The Character Of Odysseus An Anti-Hero

“Now shrugging off his rags the wiliest fighter of the islands leapt and stood on the broad door still, his own bow in his hand” (Homer 557). In epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is a hero because he makes a clever decisions by gaining a close connection with Circe, he is cautious for he built his bed out of an olive tree, protecting his family from imposters, and he is cunning, for he allows his men to successfully escape Polyphemus’ cave.

Lizeth Marin Honors Introduction to Literature Period 3 18 April 2008 Odysseus: Hero or Villain? Heading home, to Ithaca, Odysseus is faced upon many obstacles that he and his men try to overcome, but in the end substantiate that Odysseus is a villain. “The old soldier in despair: He has spent ten years (seven of them as Calypso’s not entirely unwillingly captive) trying to get home” (652, summary). Evidence proves that Odysseus is a villain, because he tries to convince that he was kept unwillingly by Calypso. However, it is true that Odysseus was kept as Calypso’s captive for a time. Yet he can still be judged as a villain, because he does not just stay as a prisoner, no, he assists Calypso by being with her for the pleasures that

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 portrays himself as anything but a hero throughout Homer’s The Odyssey. Odysseus goes through his life believing he is the best. He has no regard for anyone’s feelings but his own, and he believes nothing and no one can harm him, not even the gods. Odysseus feels he is always the leader and no one can tell him otherwise. Odysseus should not be considered a hero because he portrays himself as a selfish man that failed his crew, and is controlled by his hubris.

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 the Odyssey, Odysseus exemplified strong leadership and outstanding noble qualities. Like Achilles, Odysseus carried some flaws at the beginning of the story. A strong case can be made that his biggest flaw as a character was pride as it caused him unnecessary risks that only delayed his journey and possibly endangered his men. This is evidently shown when Odysseus and his crew wander around in Polyphemos ' cave. After the confrontation with the Polyphemos, Odysseus and his men escaped by stabbing Polyphemos’ in the eye while he was asleep. Once Odysseus and his men were safe on board on their ship, Odysseus took it upon himself to reveal his true identity and proceeded to taunt Polyphemos. At

In the beginning while Odysseus is on his journey, he is full of pride for himself and his accomplishments. On his way home from winning the battle in Troy, him and his men stopped to attack the Cicones in Ismarus and collect more war treasure. When Odysseus and his crew arrived to the Cicones’ land he “destroyed the city there, killed the men, seized their wives, and captured lots of treasure…”(9.40) Instead of leaving right away, they “drank too much wine and on the shoreline slaughtered many sheep, as well as shambling cows with twisted horns.”(9.62) While they were relaxing, the Cicones collected all of their neighbors and tribesmen to help fight. In the morning, the Cicones around them were “thick as leaves or flowers growing in season.

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.

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.

Six of Odysseus’ men are eaten because of his foolishness. Again, Odysseus’ arrogance came into play when Odysseus and his men escape from the cyclops, Polyphemus. He taunts the monster, despite the fact that his men tell him stop. He exclaims, “If ever 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” (Fitzgerald 908). If Odysseus did not provoke Polyphemus, the curse laid up on his ship and crew would have never happened. If he did not mock the cyclops, his odyssey would have been non existent. Odysseus always wanted to be remembered as the grandest hero of Greece. This is object when his ship rolls past the Sirens and Odysseus demands that he listens to their song. His overly extensive hubris clouds his mind and wants the fame of being able to survived the Sirens’ song. He never once considers what might have happened if he had

Odysseus is a walking conflict machine. Wherever he goes, something is bound to go wrong, which is turns out alright for him, because he is lucky, and helped by the Gods, but his men...not so much. When Odysseus demands a gift from Polyphemus, saying “...here we stand, beholden for your help, or any gifts you give--as custom to honor strangers.” (11). By saying this, Odysseus creates a big conflict that ends up killing many of his men. Odysseus, of course, is spared, but a lot of his men are eaten alive. They did more than Odysseus in trying to avoid this situation, but he refused, and they paid the price for it, all because they happened to be less lucky than Odysseus. Odysseus being favored by the Gods is always a huge stroke of luck when conflict rolls around, no matter the conflict. They can’t even punish him correctly. When he disobeyed their direct orders about eating Helios’s cows, the still protected him right after punishing him. When Odysseus is on the verge of death because of their punishment, and at ready to be eaten by Scylla, Homer writes, “ Never could I have passed her had not the father of gods and men, this time, kept me from her eyes.”(23). Another example of this is when Odysseus and his crew mates land on Circe’s island, he sends his men first to investigate. When before he can catch up to them, a God stops him, and warns him of a

To most people, Odysseus is believed as a hero. A hero is a person who is admired or idealized for courage, achievements, and noble qualities. In one of Homer’s classic epics, The Odyssey, Odysseus is admired by many people as a man who has intelligence, nobility, and confidence. However, women who both loved and knew Odysseus than anyone, thought of him differently and knew him in depth. Through The Meadowlands and The Penelopiad, Circe and Penelope showed their strong opinions of this “hero” through their own perspectives.

First off, Odysseus had to leave his family to go to Troy. Odysseus was probably think that if he and his army defeated Troy than they would have any more trouble with anyone, but that is not the case when Odysseus was trying to get make to Ithaca they went to they Cyclopes island and find food for him and his men. They find food in Polyphemus cave they start to eat it. When Polyphemus return to his cave and find Odysseus and his men Polyphemus is angry at them for eating his food, but Odysseus says they are guests and just want