Odysseus is not a hero based on the standards of merciful, selfless, and gentle. His actions against Polyphemus, the Suitors, and his men truly show that he is in fact the opposite of a hero. The actions he takes to return home safely and to get back his throne are very cruel and show signs that he lacks the nobility of being called a hero, or a king, or a warrior. He has shown that he powerful, destructive, and ruthless and these are qualities that a hero must not have. Odysseus, the mighty King of Ithaca is not a hero because he is not selfless, gentle, or merciful.
In Homer’s the Odyssey, Odysseus has many different qualities that classify him as a hero. He is brave and courageous as shown when he murdered all the suitors who were disrespecting his property even though he was outmanned by them. Despite this, he is by no means all brawn and no brain as he shows his intelligence and cunning numerous times during the epic. A few example of this would be when he was able to blind the one-eyed Cyclops while the rest of his crew didn’t know what to do. Odysseus in many ways is similar to a flowing river, because whenever there is a problem (dam in the river), he would first try to go through it, but if he can’t he would then find a way ar...
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.
Odysseus has shown the qualities of a hero in The Odyssey. Odysseus can be described in many words, and among those is confident. Odysseus was able to overcome the wildest of challenges that the army faced and overcame adversity through perseverance and a strong will to keep fighting along with the gift of strength and intelligence in war. Odysseus was able to fight of creatures such as the Cyclopes and spend long days and nights out on sea for months and maybe years at a time while Poseidon was angry with Odysseus and sent the dangerous of waters to Odysseus. And when Odysseus finally returns home he unleashes his fury on the suitors that tried to replace the throne of Ithaca with one of their own and take all of the belongings which Odysseus had owned. Odysseus the strategist is what Odysseus is called and so he absolutely is a mastermind at strategy. After all, he did come up with the idea of the Trojan Horse, perhaps one of the greatest war stories ever told.
With this said I feel you can understand how Odysseus is my favorite classical hero, he was a man that had no name. A man that could think his way out of any problem that he faced while at the same time a man that would fight to make sure what mattered to him was safe no matter what kind of trash had to be killed. He was a man that over the course of the story changed and adapted to what the situation had called for. Whether that meant hiding his true identity from both friend and foe, needing to be able to get his men out of very tight situations like in book nine, or having to go in an all out fight he is a classical hero I am surly not going to forget.
In conclusion, Odysseus deserves the title of a hero because he shows bravery, displays a change in character, and has the Gods supporting him throughout his journey home. Odysseus has the courage to overcome physical, emotional, and intellectual challenges. While Odysseus he is on the hero’s journey, he vastly improves his character. He changes from arrogant to humble, and learns leadership qualities, and most importantly, his place in the world. Odysseus has the revelation that the gods are above him, and are in control. Because he realizes the supremacy of the gods, his reward is assistance from the gods themselves. Odysseus is not a perfect man, and is flawed, just like every other human. However, heroes are not gods.
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.
Odysseus confirms his role as a hero because he puts thought into all of his choices, he is quick-witted, and he frees himself of excessive self pride. From sacrificing six of his own men to surrendering his self pride to the gods, Odysseus accepts the noble title and proves himself deserving of being a hero. He took on a journey in which he grew into himself and rid himself of the one thing that held him back all along; his hubris. At the end of the journey, Odysseus went from being a selfish, cocky leader to being a selfless, modest hero.
Why is Odysseus such a great warrior? Well, he is a great warrior because he is willing to risk his life to make it back and to keep his people safe. No matter what the problem is, no matter who or what he has to go against. He knows exactly how to approach and take care of the issue. Even if Odysseus is far from home and battling for his life or battling terrible creatures, his heart is set to one place. Ithaca, and he has his mind set that he will make it back, no matter how rough things will get and he is a hundred-percent determined to bring himself and his men back to Ithaca. Stuck,trapped, or tired. He is determined to make it back safely. And even though Odysseus is not a hero who can fly or has supernatural powers, he is still human who is Capable of making mistakes or making decisions that are not always the smartest, And super hero or not,He is a warrior who fought day through night and never once had the thought of giving up. Being a hero means being better than you were yesterday, meaning growing stronger from the mistakes, and pushing limits to the furthest. Odysseus is a great hero by noble-birth because he smart about what he does, and he will travel over vast areas if it means it will lead him towards home.
Odysseus has all the qualities made to be a true hero. Not only did Odysseus fight on behalf of the Greeks in Troy (Trojan War), but everything he went through he learned a valuable lesson at the end; Odysseus endured so much during his journey going back to Ithaca but he never gave up on any of his principles. He also had good escape strategies, and he risked his life to save others. Imagine you being on the same journey Odysseus went through, do you honestly believe you would have survived? He made some minor mistakes along the way but nobody’s perfect. That’s why Odysseus is a hero because, he’s strong, and intelligent and was able to get out of sticky situations.
Learning from past mistakes, displaying superior courage and having unmatched wits are the reasons Odysseus can be considered a hero. He endures difficult challenges and temptations to return to his kingdom, where chaos has overtaken. Along the way, he understands the true power of the gods and gains humility. Like a true hero, Odysseus is able to change for the better and sacrifices himself for others.
Odysseus: a hero in every way. He is a real man, skilled in the sports, handy with a sword and spear, and a master of war strategy. Most of the challenges and adventures in his return voyage from Troy show us this even if we had no idea of his great heroic stature and accomplishments in the Trojan war. I found in my reading of the Odyssey that most of the trials the gods place upon him are readily faced with heroic means. These challenges are not
These heroic element expresses Odysseus as a hero for some people. The others may argue that Odysseus is not a hero because he lost crew members when he reached back home in Ithaca. But with the help of certain characteristics readers highly disregard that he lost all of them. Through the usage of craftiness, loyalty, and bravery, Homer depicts Odysseus as a true hero.
To begin, one feature that makes Odysseus and epic hero is his intelligence. In order for him to have survived through his journey, he has to have a massive amount of intellect. To have survived a Cyclops is an accomplishment of its own. His ability to think on his feet and to plan situations and ability to make a right decision in horrid environments has helped him survive throughout his disastrous journey. When he is trapped by the Cyclops, Polyphemus, he has to carve, smooth, and sharpen a gigantic spear-shaped-pole out of a large tree that he and his strongest men would then use it on the Cyclops to blind it. In order to follow through with his plan, Odysseus has to sedate him. He gives Polyphemus an extremely strong wine, in which Polyphemus asks him his name. Odysseus replies: “My name is Nohbdy; mother, father, friends, everyone call me Nohbdy”(9.274-9.275) When the Cyclops passes out, Odysseus and four of his strongest men stab Polyphemus in his eye with the sharpened pole that he and his men ...
Odysseus had the help of a very important goddess, the goddess of wisdom. Athena was on Odysseus’ side to help him through the horror, god Poseidon was sending him through. This is a trait of a hero. Odysseus was also not alone because he had his faithful crew on his side. His crew was very loyal and humble to him. This proves that he was a great leader to this men and his country before he left. Odysseus was very honest and compassionate to his crew members. When he himself was the lone survivor, he weep for his lost brothers. He cared deeply about these men and risked his own life many times for them. That proves he was a hero because that take a special type of person to lay down one’s life for another. Another trait to prove that Odysseus was indeed a hero, would be that he had the god of all gods on his side, Zeus. Zeus was there to help the hero shoot an arrow through twelve ax handles. Odysseus was the only man successful and that was because he was under the watch of these two brilliant immortals. This is yet again another example of the heroism of