Odysseus As An Epic Hero In Homer's Odyssey

Odysseus is an epic hero, he is a natural leader and at some points in the book smarter than everyone else. After stabbing the cyclopes in the eye and the cyclopes moving the boulder Odysseus had to think of a way to get his men out safely and this quote shows his intelligence and leadership skills "I tied them silently together, twining cords of willow from the cyclops's bed; then slung a man under each middle one to ride there safely,

Constantly throughout the book, Odysseus shows great courage in any and every situation he is put in. We see this glimpse of courage when he fights the suitors, or when he saves his whole crew from the Cyclops. In book 9 as Odysseus and his crew are journeying through the cave of a Cyclops, Odysseus decides to make a very bold decision and blinds the Cyclops. “Hoisting high that olive stake with its stabbing point, straight ingo the monsters eye they rammed it hard.” (page 223, line 427-428) In this scene Odysseus drives a stake into his eye, in result blinding him. This was a very courageous decision because of the fact that he and his men are up against a Cyclops. At the same time, Cyclops’s are very strong and big, and Odysseus could have easily been killed . It turns out that the Cyclops is a offspring of Poseidon which put him and his crew into a lot of trouble and danger later in their journey, and if Odysseus knew that or not it was still a brave thing to do in order to save him and his crew at that moment.

Epic heroes are featured in literature throughout history. Most notably, the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer is about Odysseus, an epic hero. He is the king of Ithaca who goes to fight in the Trojan War. After 20 years, Odysseus finally returns home, although through many obstacles. Once in Ithaca, Odysseus kills the suitors who plague his wife, along with all other disloyal subjects. He fits the definition of an epic hero, which is an admirable character who displays courage while working towards a noble cause. More specifically, Odysseus is an epic hero because he makes complex and important decisions, has supernatural help, and is associated with beautiful women.

Also, in book twelve: Scylla and Charybdis fate is demonstrated once again. Thirdly in the text, at this point Odysseus men disobeyed his order not to eat the plumed sheep’s, and Zeus help him realize that his men are not promising. Odysseus says on page 166, lines 372 to 373,”…so it was to ruin me the [Zeus] lulled me into a cruel sleep, while left to themselves my men planned this awful crime.” Zeus put Odysseus in a deep sleep so that Odysseus could see that his men are not promising; Odysseus men lack strength and they are very greedy. They only care for themselves! Furthermore, Zeus was punishing Odysseus and his men completely by destroying their boat. Odysseus says on page 167, lines 414 thru 416,”… Zeus thundered and struck the vessel with lighting. The whole ship reeled from the blow his bolt and was filled with the smell of sulphur…” This shows that Zeus is the reason why Odysseus couldn’t get home overall, because throughout the book we seen Zeus take charge more than once and that he is above all gods; therefore, Zeus is the reason Odysseus couldn’t get home.

A true epic hero has many very defining characteristics. Usually you will find this hero to be the ‘alpha male. ' With an almost super hero personality, epic heroes are extremely above an average human being. This character must be of noble birth, and as a result, this gives them great respect and many resources. There is a deep reverence for the gods and this helps the hero through tough times. An epic hero is bravery than the other characters. They are willing to take bigger risks and reap greater rewards. Despite these strong traits, there is usually an element of deep suffering that the character must deal with through out his story. No matter what, however, the epic hero will always win out in the end in a good vs. evil type of

Throughout the battle and the journey back to Ithaca, Odysseus faces many complications, and he is able to apply his bravery and intelligence to overcome the obstacles. To survive the deadly situations he comes across, he has to devise many solutions for the achievement of his goals and escape death. For instance, he faces a life-threatening obstacle during the Trojan War. The severity of the situation triggers him to come up with a strategy of the Trojan horse that allows him to succeed in the situation: “…they decided to resort to a trick thought of by Odysseus..." (12. 218). Another serious instance where he demonstrates his diligence during the journey was when he was trapped Cyclops' cave together with him men. His intelligence was revealed as he applied his leadership skills to unite the men to fight the common enemy by reminding them of how they had triumphed before by working together as a unit. To plan for a safe escape, he made a strategic more. "Friends, we're hardly strangers at meeting danger and this danger is no worse than what we faced when cyclops penned us up in his vaulted cave with crushing force! But even from there my courage, my presence of mind and tactics saved us all" (12. 226-230). This trick was influential in helping them reach the green island quickly and safely. The ability to plan

Homer 's The Odyssey follows the incredible journey of the main character Odysseus, and his long trip home to the Island of Ithaca. The Odyssey is an epic poem written in verse, and is fittingly named after the epic hero Odysseus. An epic hero is defined as a character who possesses superhuman strength, craftiness, and confidence, is helped or harmed by the gods, and usually possesses a natural position of authority. Without a doubt, Odysseus is an epic hero; he is clever and cunning, he has a good relationship with the gods, and excels as a leader.

