Odysseus: A Hero In Homer's The Odyssey
What makes a hero? A hero has to be someone who has done something to go above or beyond the normal range of achievement. In the book, The Odyssey, written by Homer, the main character, Odysseus, had won the Trojan war and had a long journey back home. In the beginning of the journey, he has a few ships and a bunch of crew members with him. His goal was to make it back to his homeland of Ithaca to see his wife and son again. However, this journey took much longer than expected because of Odysseus’ choices. His choices proved to show that he is very selfish. To add on, Odysseus took advantage of his crew members throughout the book many times. And he also, surprisingly, almost didn't make it back home to Ithaca. Because of these reasons, and
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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
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