Odysseus: A Hero In Homer's The Odyssey

The ancient greek story The Odyssey, written by Homer, shows how well the authors incorporated their beliefs and ways of life into their writing. A main belief that is emphasized in the book is Hubris, or excessive pride in oneself. The main character, Odysseus, is a human embodiment of this quality. Many of the choices he makes across not only what is covered in The Odyssey, but also his previous endeavours, are based on this. Although some are rather rash and lead to his possible demise, others show his brave side and his true qualities of being a hero. Through his excellent descriptions that form intense imagery, Homer helps us understand Hubris and how it was such a defining quality in his times through Odysseus. Hubris is shown at a supremely

As the cyclops keeps disowning him, Odysseus shouts in return “I could strip you of life and breath and ship you down to the house of death…” (Fitzgerald 153). Here we see the author using not only imagery but a tad of rhyme to get the point across. Through his words, the author gives the message that Odysseus not only believes that he would win a battle against this giant, but that he would punish him so badly as to “Strip him of life”. Afterwards, the cyclops angrily calls upon his father Poseidon who wreaks havoc on Odysseus, and causes his return to be even more delayed. The hubris is blatantly shown here, as he shows his excessive pride by his belief of how he could annihilate his opponent. Ultimately, this goes back and bites him as Poseidon’s response gives insight into how hubris could also be potentially dangerous to the person. Not at all cases of Hubris are by physical actions; some are by simple thoughts and words. During the ninth book of The Odyssey, Odysseus begins to explain how he ended up on his adventure. He explains how, from Troy, “The wind brought me to Ismaros” (Fitzgerald 140) and how he traveled on the coast of Kikones. He goes on to say how he was able to quickly fight and conquer the men who lived there. “Plunder we took” (Fitzgerald 140). Although the situation seems okay, we find out that Odysseus has other things on his