Is Odysseus A Hero

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Pages: 2

According to Friedrich Nietzsche, “Simultaneously confronting our supreme suffering and hope is what makes us heroic.” In The Odyssey, Odysseus tries to return to Ithaca, but he gets trapped by Calypso. Along the way, King Alcinious gives him a crew and ship. Odysseus shows he is a hero because of his bravery, intelligence, and leadership. Odysseus proves himself to be a hero because he shows bravery in his actions. One example of when Odysseus shows bravery is when he takes on the challenge of making it through between Scylla and Charybdis. In book 10, Odysseus gets help from Hermes, which allows him to stay safe from Circe’s magic. Circe then gives Odysseus advice on Scylla and Charybdis by saying, “There is no fighting her, no power can fight her, all that avails is flight.” This proves Odysseus is brave because he knows the dangers of Scylla, yet he does not back down, and although he ends up losing a few men, the rest of the crew survives. …show more content…
One example of Odysseus being intelligent is when Odysseus and his men get trapped by a cyclope in book 9. The Cyclops asks Odysseus for his name, On page 1218, line 275, Odysseus then lies and says “I am Nohbdy”. This shows that Odysseus is thinking ahead because he knows that when the Cyclops cries for help, the Cyclops will say Nobody hurt him. As a result, his help will be left. Some may argue that Odysseus is not a hero because he kept information from his own men in book 12. This is proven on page 1234, when the narrator states, “Odysseus decides to not tell the men only of Circe’s warnings about the Sirens.” I believe that this is not a reasonable judgment because Odysseus would have lost lives whether he informed his crew or