Odysseus As A Hero In Homer's Odyssey

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.

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