was going to happen. Although his men were practically begging him to leave, Odysseus wanted to stay for personal gain. He was curious who lived on this island therefore he wanted to stay and find out. This lead to his men being massacred. That was not the only time that Odysseus put his men at danger or in harms way. Such as when they went past Scylla because of this his men were devoured. He even got most of his men killed from laestrygonians. He felt something bad was going to happen yet did not warn his men or even try to protect them. He chose to watch them die from afar. When he told his men on his ship to start rowing away, they were so shocked and in dismay that they lost most of their comrades because of that, they had no words. This shows that Odysseus is not a hero. A hero is someone who puts the safety of others first yet Odysseus failed to do this countless times and did not try to save even a single of his soldiers from the