Preview

Hero In The Odyssey

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
999 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Hero In The Odyssey
A hero is someone who cares about other people's lives than their own. Many people can call themselves a hero but don’t act like a hero. For example, in the book The Odyssey by Homer, the main character Odysseus is sailing with his men after the Trojan War, and he sees himself as a hero. On his way home from the battle a terrible storm had hit that was made by Zeus, the god of all gods, and his way home was turned into an adventure. Odysseus’ actions on the adventure makes his a very disrespectful guy, that caused his own imprisonment because he invaded Polyphemus’ cave and stayed, when he didn’t tell his men about Scylla and Charybdis when they were approaching them, and the fact that he let his men eat the sun god’s, Helios’, cattle. Odysseus and his men stopped at Cyclops Island and Odysseus took twelve of his best men to the nearest cave, in cave they saw some cheese and disrespectfully took some of it to eat. The cyclops was out pasturing his sheep when Odysseus and his men snuck in and ate some of his cheese. Odysseus’ men had the idea to steal the …show more content…
Odysseus disrespected his men the most during this whole journey, whether they died or lived they were put through some form of torture because death is a sad topic. In the world today being disrespectful is a major thing, some people don’t treat others nicely. That’s why a common saying was born “Treat others the way you want to be treated” and Odysseus had the same effect happen to him he was disrespectful to his men and he received the punishment the way he treated others. To fix the world of this awful disrespect the best way would be to just be nice to others and not ignore them. Also avoid getting others involved when something is brewing that will only make the problem

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The dictionary definition of a hero is “a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.” Now, while all of this is true, a hero can be so much more. A hero can be someone who would risk himself for the better of humanity, get what they need need accomplished done well, be a great leader, know when to do the right thing, and be morally balanced and virtuous.…

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A hero’s journey is a pattern in which the character goes on an exciting or dangerous experience in which the person goes out and goes through intense obstacles to achieve a great deed. The hero’s journey is broken up into 12 stages made by Joseph Campbell. One of the many examples of this pattern is Homer’s “The Odyssey”.…

    • 199 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    A hero is a person who believes that their enemy is not inherently malevolent, but also has wit and bravery. A good example of a hero is Benjamin Church. Church was an Englishman who went from leading a small group of men to leading an army. Church was brave, although he was injured he returned to war. church was also compassionate, he is against englishman who enslave or kill innocent Indians. Lastly Church had wit, his tactics for building an effective army and planned attacks were what brought the war to an end.…

    • 1342 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    His third stop on his voyage home to Ithaca was the land of the Cyclopes, where Odysseus successfully escaped danger. Odysseus showed guile when creating his escape plan. Odysseus fed Polyphemus (the Cyclops…

    • 578 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This is Helios, the sun god’s island. Upon stopping on the island, the men are very hungry and are looking for food. Odysseus carefully warns them not to touch Helios’s cattle or they will pay dearly for it. While away from his men, Odysseus falls asleep in the shade of a tree. While he is asleep his men disobey him and kill Helios’s cattle for food. Afterward, Helios pleads to Zeus to make Odysseus’s men pay for harming and eating his cattle. Zeus will fulfill his wish and “throw down one white-hot bolt, and make splinters of their ship in the wide dark sea.” Following this, the men set to sea when the boat is indeed struck by lightning and kills everyone but Odysseus who floats alone for days until greeted by Calypso on Ogygia Island. If the men would have obeyed Odysseus, they would not be dead, and Odysseus would not have to stay with Calypso for seven…

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    They notice that the Cyclops has no manners. Polyphemus starts asking them questions; Odysseus doesn’t want to tell him anything that can be used to track home back home if he escapes, so Odysseus tells Polyphemus, “Cyclops, you ask my honorable name? Remember the gift you promised me, and I shall tell you. My name is Nohbdy: mother, father, and friends, everyone calls me Nohbdy.”(Line 313-316) This shows how quick Odysseus can think up plans to keep him from getting killed. Another time Odysseus shows his quick wits is the plan he formulates to escape the Cyclops’ home. Odysseus and his men get Polyphemus drunk and waited for him to fall asleep. Once asleep, they made a large spike which they then used to stab Polyphemus in the eye while he was asleep. Polyphemus got up and opened the exit to call out to other fellow Cyclopes to come and help him. While Polyphemus did this, it granted Odysseus and his men time to get out of the cave. They covered themselves with sheep so Polyphemus would not recognize them as the fled away from the cave and back to their ship. This plan shows how Odysseus can think very quickly in tough…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    and how they treated his son and the servants. Another reason why is that when Odysseus’s wife said, “That they shall all pay for what they had done to all of them”, so how they had payed for what they have done is when Odysseus came back he had killed all of them. So that means that Odysseus did not kill them for no reason he had killed them because of the way they had treated his son and…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    A hero is normally someone who helps others; not just worries about themselves. In that chapter when they are on the island of Circe, Odysseus had no intention of leaving anytime soon because he was gifted with shelter and food. The book said, “So all that day till the sun went down we sat and feasted on sides of meat and heady wine. Then when the sun had set and night cmaae on the men lay down to sleep in the shadowed halls but I went up to that luxurious bed of Circe’s” (Homer, 245). Moreover, there was also another instance where Odysseus killed a suitor who had begged for mercy. “‘ I hug your knees Odysseus - mercy! spare my life! Never, i swear did I harass any woman in your house - never a word, a gesture - nothing, no, I tried to restrain the suitors,whoever did such things’”(Homer, 449).Odysseus was taking his anger out by killing this man instead of thinking how other people felt first. As stated before, a true hero would never put himself first. However, this is exactly how he acted. Conjointly, in book ten, a king gives Odysseus a bag of wind to help guide them home. He did not mention this to the Achaeans so once they found the bag, they were curious to what was inside it. Homer wrote, “They loosed the sack and all the winds burst out and a sudden squall struck and swept us back to sea” (Homer, 232). If Odysseus thought of others before himself, he would tell the crew that he had this with him. If the crew knew what was inside, they most likely would not have opened…

