Denied the Title of a True Hero Essay

When people think of a hero, they think of a tall, handsome, loyal, brave, and a type of man that could do no wrong. The “hero” that is portrayed in the Odyssey is a man named Odysseus. This “hero” may be tall and handsome, but he is often arrogant, disrespectful, conceited, and rude. Odysseus consists of positive and negative characteristics that is shown in the text by Homer. These characteristics impact the characters day to day, or in the book’s case, the quests. In the Odyssey, Homer values the characteristics hospitality and cunning, but he objects bad leadership.

Odysseus is not a hero because he lets his pride make most of his decisions, which gets him into difficult situations. Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus makes mistakes that causes his men to be killed. Most of these mistakes could have been fixed by Odysseus making better decisions throughout his journey.

Odysseus makes some substantial mistakes, thus leading to the failure to his men. Odysseus shows extremely inadequate leadership qualities throughout the story. When Odysseus is on the journey to Ithaka, he neglects to let his crew know how long they will be staying on each island. He also neglects to let them know of the journey that lies ahead. This is very poor leadership in the eyes of his crew members. The crew relies on their leader to be honest with them when it comes to situations such as these. They expect Odysseus to make decisions for the well being of the crew. When Odysseus receives advice, even if it is helpful he tends to ignore it. He thinks he is the most intelligent human being, even more so than the gods. A prime example of this is when Odysseus receives advice from Kirke about Scylla. Kirke tells Odysseus not to fight Scylla, yet he chooses to anyway. Another example of Odysseus’s ignorance toward people is when Eurylochus tells him not to go onto Kirke’s island because he knows the crew would be turned into swine. Odysseus again chooses to ignore the intelligent advice given by the gods, and finds out that hard way that Eurylochus was correct. After all that Odysseus has done to the crew, it is true to

A hero accepts who he is as an individual, but strives to change himself for the better. In the epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, the main character Odysseus is a valiant king who embarks on a life-changing voyage. While traveling from Troy back to his home in Ithaka, King Odysseus overcomes daunting obstacles, and in doing so discovers his place in the world. Odysseus is truly a heroic figure because he demonstrates courage, improves his character, and wins the support of the gods.

The majority of those who read The Odyssey consider the protagonist of the story, Odysseus, a hero. On many occasions, however, Odysseus makes decisions beneficial to himself alone. For example, when Odysseus and his men find themselves on Polyphemus's island, Odysseus's actions are self-centered and at the expense of his men. This can be said for most of Odysseus's actions in the story, as his main objective is to reach his home. Having his men by his side when he returns seems a trivial thing to him. Odysseus could be considered a hero, but many of his actions say otherwise. Due to the many unfaithful and self-centered decisions he makes in the story, Odysseus is not a hero.

In homer's Odyssey the main character Odysseus is a person who only tries to help himself. Although he earns the trust of his men while in Troy, he loses it on his perilous journey home. Many times in the epic he manipulates others, commits foolish acts and is full of hubris. He tries to take shortcuts and as a result of this is men are killed and his boats destroyed. He plays with the lives of his men and he is punished for it. Odysseus is not a hero because, he is foolish, lacks faithfulness and is consumed by his Hubris and selfishness.

Joseph Campbell once said, “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” True heroes are those who do something for others rather for themselves, Odysseus doesn’t exactly show this trait in The Odyssey. In The Odyssey, Odysseus along with his men try to go back home to Ithaca but due to Odysseus nature, only he actually returns alive. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus proves he is not a hero because he is arrogant, secretive, and unfaithful; resulting for readers to believe that every action has an consequence.

Odysseus is also disloyal to his wife who stayed faithful to him despite the circumstances. During his journey back home to Ithaca, Odysseus commited adultery twice. When he landed on the island of Aiaia, he sleeps with Kirke. He has been cheating on his wife by sleeping with another woman. Odysseus doesn’t do this only once through his journey back, he does it again with Kalypso for seven years and by will: “He lay with her each night, for she compelled him.” (V, 163). Odysseus doesn’t resist Kalypso’s charm and cheats on his wife Penelope. Despite all of the suitors, Penelope stays loyal to Odysseus. Even when Odysseus was thought to be dead, she still puts up with the suitors’ behavior and refuses to remarry. She came up with a ruse so she could stall having to remarry: Ruses served my turn…with honor. (XIX, lines 163-190) Penelope is experiencing so much pressure from the suitors and her family, but she still refuses to succumb and does not cheat on

Heroes in real life have supernatural abilities. People also find characteristics of heroes in regular people, like parents, famous people, or just who have made a big impact in their life. The main character of The Odyssey, Odysseus, is shown as a hero because him and his story fit the epic hero cycle. However, just because he is an epic hero, means that he is automatically a hero. He shows us throughout the collection of books that he lacks humility and is unfaithful, proving that he is not a hero in any sense. In Homer’s The Odyssey Odysseus’s lack of boundaries throughout his voyage back to Ithaca show that he is not a true hero.

In The Odyssey, Odysseus goes on a long journey in which he takes part in dangerous adventures. Odysseus is an example of Homer’s greek hero. He is a leader of his people and they depend and follow him. Odysseus is brave; he believes in himself and trusts that he is doing the right thing. Odysseus values his honor and is confident in himself.

Often through great literature, there is an epic hero. In the Odyssey, Homer tells the journey of one man’s journey home from the Trojan War. The protagonist of the epic poem Odysseus is often regarded as a great hero. However, Odysseus is not quite the glorious soldier that people often see him as. Odysseus disproves his title of a hero through his pride, his disloyalty, and his bloodthirstiness.

The Odyssey, by Homer, tells the tale of the Grecian general, Odysseus, and his return voyage to his home Ithaka. Odysseus fights in the Trojan War, and during the war and his return journey, he faces many dangers and overcomes them. Because of his wit, cunning, and bravery, Odysseus is often viewed as a great hero. Although literary scholars of The Odyssey have argued that Odysseus is a hero because of his bravery and cunning, closer examination shows that Odysseus is not a hero based on his rash and foolish decisions, his skewed logic, and the end result of his journey.

In Homer’s the Odyssey, Odysseus consistently struggles with tasks and takes questionable decisions. What becomes true in the epic, is that it’s not easy to be a hero. Throughout the Odyssey Odysseus proves himself not a hero when he consistently submits to temptation, is helped to the point where he is never truly at risk by Athena and makes reckless and murderous decisions. Moreover, if even a king like odysseus fails to be a hero what hope does any of us have? Odysseus consistently submits to all forms of temptation in the odyssey, further proving he is not a hero.

The epic poem The Odyssey, written by Homer, centers around the main protagonist Odysseus and his long journey back home. Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, returns home after defeating the Trojans in a ten year war. On his way back, he angers Poseidon, god of the sea, by blinding his son, Polyphemus the Cyclops. Due to Odysseus’ actions, Poseidon refuses to let Odysseus reach home, and Odysseus and his crew are forced to go through a series of obstacles throughout the epic. Through this adversity, Odysseus must show his heroic attributions in order to survive. Homer portrays Odysseus as a hero by giving him characteristics such as: craftiness, loyalty, and bravery.

In Homer’s Timeless epic, The Odyssey, Odysseus is the hero. A hero is Someone who is loyal to their country, family, and god(s). Years after the end of the Trojan War, the Greek hero Odysseus still hasn't come home to Ithaka. Most people figure he's dead. But he’s not. In fact, he is as alive as he has ever been. He is fighting the forces of Poseidon’s sea and he has gone to great measures to get out of many dangerous situations and keep his men alive.