Odysseus
“Odysseus is too thoughtless, selfish and deceitful to be a real hero.” How far do you agree with this view?
Yes, I do agree that Odysseus was thoughtless, selfish and deceitful but these qualities were necessary for him to complete his journey and be seen as a hero on his return to Ithaca. Greek heroes like Odysseus were greater than the average man and achieved much notoriety and fame by being thoughtless, selfish and deceitful. Inevitability Odysseus, curiosity led him to make bad decisions after all he was only human and not a god. This is important to remember because without these character flaws Odysseus would have looked to perfect to be a hero.
An example of his character flaws is that of him being thoughtless when he sacked the Island of Ismarus with his men, this decision led to him losing 72 of his men and many more casualties. His actions also upset the Gods whom made his journey home even more difficult. Another incident is when he sent three of his men to search the land of the lotus eaters without thinking of their safety. His thoughtless action nearly lost him some of his crew.
His curiosity also led him to make foolish decisions like when Odysseus went to explore the island of the Cyclops and foolishly entered Polyphemus’s cave uninvited which disrespected the rules of xenia. His thoughtless decision caused the death of 6 of his loyal men. Odysseus was also keen to show off so that he could feel more important than everyone else around him, when he told the Cyclops to mention his name if asked who blinded him.
Odysseus is also a deceitful and selfish hero when on the island of Aeolia the God of wind Aeolus, gave Odysseus a bag of wind to speed up his journey home. He did not tell his crew what was in the bag, which shows he does not trust his men. This also led to them opening the bag while Odysseus was asleep to see if any valuables were inside. The consequence of this was that the ship was blown back to the island of Aeolia which further
Yes, I do agree that Odysseus was thoughtless, selfish and deceitful but these qualities were necessary for him to complete his journey and be seen as a hero on his return to Ithaca. Greek heroes like Odysseus were greater than the average man and achieved much notoriety and fame by being thoughtless, selfish and deceitful. Inevitability Odysseus, curiosity led him to make bad decisions after all he was only human and not a god. This is important to remember because without these character flaws Odysseus would have looked to perfect to be a hero.
An example of his character flaws is that of him being thoughtless when he sacked the Island of Ismarus with his men, this decision led to him losing 72 of his men and many more casualties. His actions also upset the Gods whom made his journey home even more difficult. Another incident is when he sent three of his men to search the land of the lotus eaters without thinking of their safety. His thoughtless action nearly lost him some of his crew.
His curiosity also led him to make foolish decisions like when Odysseus went to explore the island of the Cyclops and foolishly entered Polyphemus’s cave uninvited which disrespected the rules of xenia. His thoughtless decision caused the death of 6 of his loyal men. Odysseus was also keen to show off so that he could feel more important than everyone else around him, when he told the Cyclops to mention his name if asked who blinded him.
Odysseus is also a deceitful and selfish hero when on the island of Aeolia the God of wind Aeolus, gave Odysseus a bag of wind to speed up his journey home. He did not tell his crew what was in the bag, which shows he does not trust his men. This also led to them opening the bag while Odysseus was asleep to see if any valuables were inside. The consequence of this was that the ship was blown back to the island of Aeolia which further