...A hero “is a typical man, who is admired or idealized for his courage, exceptional achievements, or noble qualities” according to the dictionary, and most people would probably agree too that a hero is “someone who does something extraordinary for other people or a country. Odysseus, the main character of the Odyssey written by Homer, would probably fit the definition of a hero for some people. However, when going deeper on what a hero is or supposed to be, Odysseus is not even close to own that title. In the Odyssey, Odysseus is revealed as an authentic hero. After analyzing the three major characteristics of a hero which are selflessness, compassion, and intelligent it is seen that Odysseus has only one of them and should not be viewed as...
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...odyssey there is a character named Odysseus. Odysseus goes on an amazing journey and along his way he goes through many things that mold him into an epic hero. Odysseus also proves his heroism through his behavior. During the story Odysseus often presents us with his great intelligence, his superhuman strength, and also his great leadership and bravery. However though Odysseus does not always act like a hero and does immoral things but when the time is right, the true heroic side of him will come out and we will see how heroic Odysseus really is. Odysseus is a true epic hero and has the the personal characteristics to prove it. Throughout the Odyssey Odysseus presents us with examples of his superhuman strength. That is characteristic...
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...Seth Wilson Barrick English 9/ Period 1 3/13/12 Odysseus Hero Essay We consider heroes as crime fighters like Spiderman, Batman, a soldier, or a cop. Someone who does something courageous. My definition of a hero is someone who does something that no one or a few people would do. Even if it’s something small like quit smoking to save money for rent like my mom did, or something big. A man named Leonard Skutnik was just walking home from work and witnessed a plane crash straight into the ice covered waters of the Polomac River, an as people watched the passengers start being rescued they noticed one woman start to drown, and that’s when Leonard jumped into the freezing water...
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...is; for some each day is an odyssey and for others life is The Odyssey. For Odysseus, returning home to his land and his loved ones is the Odyssey. In scenes of deep sorrow, crying serves as a personification of Odysseus’s honor. Furthermore, Odysseus’s sobbing is a vehicle to memorialize the honor of his comrades. In moments depicting this grief, Odysseus illustrates a hero must have legendary achievements and noble qualities, but above all, Odysseus shows a hero must value honor. We will now examine passages depicting Odysseus sorrow in this epic, and through these passages we will show honor as the most important feature of a hero in the Odyssey. We commence our reading of the Odyssey with a common dictionary definition of what the word hero symbolizes in our mind. According to Merriam Webster, a hero is one with distinguished...
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...There are certain characteristics that make literature so interesting and entertaining, which are the facts that certain works have the capacity to create a trend or a genre, therefore it gives the piece of work a feeling of transcendetality. Two great authors from the Western civilization that take part of a modern literary culture that is characterized for its epic stories and epic characters that follow along the definition of an epic hero. An epic hero is a brave and noble character in an epic poem, admired for great achievements or affected by grand events. Dante’s Aligheri’s Inferno and Homer’s The Odyssey respectively have two characters that fulfill what is like to be recognized as a brave and noble character. Throughout both poems, we can see how each character has unique qualities that make them outstand and set them up as a leader, but at the same time, they have the flaws of any human being. It is clear when a character overcomes the status of any human being and sets the lead as a hero. An important trait of an epic hero is the fact that starts a journey; it may be of a personal matter, such as Dante, or of societal matter, like Odysseus. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is a war hero travelling home after a period of twenty years. In this epic, Odysseus is brought out as a hero with superhuman courage. In most cases, he has been shown fighting with supernatural forces. One characteristic of this journey that is different from Dante is that the hero in this epic fights...
