Odysseus Versus Heracles As A Hero In Homer's Odyssey

Yes, all Heroes share one main commonality, which is the relationship they share with the Gods. The major difference between all heroes is the make ups of their strengths. Each hero has a significant aspect of strength that they must utilize to overcome obstacles. Heracles and Odysseus, are they perfect pair of heroes to compare because one uses intelligence while the other uses brawn to overcome adversary. Odysseus portrays his strength within his heighted intelligence various times within the text the Odyssey. Odysseus’s intelligence is most evident when he encounters the cyclops Polyphemus, son of Poseidon. “‘Cyclops, a moment ago you asked me to tell you my name. I shall tell you, if you in return give me the present you promised. ‘Nobody’ is my name, for my dear mother and father gave

By referring to himself as “Nobody” Odysseus forces Polyphemus to fail in alerting his friends because they become confuse at the threat Polyphemus is presenting. Odysseus utilizes his strengths as a hero, in his case his immense level of intelligence to save not only his own life but also the lives of his crewmates. The strength of a hero Heracles possess does not lie in his process of thought but in his physical power. Heracles has faced countless obstacles in form of labors some described such as “What sort of lions or three-bodied/ Typhons or Giants or war against/ Four legged Centaurs did I not dispatch?/And after killing the dog with heads all around that kept growing back,/ The hydra, I both went through herds/ Of thousands of other labors arrived among the dead ( Eur. Her. 1271-1276). In most of these labors Heracles uses his bare hands to overcome his enemies, his physical strength is greatly overpowering against all , animals and people alike. In one his labors Heracles defeats a multi-bodied lion just by seizing the neck of the animal with his bare