Odysseus: The Egotistic Hero In Homer's The Odyssey

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He is arrogant, self-centered, destructive, and calculative. These are some portray the king of Ithaca. Throughout Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, depicts Odysseus as a brave warrior who overcomes the various obstacles to reach his homeland Ithaca. Yet, his egotistical behavior and his ignorances characterizes the king Odysseus as a transitional hero, however having some qualities of a modern hero, but falls short to fulfill that honorable position of being a true hero. A major way Odysseus is portrayed as a self-centered individual is when he encounters a monster that interrupts his journey to his homeland Ithaca. When Odysseus and the ship crew, are trapped inside the cave of the mighty Cyclops, Polyphemus, this confrontation demonstrates Odysseus’ cunning intellect and his self-centered attitude. After Odysseus blinds Polyphemus, he expresses his anger towards the …show more content…

However, it is a selfish move to keep any information about this trip from them. As they are his loyal ship crew who are yeaing to return to their homeland Ithaca. He hides the truth from his men and he puts his men in danger to salvage his voyage to his homeland. Being selfish is not a quality that a modern hero would have. His men are utilized to row his ship and escape this dangerous landscape. The consequences of not communicating with his crew ship was “...Scylla snatch[ing] six men from our hollow ship…” (XII 266). It was a choice that cost him more lives and cause him to suffer more pain. His selfishness caused him to ignore the real danger. A modern hero would have been concerned with the safety and he would have established a plan to save as many men as he could. He doesn’t attempt to save his men because it would ruin his chances of survival and put the surviving men in even more

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