On the other hand, Odysseus is not the perfect hero he may seem to be. He can be extremely selfish, and has a sense of hubris that causes many problems for him and his crew. To start off, Odysseus' selfishness has been very easy to recognize these last few books. For example, when he informs his crew that they will be staying at Kirke's palace for some time, Eurylokhos objects. Odyseuss describes, "they turned back, as commanded, to this work; / only one lagged, and tried to hold the others" (10.475-76).

He has the brains to come with the idea to crave a wooden timber stake, heat it and is able to get that stake into the cyclops eye and blind him. “Now, by the gods, I drove my big hand spike deep in the embers, charring it again, and cheered my men along with battle talk to keep their courage up: no quitting now. The pike of olive, green though it had been,reddened and glowed as if about to catch. I drew it from the coals and my four fellows gave me a hand, lugging it near the Cyclops.” (Homer 285) Like most heroes in literature Odysseus answers to a problem and has struggles along the way.

When confronted with temptation by the sirens, Odysseus makes his men plug their ears, but he keeps his unplugged so he can hear them. That was an unnecessary risk taken for his own self befit that could have caused tremendous trouble to himself and his crew. Another example of Odysseus’s egotistical ways is when he was sailing away from the Cyclops lair. He was in the clear after using his cunningness and telling the Cyclops his name was nobodys, when he declared he was Odysseus of Ithaka. He rubbed his victory in the cyclops face and cherishes his name like gold. Odysseus’s egotistical oppose his heroism and negatively affect his

He seemed to have forgotten a simple instruction given to him on Circe’s island that put his entire crew in danger. This would be just a little slip up in an average life however, because of his unbearable class as a hero this ended in several deaths and he is put to blame. Although Odysseus is a hero he can still make human mistakes with detrimental consequences when in an average man’s life the little issues would be

In the Odyssey Odysseus is faced with many conflicts. He must be brave and courageous to overcome these very frightening challenges. He has three main obstacles the cyclops polyphemus, the Scylla, and the Sirens.Odysseus is not a maverick because he always follows the rules so he won't get hurt. In the Odyssey Odysseus must overcome many obstacles. Odysseus is very brave to be going up against all of these monsters to make it back home to Ithaca. The first obstacle Odysseus encounters is the cyclops polyphemus . Odysseus comes to the cyclops’ cave due to his curiosity. “It is Odysseus’ famed curiosity that leads him to the cyclops cave and that makes him insist on waiting for the barbaric giant”(pg 922). Odysseus approaches polyphemus cave

This is a trial in which Odysseus cannot face without the the help of his crew. Odysseus was not able to resist the Sirens due to his own accord and free-will but he must be physically restrained with ropes to pass by the Sirens, who tempt him with their charming voices, without falling in to them. As Odysseus says “The lovely voices in ardor appealing over the water made me crave to listen, and I tried to say “Untie me!” to the crew, jerking my brows; but they bent steady to the oars”(Lines 1273-1276).

Odysseus faces many challenges during his passage to his home. For example, he encounters a cyclops and is also forced to choose between unavoidably losing 6 of his best men, or taking a huge risk and possibly losing all of

With only the help of his son, Odysseus kills all the suitors, despite the fact that he was greatly outnumbered. Odysseus proves his strength for the second time when he resists the Siren’s song. No man is able to resist it, but with the strength that Odysseus contains, he overcomes it. Odysseus begs his crew to untie him because the voices are so appealing, but he keeps his strength and fights off the tempting voices: “The lovely voices in ardor appealing over the water/ made me crave to listen, and I tried to say ‘Untie me!’ to the crew jerking my brows;/ but they bent steady to the oars.” (XII, 246-249) Third, Odysseus is very sharp and wise. When blinding the great giant, Polyphemos, one would think why not kill the giant instead of blinding him? Odysseus was very strategic and blinded him because if he were to kill the giant, Odysseus and his crew would not be able to escape. As strong as Odysseus is, he would not be able to move the giant boulder which was blocking the exit. “My heart beat high now at the chance of action,/ and drawing the sharp sword from my hip I went/ along his flank to stab him where the midriff/ holds the liver. I had touched the spot/ when sudden fear stayed me: if I killed him we perished there as well, for we could never/ move his ponderous doorway slab aside.” (IX, 324-330) Odysseus has a sharp mind and thinks of what the outcome to each of his move will be. He makes