Odysseus Hero Characteristics

Odysseus the Hero Superman may be the first person who comes to mind when thinking of the word hero, but not all superheroes wear capes. This is proven in Homer’s book, The Odyssey with the main character, Odysseus, who showed many heroic acts throughout the book. He was clever, brave, and, loyal, proving he's worthy of being a hero. The definition of a hero, doesn’t depend on how strong someone is, or if they can fly, it’s about courage, and noble qualities. With these strong traits Odysseus got back home alive, long waiting a greeting from his family. One of Odysseus strongest characteristics is his wit, or his cleverness. He thinks fast on his feet when he gets into a tough situation, making this a plus for his and his crew's safety. The

One way Odysseus bravery shown was at every island he came upon he searched it, without knowing what to expect, or who he was going to face. A great way he showed that was when they were on Calypso's island and she had turned some of his crew into pigs. He couldn’t just leave his crew like that, so he went to go change them back. Along the way he runs into Hermes who gives him a poisonous plant that he says will keep Odysseus from falling under Calypso’s spell. It took every ounce of courage in Odysseus to trust in Hermes and eat the plant. Then led out the plan to make Calypso turn his crew back. This took a lot of bravery, strength, and courage. He didn’t know what to expect but did it anyways for the sake of his crew and for their families. Another way he was brave was when he was alone in the ocean floating on a piece of ship. He barely had any strength in him, just saw all of his shipmates die, and Poseidon wasn’t happy with him. Instead of giving up like most people would’ve done, Odysseus kept swimming and floating even though he had no idea where it might take him. Poseidon's rough waves didn’t help Odysseus either, but he stayed strong and fought threw it so he could

Throughout all the years he and his crew sailed around, and no matter how many times they disobeyed him, Odysseus never gave up on them. He never just left them for dead, instead he stuck with them until they sealed their own fate. Showing his loyalty to his crew occurred continuously throughout the book, but he showed it best when they came across the Lotus. The lotus was a plant in the book that once they ate it they would lose their desire to go back home. In the book they stopped at an island for rest and food, and three of his men found the lotus flower and ate it. Odysseus found out what was going on so no more men ate it, the problem was the men who had already eaten the plant. It was time to go back to the sea and try to go back home, but because of the Lotus none of them wanted to leave. Odysseus wasn’t going to just leave his men there to die, “He drove them, all three wailing, to the ships,/ tied them down under their rowing benches…”(48-49). Once the spell of the lotus wore off they were thankful for Odysseus’ loyalty and they now had a chance of getting back home. Not only was he loyal to his crew he was also loyal to his son and his wife, Telemachus and Penelope. Being loyal to them is shown by how bad Odysseus wants to get home. He never gives up on trying to get back to Ithaca to reunite with his family. Odysseus had many opportunities to stay on an island and live a