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...Odyssey, written by Homer, the main character, Odysseus, had the leadership qualities one must possess to be an epic hero. People in general, always will follow a leader no matter what his or her characteristics are.An epic hero is defined as a human in the favor of the gods who is the main character in an epic poem, has larger than life qualities, goes on an adventure, leads a group of people, and has at least one flaw. All of these characteristics are what make a leader into an epic hero. Odysseus is was exactly what the definition states. There are so many things that can turn an ordinary person into an epic hero and Odysseus is a great example of this. One of the requirements an epic hero must have is the favor of the gods. Odysseus was in the favor of multiple gods and goddesses. Many of them gave him advice or things to help him along his journey. Hermes gave him a magical plant called, Moly, which would protect him from Circe’s drink. Athena was probably the goddess that helped him the most throughout his journey. She warns Odysseus about the suitors back home and helped him fight against them as well as the Trojans. Zeus went both ways about helping Odysseus, sometimes he did and sometimes he did not. The “omen” that Zeus sent when Odysseus faced the suitors is an example of Odysseus being in his favor. Aeolus, King of the Wind, also helped the epic hero. When Odysseus and his crew left the King’s island he gave Odysseus two parting gifts. One of them was a wind that...
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...Odysseus: An Epic Hero In The Odyssey written by Homer, the main character is Odysseus, an epic hero. He has to leave his home Ithaca, and ends up on a great voyage landing on many islands. All of which, is home to gods and goddesses, good and bad. Along the way he shows his very heroic characteristics, while battling these supernatural forces. For example when he fights the Cicones, the singing sirens, or even the one eyed beast. However ,Odysseus the great epic hero was still able to stay strong and proceed his way home. To begin, his loyalty is revealed by his crewman. He is almost like a big brother to them. His first sign of loyalty is revealed once he sees his undead crewman, Elpenor, left unburied on Circe's island. Elpenor has too much to drink, and ends up falling to his death. After, Elpenor falls, he asks Odysseus to return and bury him properly, so Odysseus ‘’...cut down timber on the foreland, on a high point, and built his pyre of logs’’ (209). Odysseus does not want one of his men to live unconsoled in the Land of the DEad, especially after he sees him face to face after his death. This is when he returns to...
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...2012 World Literature I Odysseus and the idealist Don Quixote What is a hero? To be a hero means winning honor through competitive combat in ancient Greece and the middle ages. In those historic eras warriors, knights, and kings were honored the most. A hero was someone with a smooth fighting technique and would face death at any moment. Heroes were the people who would lead their armies, fellow knights, and comrades into battle and earned tributes for their courage and great deeds performed during their combat. In other light, the cowards of ancient Greece and the middle ages were considered a burden and were affronted. Throughout many books authors have explained different aspects of what it means to be a hero. Homer, author of the Odyssey, and Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, convey this characteristic frequently. In the Odyssey, Odysseus was a skillful fighter, but it was yet the proof Homer’s readers needed of his heroism. Odysseus also transpired characteristics of restraint and mercy. On the other hand, Cervantes’ character was not born a hero. He was fooled by chivalric ideas of heroism and sets out to reform the world along with his witty companion. Odysseus and Don Quixote are from two totally different eras, but both of them tried to conquer the world with their heroic acts. Not only their heroic acts made them well known, it’s also their imagination that makes them stand out. In comparison, imagination is what makes Quixote the hero, and imagination just adds...
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...In The Odyssey by Homer,our protagonist Odysseus embarks on a journey back home after the Trojan War. During his adventure, the hero encounters many obstacles including both gods and monsters alike and must overcome them. Throughout this quest, Odysseus embodies the characteristics of a traditional epic hero in that he is clever, enduring and determined. Odysseus’s intellect is difficult to overstate. He is not the kind of person that constantly relies on physical strength alone to be victorious. He is also quite knowledgeable as well. During the epic, Odysseus is able to overcome several physical obstacles using his mental prowess alone. One prominent example of this is when Odysseus confronts the cyclops Polyphemus. When the one-eyed brute traps the hero in his cave,Odysseus offers him wine from his ship. This puts Polyphemus in an intoxicated sleep and give Odysseus the opportunity to strike. He and his men use a large staff they find to blind the giant. “Straight/forward they sprinted, lifted it, and rammed it/deep in his crater eye” (ll.376-378). Polyphemus screams out in pain....
