The Flaw Of A Hero In Homer's Odyssey

A hero is an extraordinary person, but when being compared to another hero, they may seem flawed. In the beginning of time, heroes are known for certain qualities even if some qualities are flawed and or non-existent. Such cases like King Odysseus, from the Odyssey written by Homer thousands of years ago, demonstrates the flaws of a hero from the olden time. Although an epic hero from the Trojan War, Odysseus has many flaws that are portrayed through his journey home after the war. On another note, a more recent hero who demonstrates modern day heroes to be less flawed is Helen Keller, who is a victim of the serious flu that made her blind and deaf at the age of nine months. Yet, Keller had never let her disabilities get in the way of her

Odysseus shows the quality fortitude because he does not let obstacles prevent him from being brave. For instance, “... so with our brand we bored that great eye socket”(Homer, 664; 342-347). In this scene, Odysseus is clearly not a match for his opponent in size, but using his intelligence and courage, Odysseus is able to ruin Polyphemus’ eye. In other words, despite the advantages Polyphemus have against Odysseus, Odysseus overcame it and succeeded in his plans. In comparison, Helen Keller is also a fortitudinous person because she never gave up and continued to be strong despite losing both her hearing and vision as a child. For example, “despite her loss of sight and hearing Keller learned to do small tasks such as folding laundry and getting things for her mother. She invented a system of signs to make her wishes known”(UXL Biographies). This fact portrays Keller to be fortitudinous because she participated in helping even though she needs helping herself. Also, despite being blind and deaf, Keller is able to create her own way of communications which indicates that she is not letting herself be limited to what she can access. In other words, Keller does not let her misfortune be in the way of her achievements. Overall, both Helen Keller and Odysseus overcome difficulty despites their