The Hero Of Odysseus, The Epic Hero

Often through great literature, there is an epic hero. In the Odyssey, Homer tells the journey of one man’s journey home from the Trojan War. The protagonist of the epic poem Odysseus is often regarded as a great hero. However, Odysseus is not quite the glorious soldier that people often see him as. Odysseus shows that he is an antihero through his pride, disloyalty, and bloodthirstiness.

In the Greek literature of mythology, we have examined Odysseus. Students and scholars alike debate whether Odysseus was a true hero, as read in The Odyssey. There is much supporting evidence to prove all sides of the debate and opinions held of Odysseus. It is of my opinion that Odysseus is a hero in his homeland, his family, the Greek people, and for us to learn from to this day. Odysseus had encompassed three many qualities that I believe made him a hero. He embodied, mental strength, physical strength, and spiritual strength. I would like to advocate for why Odysseus was a hero.

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

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.

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.

Some may believe a hero is a person who fights evil and saves people. In reality, it is more than than that. A hero is someone who fights for what they believe in, they are courageous, fight for the greater good, and above all, would sacrifice their life to save the lives of many. For example, in The Odyssey, a hotshot is shown in the life of Odysseus. While many believe Odysseus was a great figure and leader, he was far from that. He failed his crew, and for one reason only, he was not the chieftain his men needed.

Lance Armstrong once said, “Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or even a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever”. This quote resembles that one of the most important qualities of a hero is persevering through rugged obstacles. As the quote refers to time, Odysseus’s journey took 20 years to accomplish and throughout it he faced many trials, showing how great heroes are made up of those trials in life. Throughout the Odyssey written by Homer, Odysseus journeys home to Ithaca and throughout the journey, he gains qualities of an epic hero by facing and overcoming numerous challenges.

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.

Thesis statement: Throughout Odysseus long journey home to Ithaca, he faces numerous challenges, which he overcomes, giving him qualities of an epic hero.

During The Odyssey, Odysseus shows us many of his “epic” traits. Some of the these

In order for one to become a hero, one not only must have strength and bravery, but care and love for others. In The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus shows a sense of genuine emotion rather than his usual courageous voice. Odysseus unexpectedly faces the ghost of his mother and breaks down, while learning that putting out a sense of care and emotion is a significant trait to becoming a true heroic man. First starting his journey, Odysseus’s only traits are bravery and courage. Before entering the Land of the Dead, the hero takes more than needed pride in himself when he shouts, “‘Hear me- / Poseidon, god of the sea-blue mane who rocks the earth! /

(12.119-122) Having not told his men that they would encounter all the events, Scylla turned out to be a surprise to them. The significance of Odysseus not telling his men that six of them would die, causes his men to see Odysseus as one of “them”. On the other hand, readers have the intel of the conversation that took place between Circe and Odysseus, causing them to think he's rash. Meanwhile his men think he had no idea that Scylla would occur. During the horrific events, Homer uses imagery to describe Scylla by describing how her appearance was. Diction also played a key factor, readers can imagine Scylla in their minds by Homer selecting keywords such as “great tentacles,unjointed, and upon her serpent necks are borne six heads like nightmares of ferocity, triple serried rows of fangs and deep gullets of black death”, he creates imagery by using diction to create the effect on the readers, that Odysseus can be an audacious leader.

In this essay I will be discussing the epic hero, Odysseus of "The Odyssey", by Homer. When humans ended their nomadic lifestyle and started creating civilizations they stopped dedicating their time to hunting, gathering, and basic means of survival. They needed to be kept entertained. They told stories, wrote literature, and expressed their emotions through the arts. One method of entertainment people turned to was the art of epic poems. Epic poems are poems that contain thousands of lines and have an epic hero. This essay will be centered around the question of why Odysseus is an epic hero.

Odysseus is one of the greatest epic heros in the history of literature. The Odyssey, by Homer, is an epic poem, which depicts the journey home of Odysseus. Angering many gods, this voyage takes him through multiple obstacles, and ends up taking almost twenty years longer than it should've. Throughout his journey, “The Son of Laertes” must get his crew out of trouble multiple times. He uses his intellect and other strengths to do so, and never gives up, no matter the circumstance. Even after losing everything he needs in a storm worthy of the gods, Odysseus still never gives up, and gets himself out of trouble yet again. Throughout his entire journey, coming home from the Trojan War, Odysseus repeatedly uses many heroic traits to get himself and his crew out of many unfortunate situations. These heroic traits, how Odysseus uses them, and the steps of his journey all come together to illustrate that he is an epic hero. Odysseus characterizes himself as an epic hero based on how he almost perfectly follows the characteristics of an epic hero, gets his crew out of trouble multiple times, and follows the Hero's Journey.

The Odyssey is an epic poem that showcases the heroic actions contrasted with the grave disasters of Odysseus, a tragic hero on his way home from the war in Troy. The author, Homer, shows through Odysseus’ actions that even a hero such as he, has flaws. Flaws that if not acknowledged and learnt from, can spell grave disaster in the journey yet to come. Many Greeks recognize Odysseus as the most renowned hero of the Trojan war, thanks to his own accounts of his years away from Ithaca. Following the Greek beliefs, many believe that Odysseus couldn’t have kept himself away for so long, for only the gods can do something like this, and Odysseus can’t be the cause of the crew’s deaths, only the gods could be so cruel. While