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Odysseus As A Hero In Homer's Odyssey

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All throughout history, our books are dotted with heroes and antagonists. This brings us to a question: what exactly is a hero? The characteristics of a hero are generally comprised of performing acts of selflessness- helping others and putting them before yourself. In The Odyssey, a man named Odysseus gets lost at sea with his crew for two whole decades succeeding the Trojan war. Him and his comrades must defend against the perilous sea and seek a way home. Awaiting Odysseus’ return are his wife and son, Penelope and Telemachus. As Odysseus is eager to return home, he makes some ignorant decisions along the way. Throughout the story, Odysseus continues to disregard the safety of his men. Odysseus is not a hero because he put his men in great danger over mere curiosity, he is extremely egotistical, and he put superstition over his crew’s wellbeing. …show more content…

Instead of putting his thoughts towards the safety of his crew, he lets his curiosity overcome him and they travel to Cyclops Island. Consequently, this leads to the fatalities of quite a few of his men. Whilst in the cave, Odysseus took no measures to defend the men Cyclops continued to feast on. This exemplifies an attribute of Odysseus that does not represent that of a hero. Further along in the passage in lines 395-400, Odysseus and the remainder of his crew finally manage to outwit the Cyclops and escape. However, once they board the ship and are getting away, Odysseus becomes overly immodest and self- applauding. He begins to yell towards the island boastfully, concerning their escape. This then causes the Cyclops to launch a large boulder their direction and nearly destroys their ship. This entire conflict could have been avoided entirely if Odysseus would not have been so full of himself. Heroes are not

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One of the reasons those people might say that is because Odysseus has a hero’s key traits: he was loyal, compassionate, and cunning. Odysseus was loyal to his family by trying his best to get home and succeeding. Compassion was shown by Odysseus when he was patient while plotting against the Trojans. Last but not least Odysseus was cunning when he defeated the Cyclops in the cave whilst escaping.

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Some characteristics that contribute to being a hero include doing tasks that benefit others and being fearless, but the greatest characteristic is making decisions without the help of others. Again, Odysseus falls short of what he is expected to do. Throughout his entire journey, Odysseus did not make one decision without the help of a god and frankly, Odysseus would not be alive without the gods telling him what to do. “Then Skylla made her strike, whisking six of my best men from the ship.” Watching six of his best men get eaten by a six-headed monster could not have been easy for Odysseus because those men were the people that had kept him alive thus far.

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Odysseus puts himself and his crew in grave danger while losing control over his narcissistic personality. Though a hero can spread his or her name through his actions, the mindset of a hero is to put oneself in harm’s way, not to put others in harm in order to spread oneself’s ego.

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Throughout the story, Odysseus has to find a way to bring his crewmates and him back home safely. Eventually, he returns back home and sees his family. Although some may claim that Odysseus is not a hero, he should be considered one due to his bravery and cleverness. Throughout the story, Odysseus proves he is a hero through his unwavering bravery.

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In the story “The Cyclops” By Homer, Odysseus is not a hero. Odysseus escapes from the Cyclops lair after losing several men and he starts to jeer at the cyclops, “If I could take your life I would, and take your time away, and hurl you down to hell” (line 306-308). Odysseus invites himself into the cyclops home and steals his food while the Cyclops is not home. When the Cyclops returns Odysseus tricks him and stabs his eye out.

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It also proves that he thinks that he is a better person than everyone else. Some people may argue that Odysseus is a hero. There is evidence of this when he is trapped on the island of the Cyclops. It is shown that he is a hero when he says “I drew it from the coals and my four fellows gave me a hand, lugging it near the Cyclops as more than natural force nerved them; straight forward they sprinted, lifted it, and rammed it deep in his crater eye.” (9,

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As the popular American poet and author, Maya Angelou, said, “I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people.” Odysseus is revered by few as a hero, to many others he’s a pirate who loves to boast of his victories. And if the quote holds true, only caring for a handful of people is no heroic quality. Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus displays few heroic qualities but loves acting like a pirate. Odysseus is no hero, an unreasonable man who has few heroic traits and protects only a handful of people.

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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

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The main character Odysseus in the Odyssey written by Homer is generally thought to be a great hero; however, he shows more traits of a quite flawed character on closer inspection. Around the beginning of Odysseus’ journey home after the war, Odysseus decides to take a detour to the home of a cyclops deciding to not listen to his men’s suggestions to leave while they still could; consequently, it does not end well: “Ah, how sound that was, Yet I refused. I wished to see the caveman, what he had to offer no pretty sight it turned out, for my friend” (9.130-132). This thought by Odysseus shows that he realized his decision to go to the mysterious island wasn’t the most rational one and that his men’s pleas to leave were the better option, but he decides to be stubborn and place his curiosity before his men’s safety resulting in a non-heroic

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He shows how courageous he can actually be when he took a trip to the island of the Cyclopes. Here he showed that he didn't want to risk losing all his men for his protection but, risked himself to keep them safe. In book nine, pages 898, lines 71-75 we find a direct dialogue with him talking to his men about his willing power of risking himself for them.” Old shipmates, friends, the rest of you stand back; I'll make the crossing on my own ship, with my own company, and find out what the mainland natives are…” By this context, the understatement of Odysseus taking the lead to protect his men is very clear.

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He and his men could have easily left unharmed, but due to Odysseus’ self-centered demeanor they stayed. Although, after this Odysseus does shows cunning skill when he blinds the cyclops and escapes to his ship, but once they are away from the dangers of the island, Odysseus boastingly brags about who brought down the cyclops even though his men told him not to. “God Sake, Captain! Why bait the beast again? Let him alone!

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A hero is typically someone who is respected for his or her remarkable achievements and assets. Most People define a hero as someone who does something incredible out of the virtuousness of his or her heart. In the “Odyssey,” written by Homer, Odysseus the main character would fit the definition of a hero. However, if you examine more closely, he does not fit the definition that most people think of a hero whatsoever. Odysseus does not do anything out of his heart.

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Some think Odysseus is a hero for many reasons, mainly because he helps many people including his family and his crew. Even when terrible things happen to him and his crew he perseveres and continues on his journey home. Even though Odysseus and his men do bad things like eating the sun god’s cattle there still are many reasons why he is a hero. One reason to support my claim is that he saves his crew many times. One example is when they sailed by the Sirens.

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Odysseus is an epic hero because of his bravery and confidence during every obstacle throughout his journey In Part 1 whie Odysseus is about to come across cyclops cave, he says “I brought along and victuals in a bag, for in my bones I knew some towering brute would be upon so soon- all outward power, a wild man, ignorant of civility. “ Odysseus is showing his bravery of not being petrified of what he might come across, like the cyclops. Odysseus has no intention of harming them, but he is not sure what their intention is. This example is important because not only does it show confidence in himself, he also shows confidence in his men. In Part 2 Odysseus also shows his confidence in his men in part 2 where Eurylochus says, “Are you flesh and blood, Odysseus, to endure more than a man can?

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2242 Words | 9 Pages

This is shown first through the taunting of the Cyclops. As stated above, Odysseus taunts the Cyclops who shows that he is more than capable of wrecking their ship and the people on it. Besides that, the crew begs for Odysseus to be sensible and stop with the taunting, but they were unable to “bring [his] fighting spirit round.” The only reason why he does stop is because the Cyclops eventually makes a big enough wave with the top of a mountain thrown in the water to push their vessel to another island (9. 530-608). Due to the pleading of his crew, this shows that Odysseus is inconsiderate because they could have easily died and left their families behind.

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