Odysseus As A Hero In Homer's The Odyssey

In my eyes a hero is a person who shows courage, is humble, does not give up, and is someone everybody can relate to. The protagonist in “The Odyssey” by Homer, Odysseus is a hero because although he is emotional throughout the book and lets his emotions take over his actions, he displays immense courage and perseveres through his journey and hardships.

Not only does Odysseus demonstrate a strong sense of courage in his journeys to prove that he is a hero, but he also shows never-ending perseverance through the countless adversities berating him. Although much of Odysseus’ journey is guided and assisted by various gods, especially in tough situations, what he does is ultimately of his doing and free will, as demonstrated by his tenacity when coming across many hardships. An example of this is later on in Odysseus’ story, as he and his men sail away from the Island of Aeaea to complete their journey home to Ithaca, they encounter many obstacles. The sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis terrorize and put Odysseus’ men and journey into peril, as his crew is struck with the terrifying might of the sea monsters.

Odysseus was a brave and strong man that got through unimaginable dangers, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have any failure that led to his success. Odysseus was a leader to all of his men, but his orders are not always followed. In the story, “The Odyssey” written by Homer, Odysseus was sent away,and he took many men with him along in his journey. They traveled long distances for a long time, soon they came across Helios's

Around the 1200 B.C., Odysseus was sailing the Mediterranean Sea for the purpose of reaching home. In his long narrative poem, The Odyssey, Homer conveys how Odysseus desperately wishes to go home to Ithaca. However, he faces brutal treatment and obstacles from several different antagonists, and more obstacles appear when he reaches home. Odysseus came across many external conflicts, which he dealt with intelligence, determination, and loyalty.

First of all, Odysseus was very selfish during their journey back to Ithaca. For example,“We lit a fire, burnt an offering, and we took some cheese to eat; then sat in silence around the embers, waiting”(Homer 219-222). If Odysseus took the cheese and left, his men would not have had to dealt with Polyphemus. He put himself before his men because he wanted a gift from the cave owner. Odysseus was also selfish when he sailed near the lands of Sirens.“Steer wide; keep well to seaward; plug your oarsmen’s ears with beeswax kneaded soft”(Homer 669-671). Although Circe told Odysseus to steer clear of the area, Odysseus wanted to be known as the man who survived a Siren’s song. He put his own men in danger just because he wanted to become famous. Odysseus was also very arrogant to think that he could get past the Sirens.

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

Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus has shown various qualities of a weak leader. For one, Odysseus taunts Polyphemus unnecessarily. This leads him and his men being “cursed” to never return home or to kill all of Odysseus’s men. This shows Odysseus is a bad leader because he is excessively prideful and egotistical. He often lets those traits make decisions for him, and this causes poor fortune for him and his men. Another example of Odysseus being a bad leader is when he accepts the fate of his men instead of trying to find a loophole that would save them. Along with his crew’s fate, his decision to listen to the sirens was also a foolish decision. There could have been a lot of time saved if his men were not preoccupied with keeping Odysseus

In the Odyssey, Odysseus is quite the legend known to people, whether you are high up in the sky with Zeus, or deep in the ocean with Poseidon, everyone knows Odysseus. In the epic poem, the Odyssey told by the one and only Homer, the brave, the godlike human, Odysseus is finding his way home after the big battle victory against the Trojans. This story is about his travels home and how he got caught up in other business. Let’s just say he stabbed Poseidon’s son, had his crew turned into pigs, faced a six-headed monster and whirlpool, and that is to say the least. He may as well be on America’s most wanted list with all the trouble he was causing. Even though Odysseus is a troublemaker, he has multiple great characteristics of a leader. Odysseus, when it comes to his crew and family, is confident, compassionate, wise, and always knows a way to get out of any problem.

