The Good And Bad Of Odysseus Essay

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.

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 homer's Odyssey the main character Odysseus is a person who only tries to help himself. Although he earns the trust of his men while in Troy, he loses it on his perilous journey home. Many times in the epic he manipulates others, commits foolish acts and is full of hubris. He tries to take shortcuts and as a result of this is men are killed and his boats destroyed. He plays with the lives of his men and he is punished for it. Odysseus is not a hero because, he is foolish, lacks faithfulness and is consumed by his Hubris and selfishness.

Odysseus the Heroic The Odysseus, by Homer, is a story about adventure and courage. The Odysseus creates an atmosphere where it’s all about Odysseus and how he handles the danger. Three questions people have about the Odysseus are: what makes Odysseus an epic hero? What are his qualities and flaws? Why is Odysseus considered an archetype?

Imagine being a crewmate on a ship and you are being attacked by a monster and you are trying to get away from that monster. You get away but the leader of the ship keeps heckling the monster and the father of the monster then gets angry and attacks. You and the rest of the crew are either dead or badly wounded. Like this hero, Odysseus shows these traits in the Odyssey. Odysseus is the opposite of a modern hero because he is full of himself, he always gets into bad situations and is not loyal to his men.

The protagonist of the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer is Odysseus, who is a man of many qualities. Odysseus's skills and intellect are honed through the hardships he experienced on his very long journey away from home. Through his adventures, Odysseus gained for himself the reputation of a hero who survived shipwrecks, battled monsters, faced the wrath of the mighty gods, and met many people of various foreign lands. On top of other classic epic hero traits, Odysseus proves to be the very definition of a Homeric hero through his portrayal as a character who is faithful, loyal, and mentally capable.

The admirable character or hero in Homer’s The Odyssey is Odysseus. Odysseus shows multiple heroic traits throughout the story, but a clear trait is displayed when Odysseus and his men are sailing through the land of the Sirens. Some might argue differently, that Odysseus has methods that are to cruel or harsh for a leader, but there is evidence to prove this wrong, and support the claim that Odysseus is the hero in The Odyssey.

On his journey home from the war, Odysseus faces many hardships, which ultimately drive him to be a better leader and person. Odysseus is motivated by victory and exhibits strength, skill, determination, courage, nobility, a thirst for glory, as well as confidence in his authority. He seems to live by these tactics as well as his courage.

In Homer's Odyssey, he uses the stories of Calypso and Circe to give a reader a glimpse at Greek values. Odysseus is a "perfectly" moral man by Greek standards. In the Calypso episode, Odysseus demonstrates the value of faithfulness, and in the Circe episode, he illustrates Greek values in general. While both goddesses seek Odysseus to be their husband, Odysseus responds as a perfect Greek hero. During the Calypso episode, Homer teachers that one must remain faithful in their hearts. The Circe episode shows the loyalty between a commander and his troops, burial rights, hospitality, and the relationship between host and guest. The Calypso episode explains how a man must be faithful to his wife in his heart.

A hero is not molded by their strengths nor their looks but by the values that the person carries. Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey, demonstrates the cultural and honest nature of the early Greeks. After the Trojan war has ended, Odysseus and his men embark on a voyage back to their homeland of Ithaca. He is determined to get back to his wife and family and will do whatever it takes. Through his twenty year journey, his integrity has been tested as he goes through many obstacles. His achievements has earned him great prestige and acknowledgement throughout ancient Greece. Odysseus, a highly confident warrior, embodies ancient Greek society’s ideal hero who smartly conducts a plan, and uses self-control when needed, while at the same time respecting Greece’s major icons.

“Odysseus. You have failed the first part of the maze,” she said. I turned around. She was a child of Night, bright as the midnight moon, with a strange aura of ambiguity. A lack of true presence, a defined identity. In her right was a staff, fashioned out of gilded wood and crowned with a feather made of mother of pearl and glass.

In the story, “The Odyssey”, Homer portrays Odysseus as someone who is heroic but also relatable to readers. This is illustrated through multiple uses of literary elements that reveal Odysseus’s characteristics. Even though Odysseus has undesirable characteristics, readers can view him as a hero.

In The Odyssey, Odysseus is constantly being challenged. He is being challenged, so Homer can show us the standards for life in The Odyssey. There is no doubt that Odysseus is a great man, Homer even says so in the beginning lines of the text. Although Odysseus is a great man, he also makes mistakes but not any that he doesn 't pay for. We learn the representation of life in The Odyssey through Odysseus ' challenges. Throughout the book, Odysseus specifically struggles with arrogance and pride, female seduction, and revenge. Throughout these struggles, Homer is trying to show us what life is like in The Odyssey throughout Odysseus adventure home and how he deals with what is at his home.

”I don't know if your father is alive or dead, but I suspect that he's alive. He's a tricky one, Odysseus, and he knows how to land on his feet. He’s very good at looking after his own interests, is your father,” [Mentes said.]

When the king of Phaeacia decided to give Odysseus a new crew they set off immediately. They set sails and go south, but 10 miles down they see a chameleon type monster as large as the cyclops. They ready their swords and raise their shields, except the monster greets them with a soft hello as docile as a baby puppy.