Why Odysseus Is A Hero In Homer's Odyssey

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A man named Bob Riley once said “Hard times don’t create heroes. It is during the hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed”. Odysseus is a character in Homer’s The Odyssey that during hard times does not demonstrate heroism. Odysseus is a zero because he is a horrid leader, he’s a fickle lover, and he is a prevaricator.
Odysseus is the most horrid of leaders. Before he even gets home his whole crew dies because he fails to show how important it is to listen to him. Take a look at what Circe tells Odysseus, “Leave the beasts unharmed, your mind set on home, and you all may still reach Ithaca–bent with hardship, true––but harm them in any way, and I can see it now: your ship destroyed, your men destroyed as well! And even if you escape, …show more content…
Odysseus is a fickle lover. In book 10 Odysseus is at Circe’s island. Circe has turned all of Odysseus’ men into swine. The messenger god Hermes appears to Odysseus and tells him what he must do to get his men back. That plan just so happens to include sleeping with Circe. Odysseus is completely fine with that plan. Anything for his crew right? Read it straight from the text Circe says “Come, sheathe your sword, let’s go to bed together, mount my bed and mix in the magic work of love–we’ll breed deep trust between us.” (Homer 8. 379-372). Odysseus tells her that he will lay with her only if she swears to never harm him. After that the text reads “Straightaway she began to swear the oath that i required–never, she’d never do me harm–and when she’d finished, then, at last, I mounted Circe’s gorgeous bed...” (Homer 10. 383-386). As you can see Odysseus is a fickle lover. Not once did he mention his wife Penelope in this account. Odysseus didn’t think about how this would affect Penelope if she find out. Odysseus also cheated on his wife with Calypso a sea nymph. Poor Penelope, while she was back in Ithaca being faithful and patiently waiting, Odysseus was out and about cheating on her. Odysseus is a true example of a fickle lover. Odysseus is a zero because of his tendencies of being a fickle …show more content…
Multiple times in The Odyssey, Odysseus lied to his crew or didn’t tell them the whole truth. For example in book 12 Odysseus is faced with a tough decision. He had to choose between sailing through Scylla, a six headed sea monster, or Charybdis, a sea monster who turns into a whirlpool. Being the “amazing” leader that he is, Odysseus didn’t tell his crew their options. He chose to go through Scylla, look at what happens, “But now, fearing death, all eyes on Charybdis–now Scylla snatched six men from our hollow ship, the toughest, strongest hands I had, and glancing backward over the decks, searching for my crew I could see their hands and feet already hoisted, flailing, high, higher, over my head, look–wailing down at me, comrades riven in agony, shrieking out my name for one last time!” (Homer 12. 263-270). Odysseus lost six of his best men. Odysseus didn’t have to lose all those men. He could’ve gone straight through Charybdis and had a chance at not losing any of his men. Instead he traveled through Scylla where he had and absolute chance of losing six men. Of course this problem could have been evaded if he would have told his men about Charybdis. They weren’t prepared and that is why he lost men. Another account when Odysseus lied was when Aeolus gave Odysseus a bag of winds. Read what happens at the beginning of book 10, “Heaps of lovely plunder he hauls home from Troy, while we who went through slogging just as
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