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Qualities Of Odysseus As A Hero In Homer's Odyssey

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As we all know, the definition of a hero is described as, "A person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements or noble qualities." In the epic "Odyssey" written by Homer, Odyessus's 10 year journey home is shown throughout the story. It starts off with Odysseus in Troy after the Trojan War, and then continues with his journey home. It is a rough, long journey with 16 stops and challenges. Throughout the entirety of this epic, Odysseus shows the difference between his hero qualities and his zero qualities. "Fight your way out, or run for it, if you think you'll escape death I doubt one man of your skins by," (OD 22.1285-1287). My paper will highlight the three examples of how Odysseus acts as a zero-villain. First off, Odysseus sacrifices his men to find out what the lotus eater is. Then continues to his return home, which results in him killing his village of men after abandoning them for 20 years. My last example revolves around his unethical behavior towards his wife. …show more content…

However, he wants to come home the only man capable of surviving the gods. In his words, he is a "force to be reckoned with". Therefore he doesn't feel the need to sacrifice his own self for his men, but necessitates his men's ability to get him home. Odysseus states, "Then I sent out two picked men and a runner to learn what race of men that land sustained," (OD.9.203-204). Instead of checking out the poisonous lotus for himself, he decides to put his men in danger for his own sake of survival. This validates my point about declaring Odysseus as a zero rather than a

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Which shows him as not heroic. Although odysseus has had many heroic moments, hes had more non heroic moments. And they all weirdly involve in violence, so if that dosent say something about him, i dont know what would prove anything

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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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“‘... he’s here from roving the ocean, driven far off course— he looks like a deathless god!’” (Homer 8.15). To explain further, Homer includes the positive opinions of strangers while telling Odysseus’ story. Moreover, this shows the many positive traits that are very prominent in Odysseus. In contrast, there are many negative qualities of Odysseus that Homer highlights as well.

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Odysseus is determined to get back home to Ithaca, and he’ll do almost anything to get him there. He goes through so much in this story to get back home, for example the Lotus-Eaters, The Land of the Dead, and a horrible storm. A Lotus Flower is a something you eat and it would make you want to stay and eat more. Odysseus’s ship blew toward the Lotus Eaters, who were a group of people who lived on the Lotus Flower, “those who ate the honeyed plant, the Lotus, never care to report, nor to return: they longed to stay forever, browsing on that native bloom, forgetful of their homeland. I drove them, all three wailing, to the ships, tied them down under their rowing benches, and called the rest: ‘All hands aboard; come, clear the beach and no one taste the Lotus, or you lose your hope of home” (Homer 865).

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This reveals Odysseus as an outdated hero. In Greek society, there was an emphasis, especially in places like Sparta, on the success of the group as a whole, such as in battle, with losses being expected and planned for. In contrast, modern society places much more value on individual human lives than the Ancient

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Overall, Odysseus is often portrayed as a “model hero”, but in reality he has many faults such as being untrustworthy, arrogant and

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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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The only reason Odysseus makes it through twenty years of life

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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.

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