Essay On Odysseus Is A Hero

Is Odysseus a Hero Or Not? Over the past many years, critics have been asking the question of whether Odysseus is considered a hero or not. Or was he some figure in our greek mythology that used the epithet of a “great hero.” He endured through the toughest of situations and was tested against the most horrific monsters, but he also returned home with zero men, and zero ships. He did some good things, but he also made far too many mistakes on his journey to be pondered a hero. With that being said, although modern literary scholars of The Odyssey have argued that Odysseus is a hero, closer examination shows that he is not the hero because he returned home from his journey empty handed, he shows no heroic characteristics, and he is ignorant to other people’s values or needs.
The Odyssey explains the travel of Odysseus and the conflicts he faced through it. Odysseus was the ruler of and lived in Ithaka, before he was called to fight in the war. He was a king who was married to Penelope and together they had a son named Telemachus. Odysseus sailed to Troy to …show more content…
Although He has done many great things and he may follow the hero's journey, we are able to identify how the negatives things outway the good. The vast majority can concur that he is brave and a great warrior who makes intelligent decisions, which are noble qualities. However, the fact that he was selfish, doesn’t show many honorable characteristics, and was unsuccessful in many ways, prove he is not a hero. He does not show all his nobility to his men throughout the journey, and he participated in a fool’s errand. Odysseus shows no respect for his crew, and cheating on his wife show’s beyond doubt his judge of character and his morals are not worth being respected nor should he be a leader. People need to remember that being a hero mustn’t be an effortless task, but one to put him/herself on the line in order to protect others.