An Analysis Of The Epic Hero Of Homer's Odyssey

The Epic Hero of The Odyssey The Odyssey is a tale of a great hero trying to get home. An epic hero. An epic hero is a courageous and honorable person. Homer’s character Odysseus exemplifies this in many ways. No matter what is thrown at him he never stops trying to get home, getting past a Cyclopes, the Lady Circe, and sirens. He even gets through the Underworld and lives. Despite this, Odysseus does have faults about him, though not as many as there are qualities. He is a worldwide symbol, an archetype, of both nobility and bravery. Odysseus, the epic hero of the Odyssey, a great leader with many attributes as well as flaws, is no ordinary man. As stated before, an epic hero is a person who is courageous and honorable. Odysseus is one of

First off there is the fact that he is faithful. Though many years have passed since he left home he has never stopped trying to get back, proving the statement to be true. Second, he is loyal. Though his crew members were captured many times he always went to rescue them. For instance when he saved them from the Lotus Eaters or when he went to get them from Circe. He could have left and kept going straight for home but he instead went back to save them, this leading into another quality of Odysseus. Bravery. Throughout his venture he has stayed courageous, getting past the Cyclopes, Circe, and sirens. Now, he does have a multitude of great qualities but, despite all of the good that he has done, Odysseus still has flaws. Firstly, when he had finally gotten past the Cyclopes and they were far off from the shore he shouted out to the Cyclopes “’Would you feast on my companions? Puny, am I, in a Caveman’s hands? How do you like the beating we gave you…’”, letting his anger get the better of him. This is a fatal flaw that could have killed him and the rest of his crew. Another flaw is that he let himself fall into the luxury of Circe’s home when he could have left once he had the rest of his men back. Instead he stayed for many months until finally remembering he needed

He is considered to be this because he is a heroic and honorable man that has been through many trials and gotten passed them all alive. He is a well-known hero throughout the world. Odysseus qualifies to be the ideal epic hero in all of the categories. For one he was born of royalty. For two he has a special weapon-his brain. He has used this in all of his battles. When he blinded the Cyclopes he had the idea to tie the three rams together and he then “…slung a man under each middle one to ride there safely…”. Odysseus did so with each of his men, as well as himself. The third reason he is an archetype is suffering a traumatic experience. It has taken Odysseus years to get home and he has had to fight past many obstacles, which has to be traumatic in some way. The fourth and final way he is an epic hero is requiring help from something supernatural. He needed help from the god Hermes when he was going to the home of Circe. He received a plant called “moly” and some advice. As Odysseus has been through all of this, he is the ultimate epic hero which is why he is an