Odysseus: A Hero In Homer's The Odyssey

Every day on his long journey back home, he would think about his wife and son. He had a drive to return home even while being cursed by the god Poseidon. Trying so hard to return home for twenty years showed Odysseus loyalty because many people from that time would have given up trying to return home while being cursed by the gods. Odysseus was also trapped on the Island of the goddess Calypso. Odysseus was trapped there for many years, and the goddess even fell in love with him.

Imagine you’re on a ship in the deep dark sea attempting to find your way home, but instead, you discover yourself farther and farther from your loved ones. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus faces the hardship of this exact scenario. In a time of hardship, personalities are revealed, ranging from heroic to cowardice. A hero is someone who is valued by his intelligence and confidence, allowing him to be a leader. Odysseus is a hero because his leadership is valued by his shipmates, his intelligence was exemplary when a plan was needed, and his confidence was indisputable when theirs was uncertain.

Heroes are everywhere, no matter how small their heroic actions may be. However, what is a hero? A hero is someone who helps others without regard to themselves. A person like Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, who put Tom Robinson in front of his own reputation, and was called a “black lover” in the racist community for doing the right thing. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus has done this more than once on his journey home, however he also has been selfish. Odysseus is a man who has been both heroic, like when he rescued his men from Circe, but he has also done unheroic actions, like when he didn’t tell his men about the dangerous bag of wind.

Have you always read books where the main character is usually the hero of the story? What if I told you that in the book The Odyssey the main character isn’t the hero. As a matter of fact, there is no specific hero in the The Odyssey. Although Odysseus is the main character of the story, he is definitely not the hero. Odysseus has acquired some qualities of being the hero, but have acquired numerous of qualities of not being one. First of all, Odysseus has shown quite a few time of where he showed no respect towards others. In addition, how can he be considered a hero when he killed a mass of people. Lastly, he has been unfaithful towards his wife Penelope. Overall, Odysseus have proven that he isn’t a hero through his traits that appeared throughout the story.

To be a veteran is a matter of being in near perfect mental and physical condition and state. Veterans have to endure life changing events and most of the time, it is hard to cope with. Veterans fight for our country so that we may have the privileges we do today. I think the legendary protagonist from Homer’s well-known epic “The Odyssey”¬ – Odysseus, is similar to all veterans.

According to Joseph Campbell, “A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” In The Odyssey, Odysseus tries to return home but fails. Along the way, he meets people that can help and others that will make it harder to get back home. Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus shows he is a hero because of being smarter than other men, undertaking impossible tasks, and is spiritually stronger than other men. Odysseus shows he is a hero when he is smarter than other men.

The value of family is prominent throughout the entirety of the story, even though Odysseus hadn’t seen his home in such a long time. After being away from home for many years, he comes into contact with a beautiful goddess/nymph named Calypso. She quickly falls in love with him and even offers him immortality if he stays. He declines the glorious offer due to his longing for his wife and his home. He says, “I long to reach my home and see the day of my return.

Although he was able to dodge the Cyclops without getting captured again, he had to use his mental strength to overpower the beast. Odysseus had to use his tools around him in which helped him by creating a spear shaped object that they used to hurt the beast. Also showing creativity, Odysseus told the Cyclops his name was Nohbdy. Once the creature was injured, he started yelling but none of the others listened because he said that “nobody was hurting him.”

home, he did not suspect his wife to kill him. Through this grievance, Agamemnon warns Odysseus of what may await him in Ithaca and reminds him that no man is above the spite of others; more specifically, Agamemnon warns Odysseus of the possibility that his wife may plot against him in his absence. “‘Say not a word,’ he answered, ‘in death’s favour; I would rather be a paid servant in a poor man’s house and be above ground than king among kings of the dead’” (157). Achilles, the best of the Achaeans, expresses his regret to Odysseus; he wishes that he had chosen a long and peaceful life without glory rather than one of immortal greatness in the battlefield. Odysseus must confront that the war is truly over. No longer does any past heroism matter

“An epic hero is someone who has a long journey, supernatural powers, possesses Greek virtues, and is a strong warrior. ”(“The Hero: Some Definitions”). Odysseus possesses those features; he is strong cunning, strong, and confident. However, in today’s society we would not consider Odysseus a hero.

In the epic, Odysseus and his men traveled to an island inhabited by cyclops’. While they were exploring the island they became trapped in a cave with one of the cyclops. Without Odysseus’ clever thinking/planning, him and his men would have died. Part of Odysseus’ ingenious plan was telling the giant his name was Nohbdy, so when they injured his eye the giant would yell “Nohbdy, Nohbdy’s tricked me, Nohbdy’s ruined me!” which wouldn’t alarm his brothers on the island because he is saying nobody had hurt him. (ll.357-358) Odysseus also proved he was a hero by devising a plan that would work to sail past the sirens while also listening to what the blind prophet Tiresias told him. He wasn’t told how to protect his men from being seduced by the sirens, he had to come up with a strategy that would work all on his own. He knew he had to listen to the Sirens but if his crew heard the sirens they would be led to their destruction so, “(Odysseus) carried wax along the line, and laid it thick on their ears.” so they weren't compelled by the sirens’ loving voices. (ll. 712-713) Without Odysseus’ clever planning they would have been led to their deaths. Odysseus wasn’t only a clever man he also had a lot of

“and learned the minds of many distant men, and withered many bitter nights and days, at his deep heart at sea, while he fought only to save his life, to bring his shipmates home.” In this text Odysseus wants to be home with his family but he also cares for his shipmates and men he will be fighting along the side of. He cares for them getting home just as much as for himself. And from him caring for them he knows that it is his job as king to get all then men home

Thus, throughout Odysseus’ journey his intelligence was essential to his survival. In one of the first main challenges Odysseus faced, the island of the cyclopes, he showed a lot of intelligence. Odysseus came up with the idea to heat a metal spear and drive it into the cyclopes’ eye to blind him. While before he told the giant that his name was Nobody so that when he called and said Nobody is hurting him the other giants didn’t help him. Then later Odysseus told his crew tie themselves to the bottom of the sheep to escape when the cyclopes let them out to graze. All of these examples show a lot of cunning and cleverness which are major parts of a hero.

A quote from Epictetus, a Greek stoic philosopher, describes skillful pilots as gaining their reputation and glory through surmounting their storms and tempests. In the epic The Odyssey by Homer, one man named Odysseus shows his glory and builds his reputation in different ways. Odysseus is a skillful pilot in which he overcomes a long journey, a suppressed identity, and a battle in his own home.

A hero is someone who is admired for their noble qualities. For example Odysseus in the story has the necessary qualities to classify him as a hero. Odysseus shows determination throughout the book, his entire journey back from war is all determination to get home. He exhibits strength and great powers at many different points like, when he is killing the suitors. Odysseus is brave even when times are rough, he mostly can push through anything. These traits can be seen as heroic today because they all demonstrate not given up, pushing for what you want and persevering through the tough times. Odysseus is coming home from the Trojan War but faces many obstacles on his way home. Once he finally reaches Ithaca he reunites with his son,