Odysseus: the Anti-Hero

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.

The Odyssey is an amazing piece of literature. Some people question whether the main character, Odysseus, is a hero or not. Odysseus is not a hero because he was not a good leader. He leads his followers into lousy situations where many people were hurt.

Many think being a hero is having super powers, but on the contrary it's more than that. A hero is one who is distinguished for their courage and bravery, and looked upon for their great deeds. A hero like this is not just found in modern society today, but in mythology as well. In the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus earns the title of a true hero by conveying many qualities such as: determination, courage and leadership.

In Greek literature of mythology, we have examined Odysseus. Students and scholars alike have held debates about Odysseus. The discussion is whether Odysseus was a true hero, as read in The Odyssey. There is abundant supportive evidence to verify all sides of the debate and opinions held about Odysseus. Odysseus had encompassed many qualities that I believe make him a hero. The qualities he embodied were mental strength, physical strength, and spiritual strength. I would like to advocate for why Odysseus was a hero.

Odysseus tends to use strategy over strength to be a hero when it comes to challenges. Instead of beginning with fighting the Cyclops, he takes his time and sets up a plan. Everytime he enters a new island, he does not start telling everyone that he is Odysseus, king of Ithaca. Instead, he charms the people he meets and uses his wise words that cause them to help and pity him. Odysseus represents what being a hero is actually all about. Throughout the novel The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus continuously shows his personality of being an admirable hero to everyone by using strategy instead of strength.

Homer’s The Odyssey is very much an epic tale of a man’s heroic quest. The protagonist, Odysseus, is a cunning, brave, strong, and tenacious character who is given the title of a hero. This “hero”, however, does not always show characteristics of a hero, which leads many to believe that Odysseus, is not a true hero after all. In fact, Odysseus cheats on his wife multiple times, is willing to sacrifice his men in order to get home, and slaughters all his maids even though he did not have to. In The Odyssey, Homer attempts to create a complex portrait of a hero, but fails at his attempt when making Odysseus unforgiving, self absorbed, and a philanderer.

For generations, heroes have always fascinated people and people have strived to achieve certain qualities of their heroes. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is considered the hero of the story. While Odysseus does demonstrate some qualities that are not heroic, he is still defined as a hero because of his better, more heroic qualities in which he is far superior in than any other man. The qualities in which define Odysseus as a hero are courage, intelligence, and leadership.

More specifically, the results leading to the announcement that Odysseus was not an epic hero was mostly due to his personality. Odysseus did not value the opinions of his men, or lives of his men, as the reader was lead first to believe. “Why not take these cheese, get them stowed, come back, throw open all the pens, and make a run for it? We’ll drive the kids and lambs abroad” (Homer 8). While in the land of cyclopes, Odysseus’ men told him to leave the cave and take all of the cyclops’ belongings. However, Odysseus did not listen, he wanted to see what else the cyclops had to offer, so he risked the lives of his men for his personal needs. Time and time again Odysseus, the “epic hero” and “brilliant leader,” risked his men’s lives for little or no reward. This is shown again later in story, as where his impulsiveness, arrogance, and greed lead to another reason why he is not suited with the description of an epic hero. In the Odyssey, Homer wrote Odysseus’ words, “Cyclops if ever a mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye; Laertes’ son, whose home is Ithaca!” This quote shows Odysseus’ arrogance after he blinded the cyclops. Believing he had defeated the cyclops Odysseus decided to stroke his ego and reveal his name and put his men at risk. With this not well thought out idea, it caused the rest of Odysseus’ journey to be cursed by Poseidon. Without his men’s best thoughts in mind, Odysseus decided getting recognition was better than safety. Not to mention, after these events, Odysseus was shown as a more of an unlike leader and hero when his men soon realized what kind of man Odysseus is. “Remember

The Odyssey by Homer is the story of Odysseus, a very brave, strong and smart Greek mythic hero who embarks on an epic journey.  His journey fulfills all the requisites of a Hero’s Journey.

The Odyssey includes very hard, and thrilling adventures that the author Homer shows, of the character Odysseus has to persevere through, and battle to defeat his opponents. Odysseus travels from Ithaca to different islands to face cyclops, sirens, scary monsters, and sail back home safe to come back to his wife. As the story goes on Odysseus comes across temptations and has to fight to avoid them. Odysseus has good character traits that he shows and also bad character traits. Odysseus is a bad leader because he is boastful, not faithful to his wife, and is selfish

Odysseus frequently displays hubris as a result of his tremendous courage and justifiable pride throughout books 9-12 of Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, although this flaw reveals that even heroes can have imperfections. For instance, concealing his identity is key to Odysseus defeating the Cyclops, however his arrogance leads him to reveal himself as a “raider of cities” (9.561), demonstrating his desire to be recognized for his destructive power. Furthermore, even though he only flatters himself, Odysseus successfully motivates his men in the face of yet another threat, by boasting that his “tactics saved [them] all” (12.230), as if his actions alone rescued the rest of his crewmates. Odysseus’ crew admires him for his fearlessness, and they

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.

Heroes are often thought of as great figures that conquer evil, kill the monster, and save the day. Odysseus is often referred to as a hero. He is a strong individual striving to complete his goal, return to his wife and son and remove suitors that have taken his home. Although he is seen as a hero by definition and he appears to be one as well there are decisions he made that may not be truly heroic. In The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus decisions to value his crew's life, and completing and being victorious through hard challenges makes him an epic hero. Odysseus saving his crew and competing his goal makes him a hero.

American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson once stated,” A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.” Emerson is an english philosopher that uses intuition to peer into reality. Greek philosophers are looked upon for most of greeks history. Philosophers are knowledgeable and often right. A philosopher such as Emerson uses knowledge to determine what makes the average person a hero in the eyes of society.

In the Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, Homer portrays the gods with human like qualities, including wrath, lust, love, and several others. However, their human qualities make apparent that several of the gods are flawed. The commonality of a flawed nature is no exception for Odysseus. At the start of his journey, he is rash, arrogant, and reacts with anger to several situations. Through numerous trials and tribulations encountered during his odyssey, Odysseus demonstrated restraint and patience upon returning to Ithaca which ultimately allowed him to defeat the suitors.