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    This caused the men not to be overpowered by the Sirens. Odysseus gave up his own safety to save his men's lives, showing a courageous act. Another example is, when odysseus and his men were trapped by the Cyclops, he devised a plan to free himself and the men. Odysseus put the plan into action because he, “... leaned on it [the spear] turning it as a shipwright turns a drill in planking,” blinding the Cyclops(316-318). Odysseus came up with this because he did not want to kill him, or his men would never escape. Therefore, his plan was to blind the cyclops by stabbing him in the eye. This effected the rest of the journey because again, he saved his men from death. Finally, he is courageous when he goes to kill the suitors for his wife. After he reveals himself to the suitors, Odysseus starts shooting arrows to kill them. Then he says to Telemachus, “when they are all gone if I’m alone, they can…

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Odysseus showed many god-like qualities, and one of them was intelligence. He showed how smart he could be when he deceived the Cyclops, Polyphemus by telling him his name was “nobody” and then disguising his men as sheep so that Polyphemus would obliviously let them out of his cave. At last when Odysseus tricks Polyphemus into…

    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    One of the first stops the crew makes just after leaving Troy is Sicily, home to the Cyclopes, where they encounter Polyphemus. While venturing for food and riches on the island, Polyphemus, a towering Cyclops locks the men in his cave, and he even eats some of them for a meal. As the situation gets direr Odysseus uses his wits and strength to conjure a plan to blind Polyphemus, which would result in the Cyclops moving the boulder blocking the exit and allow the men to escape. Odysseus single-handedly creates this plan, and he is even the closest one to Polyphemus when they blind him, showing that he is the most courageous out of the crew. In addition, Odysseus chooses to listen to the Sirens, a group of singing immortal women with voices like honey, who, when heard, will make any man want to stay with them forever. “‘…First she [Circe] said we were to keep clear of the Sirens, who sit and sing most beautifully in a field of flowers; but she said I might hear them myself so long as no one else did. Therefore, take me and bind me to the crosspiece half way up the mast; bind me as I stand upright, with a bond so fast that I cannot possibly break away…’” Odysseus, from the Fagle’s translation of The Odyssey orders his crew to tie him to the ship, since he takes a risk by choosing to listen to the Sirens sing. Also, Odysseus exemplifies…

    • 1214 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Heroism In The Odyssey

    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Movies, which show more and tell less, allow potential heroes to prove their heroism with actions and not words. Each movie that we watched for class showed heroism in a different way, much like the ancient Greek and Roman poems told about heroism in a different way. Partially a product of their time, each movie approached a World War in a way that reflected the values of their time, much like how Odysseus’s cunning was praised by the Greeks and condemned by the Romans. However, I think that the sequence of movies matches up quite nicely with the sequence of poems. Comparing The Grand Illusion to the Iliad, Saving Private Ryan to the Aeneid, and Inglourious Basterds to the Odyssey brings out contrasts, like the definition of heroism, between…

    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A hero someone fighting for a cause regardless of how it will affect them in the future. Ancient Greek hero myths usually have a classical lesson on human nature toward the end of the journey. Modern day heroes could easily be someone you see every day like your parents, doctors or the police who whiling to help you when you're in need.…

    • 116 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Odyssey

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages

    a non-clever decision. The Cyclops tries to trick Odysseus into going back and possibly eat or…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ideal Hero

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A hero is one who gives his or her life to a cause bigger than oneself. He or she should have a network of people not only people to influence but also people to get inspiration from. A hero has concern for other people and compassion to put other people’s needs before his or her own. A hero is able to sacrifice, have the conscious effort to give up something so that others can benefit from it. It is the giving up of something personal to achieve something greater.…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics