Odysseus is the sacker of cities, favorite of the gods, and blinder of the Cyclops. Homer portrays this man as an epic hero. Odysseus seems to exepmlify goodness in the face of disgusting evil. He kills all the Suitors who have taken advantage of Penelope’s xenia. His loyalty to his family drives him to stop at nothing to arrive to his home. He has the favor of Athena, a goddess. However, Odysseus does not seem to be the protagonist of the epic, The Odyssey, considering that his name literally means “the person that people love to hate” (Barron’s 12). Perhaps Odysseus is not the moral character that he is portrayed as. This man shows vanity, disloyalty, hypocrisy, and brutality. At times, he even defies the gods and the social norms dictated
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The vice that stands out in the beginning of The Odyssey, is arrogance. After Polyphemus has been blinded, Odysseus escapes the island of the Cyclops. He calls out to Polyphemus when leaving, declaring, “Cyclops, if anyone ever asks how you came by your blindness, tell him your eye was put out by Odysseus, sacker of cities, the son of Laertes, who lives in Ithaca” (9.501-504). The self-proclaimed title of ‘sacker of cities’ is especially arrogant considering that the readers only know that Odysseus has conquered Troy, not any other city. In the case that he did indeed conquer more cities, this taunting is incredibly vain. Odysseus sounds like he wants his name plastered onto Polyphemus's blind eye. The titles and description of himself - “sacker of cities, the son of Laertes, who lives in Ithaca” - belies that he wants to be hailed as the hero who struck down the Cyclops. Not only does Odysseus give his name, but he gives the name of his father and where he lives. If Polyphemus …show more content…
While it is true that Athena helps Odysseus, note that Athena (a) did not directly kill any of the Suitors (22.240-270), and (b) stopps the endless bloodbath that seems to be inevitable (24.530). Athena, despite being the Goddess of War, gives Odysseus practically nothing directly useful in enacting revenge on the Suitors. While Odysseus does not directly disobey the Gods, he had kills Leodes when he was supplicating to Odysseus. Odysseus ignores Leodes’s pleas and casually decapitats him, despite the fact that “Zeus watched over them and norms required one to be responsive to suppliants” (Roisman 36). J. Roisman is indicating that Odysseus is no longer in the favor of the Gods because he defies social norms that were dictated because “Zeus watches over them.” Odysseus therefore shows that he is not loyal to his gods, Zeus specifically, because he essentially denies Zeus by killing Leodes when the priest was supplicating Odysseus. Therefore, Odysseus shows once again that he is not loyal to his gods, and therefore not an epic hero.
An epic hero must be faithful to his family in order to be qualified to be a hero, or a moral person in general. Odysseus does not meet this expectation considering he cheats on Penelope multiple times, especially with Calypso (5.225-227). At this point, some people may address the fact that Odysseus is only human and needs some momentary
The vice that stands out in the beginning of The Odyssey, is arrogance. After Polyphemus has been blinded, Odysseus escapes the island of the Cyclops. He calls out to Polyphemus when leaving, declaring, “Cyclops, if anyone ever asks how you came by your blindness, tell him your eye was put out by Odysseus, sacker of cities, the son of Laertes, who lives in Ithaca” (9.501-504). The self-proclaimed title of ‘sacker of cities’ is especially arrogant considering that the readers only know that Odysseus has conquered Troy, not any other city. In the case that he did indeed conquer more cities, this taunting is incredibly vain. Odysseus sounds like he wants his name plastered onto Polyphemus's blind eye. The titles and description of himself - “sacker of cities, the son of Laertes, who lives in Ithaca” - belies that he wants to be hailed as the hero who struck down the Cyclops. Not only does Odysseus give his name, but he gives the name of his father and where he lives. If Polyphemus …show more content…
While it is true that Athena helps Odysseus, note that Athena (a) did not directly kill any of the Suitors (22.240-270), and (b) stopps the endless bloodbath that seems to be inevitable (24.530). Athena, despite being the Goddess of War, gives Odysseus practically nothing directly useful in enacting revenge on the Suitors. While Odysseus does not directly disobey the Gods, he had kills Leodes when he was supplicating to Odysseus. Odysseus ignores Leodes’s pleas and casually decapitats him, despite the fact that “Zeus watched over them and norms required one to be responsive to suppliants” (Roisman 36). J. Roisman is indicating that Odysseus is no longer in the favor of the Gods because he defies social norms that were dictated because “Zeus watches over them.” Odysseus therefore shows that he is not loyal to his gods, Zeus specifically, because he essentially denies Zeus by killing Leodes when the priest was supplicating Odysseus. Therefore, Odysseus shows once again that he is not loyal to his gods, and therefore not an epic hero.
An epic hero must be faithful to his family in order to be qualified to be a hero, or a moral person in general. Odysseus does not meet this expectation considering he cheats on Penelope multiple times, especially with Calypso (5.225-227). At this point, some people may address the fact that Odysseus is only human and needs some momentary