Who is the man who is willing to fight for ten years to return to his family stopping at nothing? Who is the man who never ceases in his fight to return home, no matter how difficult his decisions or how grueling his trials are. That man is Odysseus. The Odyssey is an epic poem in which a hero, Odysseus, embarks on a thrilling quest to return back to his home and family in Ithaca after succeeding in the Trojan War. In his several journeys, he faces several hardships that delay this goal. These hardships, occurring especially during his call, challenge, and return, include, but not limited to, lack of crew members, death, a cruel witch, and loneliness. Despite these hardships, Odysseus progresses through them with his emotional and physical strengths. Throughout The Odyssey, written by Homer, Odysseus demonstrates the qualities of an epic hero, physical and emotional strengths, through his call, challenge, and return in this poem. Odysseus proves his emotional strength as an epic hero when he stays with Calypso for several years but despite this, his heart only lies with Ithaca and Penelope during this time, not with Calypso. This example in The Odyssey demonstrates an example of the call because this point of the plot is when Odysseus is able to gain the strength to leave Calypso’s island and sail …show more content…
He demonstrates emotional strength in Calypso’s island by keeping his goal focused on returning home, he later shows his physical strength when he strings the bow and by defeating all the suitors, and finally shows both physical and emotional strength when he stops his violent approach to subsiding the revolt to a peaceful approach. Since Odysseus is able to demonstrate physical and emotional strength, qualities of an epic hero, throughout his call, challenge, and his return it is clear that Odysseus is an epic