THE ODYSSEY Intro The Odyssey by Homer translated by Robert Fitzgerald. Odysseus the hero, he made it through alive. Odysseus left his wife and newly born son at home so he could go fight the battle of Troy. For his return home he faces many trouble to get home and be with his wife and son.
In the Epic Novella, The Odyssey, by Homer, both heroic and unheroic character traits of the main character Odysseus are found. On the journey of return to his homeland, Ithaca, him and his men are challenged by various obstacles. His journey shows multiple examples of heroic and unheroic character traits of himself. He was known as a great warrior for being intelligent and quick-witted; although he was selfish and arrogant.
A Man of Loyalty, Patience, and Determination In the epic poem The Odyssey, written by Homer, Odysseus’ heroic deeds are recounted through a narrative that describes his arduous journey from the Trojan War to his homeland of Ithaka. This journey makes Odysseus an epic hero. An epic hero is a brave and noble character who is admired for his achievements. Traits of an epic hero are necessary for the journey Odysseus goes on to reach his homeland.
Odysseus portrays those three heroic traits throughout his voyage home to Ithaca, which is why he is a hero. Odysseus is highly dedicated to his reputation and ego for the whole of his rocky and treacherous journey. From going up against a cyclops that is five times the size of him, to placing wax upon his crewmates’ ears to mute the singing of the Sirens, Odysseus is brave when he faces his fears and intelligent when he creates lifesaving tools from ship materials. A modern hero can be someone who saves a life or even sacrifices his or her own for someone else. Odysseus can be compared to a modern hero because he risks his own life to protect his crewmates.
The main character Odysseus in the Odyssey written by Homer is generally thought to be a great hero; however, he shows more traits of a quite flawed character on closer inspection. Around the beginning of Odysseus’ journey home after the war, Odysseus decides to take a detour to the home of a cyclops deciding to not listen to his men’s suggestions to leave while they still could; consequently, it does not end well: “Ah, how sound that was, Yet I refused. I wished to see the caveman, what he had to offer no pretty sight it turned out, for my friend” (9.130-132). This thought by Odysseus shows that he realized his decision to go to the mysterious island wasn’t the most rational one and that his men’s pleas to leave were the better option, but he decides to be stubborn and place his curiosity before his men’s safety resulting in a non-heroic
The Odyssey by Homer revolves around the character, Odysseus, and his ten-year struggle to return home after the Trojan War. As the epic’s idol, he displays the combination of a clever, handsome, and courageous man popular among the mortals as well as the gods. Essentially, he embodies the ideals of the ancient Greek culture, being adorned with many favored characteristics of the era. However, an intriguing aspect of Odysseus lies in his personality. As the protagonist, he does not manifest the entirety of a stereotypical hero because Odysseus has a fatal flaw—his arrogance.
During Odysseus’s journeys, while trying to find his way back home, he goes through many adventures showing off these characteristics of a hero. The first characteristic that Odysseus possessed, which shows he is an epic hero, is how brave he was. For instance, when Odysseus wanted to venture off to Circe and leave the island, it was Eurylochos that told him not to go without his
His first trait is being exceptionally skilled continued with cleverness and bravery. Despite Odysseus’s challenges he proves himself a hero because of the actions that show him as skilled, clever and brave. Odysseus is exceptionally skilled in many ways aiding him from each challenge to the next. When Odysseus is trapped in the cave with the Cyclops he decides to us his skills to make a stake to blind the monster, “[He] hewed [the stake] again to make a stake with a point at the end.” (Homer.
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.
Throughout literature, protagonists have had an integral role in teaching the reader lessons and encouraging them to empathize. Often, authors create perfect characters in the form of heroes to create a role model for readers. Homer’s The Odyssey has a different take on this idea through the depictions of Odysseus, a king who voyages for decades home after fighting in the Trojan War. Instead of creating a perfect character, Homer highlights Odysseus’ imperfections and develops him through a figurative trip to heroism throughout the entire epic.
Odysseus has some good traits, some bad flaws, and has been in some ugly situations, but overall he is a true hero. Some of the traits that exemplify his heroism traits are his cleverness, determination, and his bravery. In several scenarios he saves his men from sticky situations, showing his bravery, his determination
Heroism, tends to be difficult to define and remarkably ambiguous in literary works. In the Odyssey, however, Homer clearly defines a hero as a humble, determined, and loyal individual; thus, according to Homer, it is not enough to claim to be a hero, but it is also important to exhibit those qualities that Homer values as heroism. Odysseus, despite claiming heroism, upholds these traits inconsistently, as seen in his taunting of Polyphemus. In contrast, Telemachus, Odysseus’ overlooked son, dramatically grows up over the course of the epic and ultimately reveals his truly heroic qualities by the end of the poem. Thus, because Odysseus claims to be a hero, but fails to remain humble, determined, and loyal throughout the epic, he is not a hero.
In the book The Odyssey, the main character, Odysseus, is a man who is loved and respected by many. In the beginning of the book, we learn that Odysseus has left on a journey and, since it has been many years since his departure, many people assume that he has passed. On his journey, he portrays his many traits, not all of them being good ones either. Some of his good traits include his cunning, bravery, and hard work ethic. On the other hand, his negative traits are his excessive pride, immense curiosity, and rather large temper.
No matter what is thrown at him he never stops trying to get home, getting past a Cyclopes, the Lady Circe, and sirens. He even gets through the Underworld and lives. Despite this, Odysseus does have faults about him, though not as many as there are qualities. He is a worldwide symbol, an archetype, of both nobility and bravery. Odysseus, the epic hero of the Odyssey, a great leader with many attributes as well as flaws, is no ordinary man.
