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The nature of the Hero and Heroism in the Odyssey
The odyssey epic hero essay
The nature of the Hero and Heroism in the Odyssey
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In the odyssey, the king of ithica aka odysseus is on his way home, but on his way home he faces many challenges, some include the cyclops, and many different monsters. Eventually after a long hard fight, odysseus makes his way home. The odyssey gives a perfect example of what a hero is, and how easily it is for a person to change. At first, Odysseus may seem like a hero due to his courage and strength, but later on in the story things take a turn for the worse for him and his reputation,
The Mortal Hero Many heroes are not just mortals in these types of myths, but they are demigods or actual gods, this is not the case for the mortal man named Odysseus. The epic poem The Odyssey is about a man named Odysseus, who hasn't seen his family for 20 years and desires to get home to them and will stop at nothing to achieve that. His ten year long journey is not easy though, he will encounter problems, no mortal man should ever face.
According to Christopher Reeve, “I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure despite overwhelming obstacles.” In The Odyssey, Odysseus tries to return to his home Ithaca from Troy but lets his pride get to him. Throughout the journey, he faces many obstacles because of his pride. Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus shows that he is not a hero because of his pride, arrogance, and emotions. Odysseus shows that he is not a hero when he takes pride in himself when he is about to leave the island of the Cyclops after blinding him.
One example of an epic hero trait in The Odyssey that amplifies the image of Odysseus as a great leader is the multiple instances of human failure shown by him throughout the story. One example of this is in book 8 the Homer states, “I knew some towering brute would be upon us soon--
Mostly everyone knows Odysseus, but some people might consider him a hero, while others might not. Odysseus can either be seen as a hero or as a regular person, but there is one clear answer. Odysseus is a hero. Throughout Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus illustrates three main qualities: wisdom, bravery, and leadership.
An example of Odysseus being an epic hero is his loyalty and leadership skills. When Odysseus first gets on the island of cyclops, he only brings his best twelve men on the island with him, “I took my twelve best fighters and went ahead” (Homer 136). Instead of bringing all of his men on the island with him, Odysseus
Also comparable to a modern hero, Odysseus portrays human qualities throughout the highs and lows of his journey, such as sadness when he learns that his mother had died during his time away. Odysseus should be considered a hero because throughout the good and bad of his voyage, Odysseus continued to lead his crew and came through with all of his
He finds a way to save most of his men. Odysseus is brave throughout the The Odyssey. Not just these traits makes him a hero though.
The first reasons why Odysseus is a hero is because he risks his life for crew multiple times throughout the story. In the story, ‘The Odyssey’ by Homer, Odysseus and his crew sail to Aeaea, home
During Odysseus’s journeys, while trying to find his way back home, he goes through many adventures showing off these characteristics of a hero. The first characteristic that Odysseus possessed, which shows he is an epic hero, is how brave he was. For instance, when Odysseus wanted to venture off to Circe and leave the island, it was Eurylochos that told him not to go without his
The concept of hero has been interpreted in many ways throughout the ages. Hero have gone from knights slaying dragons and rescuing the princess, to heroes who save the world with their supernatural-like powers, to a modern day hero who is someone who has noble qualities and is regarded as a role model. In the epic, The Odyssey, by Robert Fagles, the heroic Odysseus is a well known in Greek mythology. However, although Odysseus is the most respected, honorable hero of Greek mythology he is not a modern hero. A modern day hero is someone who puts their life on the line to save the lives of other innocent people.
There are few fictional characters who so accurately depict the ancient archetype of a hero as Odysseus. In Homer’s The Odyssey, translated by Robert Fitzgerald, Odysseus is departing from the Trojan city of Troy in order to reach his home country of Ithaca. Throughout the course of his journey, Odysseus is faces multiple challenges testing his leadership, vigor, and wit in order to prove himself to be a true hero. He accomplishes this by bringing about multiple heroic feats and upholding the impuissant and helpless.
Odysseus has some good traits, some bad flaws, and has been in some ugly situations, but overall he is a true hero. Some of the traits that exemplify his heroism traits are his cleverness, determination, and his bravery. In several scenarios he saves his men from sticky situations, showing his bravery, his determination
In the section “In the One-Eyed Giant’s Cave” from Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is portrayed as a hero through his character traits and behaviors. When Odysseus and his men attack the city of Ismarus, the Cicones’ strong hold, Odysseus made sure to fairly distribute the spoils among his men. Odysseus’s behavior shows that he is a great leader, a characteristic of a hero. While Odysseus and his crew are in the Cyclops’ cave, Polyphemus, the cyclops, notices them. Polyphemus asks who they are with a monstrous tone, “‘Strangers!'
In The Odyssey, Odysseus was a major hero of the novel. He had both heroic traits and human weaknesses. Odysseus defeated the Cyclops, defeated the suitors that were courting his wife, and overcome other challenges throughout the novel. A special trait that made Odysseus a hero was that he was a courageous