In the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus demonstrates his unimpressive and weak leadership skills. He is brave in his decision-making because he knows what is best for him and what must be done to get back to Ithaca, but it is done out of selfishness. His selfishness is portrayed by being thoughtless about putting his men into dangerous situations even if it results in their deaths along the way. Although he puts himself and his safety before his shipmates, he frightens them into not questioning him which causes them to obey his orders. He does not take advice from anyone because everything he does is to make an impression on the gods and capture their attention. Hardships are thrown his way throughout his journey, and he distracted

Odysseus shows his heroism through his bravery. When Circe turned his men into swine, Odysseus confronted her: "I drew my sharpened sword and in one bound held it against her throat"("Circe, the

Odysseus does not tell his men many things and he keeps those secrets to himself. In one example of the Odyssey, Odysseus is given a gift from the god of the winds, Aiolos. The gift, a bag of winds, takes all the stormy winds and conceals them inside a cowskin bag. Odysseus’ crew, curious about what is in the bag, decides to open the bag and check what is inside. Thinking that there is gold and silver inside, they greedily open it emanating a windy gale. Odysseus describes the opening of the bag saying, ‘“A scandalous motion, but it was passed. They opened the bag, the winds leaped out; at once a gale caught them, and carried them off to sea tearing their hair as they left their native land behind.”’ (Homer 113). A very scandalous motion indeed for the island of Ithaca was visible to Odysseus and his me. Odysseus is punished for his poor leadership. He does not tell his crew that there are the stormy winds inside the bag, leaving his crew inquisitive. Odysseus also, “fell into a deep sleep…”(Homer 112) which gives the crew freedom because there is no supervision. This flaw gave Odysseus the wisdom of responsibility. Odysseus acts as the leader and tells his men what to do. Unfortunately, Odysseus’s men still disobey him on Thrinacia. The men take all of Helios’ cattle and they feast on them although Odysseus had already warned the men. Odysseus, having learned from poor leadership, said, “My friends, we have food and drink in the ship, so we must keep our hands off these cattle or we may suffer for it.” (Homer 144). Odysseus learns but his crew does not gain any wisdom. Odysseus tries to take leadership by warning his crew but they were all too greedy. Under the circumstances, Helios called upon Zeus and terror struck upon Odysseus men leaving only Odysseus alive. Odysseus gains the wisdom of responsibility after learning from his flaw of poor

Fortunately, Odysseus proves he has learned to share while sailing towards Sirens. He learns important information from Circe that will keep his crew from

“Circe – how could any man in his right mind endure the taste of food and drink before he’d freed his comrades-in-arms and looked them in the eyes? If you, you really want me to eat and drink, set them free, all my beloved comrades – let me feast my eyes.”- Odysseus (P. 242, L. 421.) He proved to Circe the goddess, that he was a noble and selfless (at this moment) and by convincing her to let his men be released displayed shrewdness. He displays patience while he makes his plans, therefore making his move at the right time. “ Here Cyclops, try this wine- to top off the banquet of human flesh you’ve bolted down! Judge for your self what stock our ship had stored…”- Odysseus (P. 222, L. 388) Odysseus is planning to get the Cyclops drunk so he will stop eating all of his men. His quick thinking saved all of his companions from cretin death. Odysseus is the type of leader who maintains loyalty to his men, when they are in danger his careful planning and cunning end up saving them from destruction. Even though by the end of the book there are no men left to return there are many examples of Odysseus’ cleverness which preserved the lives of the men for another day of the journey.

When Odysseus encounters the sirens, he comes up with a plan to help them escape them. In “Book Twelve, line 142,” Odysseus says, “Friends, have we never been in danger before this? More fearsome, is it now, than when the Cyclops penned us in his cave?... Did I not keep my nerve, and use my wits to find a way out for us?” Even in danger Odysseus is able to keep himself together and lead his men. Homer, in this, shows us that a leader needs to be brave in all times, always ready to take control and calm his men. Before Odysseus returns home, his wisdom is shown once again when his men don’t listen to him, because of this, all his men die and Odysseus returns

He likes everyone knowing he was the best. He might have a very strong trait of perseverance, but he lacks the trait being humble. Next, Odysseus and his crew were going towards the Sirens Scylla and Charybdis, he was foretold, by Circe, that whoever hears the Sirens crying the men will not lay eyes on their family or home ever