The Odysseus: A Modern Day Hero

The concept of hero has been interpreted in many ways throughout the ages. Hero have gone from knights slaying dragons and rescuing the princess, to heroes who save the world with their supernatural-like powers, to a modern day hero who is someone who has noble qualities and is regarded as a role model. In the epic, The Odyssey, by Robert Fagles, the heroic Odysseus is a well known in Greek mythology. However, although Odysseus is the most respected, honorable hero of Greek mythology he is not a modern hero. A modern day hero is someone who puts their life on the line to save the lives of other innocent people. In The Odyssey, Odysseus’ characteristics do not fit in the definition of a modern hero, he illustrates a naive and a arrogant epic hero.
Odysseus can be seen as a naive epic hero. This is because he doesn't step up to be a stern leader with his shipmates and he allows his shipmates to walk over him. An example of this is when Odysseus reaches Thrinacia, the island home to Helio’s cattles. Odysseus tells his

An example where he is arrogant is when he goes to the Island of the Cyclops. Odysseus and his shipmates arrive to the homes of the Cyclops, they find a cave with food and decide to enter. When they eventually, get caught by the Cyclop that lived there. The Cyclop ate some of his men and capture the rest for another day's meal. Odysseus comes up with a plan to escape. He gets the Cyclop drunk, claims his name is nobody, then stabs his eye and leaves him blind. The next day, when the Cyclop open the door to let his sheep out, Odysseus and his men make a run for it. When the reach the boat Odysseus reveals his true identity and brags to the Cyclop that he got away with what he did to him. Since the Cyclops was son of Poseidon, Poseidon curses Odysseus with a bad trip home because of what he did to his son. Overall, Odysseus is arrogant, making him nt fit to be labeled as a modern