Odysseus: The Antihero

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Odysseus: The Antihero

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 disproves his title of a hero through his pride, his disloyalty, and his bloodthirstiness.

Odysseus’s hubris leads him into many troubles and contrasts with all of the heroic deeds he is known for. As he returns home, he lands on the island of the Kyklopes. He insists that they meet with the unknown host, with the prospect of receiving gifts. His desire for more loot to bring back to Ithaka leads him and his men into trouble. They are trapped in the cave of the Kyklops, but Odysseus uses his wit to escape. Unfortunately, he spoils the victorious moment when he taunts at Polyphemos: “Kyklops,/ 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’s on Ithaka!" (IX, ...

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