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...The Odyssey by Homer is an epic about Odysseus. Odysseus is a hero that went to war and got cursed by a god,so he had to overcome obstacles and learn his lesson, that was the only way he could go back home. He travels over a vast setting. He faces supernatural foes and receives supernatural help. Odysseus is also a great warrior. Finally i would be discussing the journey of Odysseus . Through his ability as a warrior readers infer that Odysseus is an epic hero. I believe he is a great warrior because he had fought with all his powers to defeat the Trojan war. He have no retreat when the Trojan tried to back off he kept pushing his warriors to keep fighting. Odysseus is a great warrior because they had ask him to come fight the war. Finally Odysseus has really strong warriors just like him....
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...the Odyssey, Odysseus exhibits his most prominent heroic trait of courage, but unfortunately, also demonstrates the human characteristic of arrogance. Even though Odysseus is seen as a hero, he has bad qualities too. Odysseus has the two main qualities of courage and arrogance which he demonstrates while fighting the cyclops and traveling throughout the seas with his crew. Homer exhibits these traits all throughout the story by presenting Odysseus as a war like hero with no flaws, when further throughout the story you are able to see all of Odysseus most human like qualities. . Odysseus has many characteristics that he portrays all throughout the book of the Odyssey. A couple of his most prominent heroic qualities are courage...
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...Who is a better epic hero? - After reading and learning about the stories of Achillies and Odysseus and their journeys, I feel that the better hero would have to be Odysseus . Even though his journey was very long and hard, he always had his family on his mind. And, even when his curiosity lead him to unimaginable places and things, Odysseus was able to think his way out of it with his cleverness. Not to mention the fact that he is extremely brave. Brave in many cases where others weren't, and that makes him the better hero. - Through the harsh and long travels through Calipso's island, Circe, the underworld, and many other places Odysseus visited, he kept one thing in mind throughout the whole journey. His family. Odysseus would constantly...
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...2016 Odysseus As An Epic Hero To most people, a hero is a strong, brave person with an amazing costume. Heroes usually have super-powers and are constantly saving people. However in the novel The Odyssey by Homer an epic hero is a character with great bravery and courage to do the tasks that might not be very easy. Odysseus definitely defines these requirements. He is on a long quest to get back home and faces many monsters and deadly situations. Throughout the Odyssey, while facing many obstacles and distractions, Odysseus must be brave and make courageous choices to make it home. A example of a great monster Odysseus comes upon was the Cyclops Polyphemus. Odysseus was trapped in the...
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...Odysseus: The Epic Hero Odysseus, ruler of Ithaca, is an epic hero. He is made to be very well known in the Odyssey written by Homer long ago. He is also known to have all the qualities of an epic hero even some that are not always the best. That is why Odysseus could be nothing less than an epic hero. Odysseus is most always loyal to his men. Odysseus shows his loyalty when he takes his men “... to the ships, tied them down under their rowing benches, and called the rest”(148) therefore, he was certain his men would make it home even if the effect of the Lotus had already set in. He takes care of his men because he is like a father figure and is looked up to by most of his crew. He also shows his loyalty at the burial of his crew mate Elpenor. He makes sure to give Elpenor a proper burial and stay loyal to him just as his crew mates are loyal to Odysseus....
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...In the words of Christopher Reeve, “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” A hero doesn’t have to save the world from a world wide mass destruction like superman. They also don’t have to be male. In Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, the main character Odysseus and real life modern day hero Razia Jan model what a good hero really is. Odysseus and Razia Jan reveal how a good hero is someone who can overcome obstacles because it exhibits determination, inner courage, and selflessness. A good hero has the determination to keep moving even when there are hardships along the way. Through his entire journey Odysseus is being thrown into danger and terrifying situations nonstop....
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