Trojan War and The Odysseus by Homer

Over the course of the ten-year long Trojan War, the character Odysseus is introduced to those who may read it. This particular man is depicted as the main character, the hero, of this tale. In Homer’s Odyssey, an epic hero is one who embodies the ideals and beliefs of the civilization they live in. This hero is the protagonist of the epic, the technical main character. Though like each individual human being these epic heroes and heroines will also bear there own flaws. Odysseus also has his own flaws that hinder him along the duration of his adventures in the Odyssey. One flaw that Odysseus can be known for is his overbearing self-confidence; he’s a hubris man, arrogant at heart. Another flaw of his is that he’s egotistical; he puts his own desires before those of his men and others around him. As an epic hero and a human being Odysseus has his flaws, which lead to the demise of him and his men.

The Odyssey revolves around the protagonist Odysseus, who as the epic hero of this story. Being the hero, he embodies his people and what in there time would be viewed as the ideal person, someone of greatness. Value systems are portrayed through the lives of these people, the virtues of the people. This can be seen towards the beginning of the Odyssey when Odysseus is thinking back on the journey he had gone through for all these many years, he says; “men hold me formidable for guile in peace and war: this fame has gone abroad to the sky’s rim.” (Homer 128-129). This shows how the men value Odysseus, for his participation in the Trojan War. Through the haze and trouble of this war he managed to come up with a plan that in the end won them the war. He preformed extremely well as a soldier and a commander. Odysseus was the one who...

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... When he comes back into consciousness he finds out about what his men have done while he happened to be asleep. He doesn’t take responsibility for what his own men did; he blames Zeus for supposedly making him fall asleep. “‘O Father Zeus and gods in bliss forever, you made me sleep away this day in mischief! O cruel drowsing, in the evil hour!” (Homer 915-917) Is what Odysseus says to the gods when he discovers his men’s wrong doings, which in the end kills the very last of them.

Odesseus, like any mortal human is flawed. These particular flaws, his hubris nature and his tendency to make fools of others ends up bringing him the worst of fates. Therefore, as an epic hero and a human being Odysseus have his flaws, which lead to the demise of him and his men.

Works Cited

Homer. Odyssey, Elements of Literature. New York: Holt, Rhinehart and Winston, 2006. Print,