Odysseus As An Archetypal Hero

Throughout the story of the Odyssey, odysseus demonstrates many characteristics as an archetypal hero, obedience and hubris being two of his main ones. He seemed to be the kind of hero many desired to be, he was advised by the gods and even though his life would be on the line odysseus went along with their plans.
Odysseus was obedient because he was able to conquer every tribulations put in his path he had a sharp intellect.An exapmle would be when odysseus goes against the sirens, Circe advised odysseus that when him and his men approach the island where the sirens live to fill their ears with beeswax. Odysseus instructed the men to tie him to the ship so he wouldn't be seduced by the sirens and to not let go no matter what, odysseus and …show more content…
An example of his pride would be when he went against the cyclops, when odysseus and his men were captured in the cave of Polyphemus in order to escape he got him drunk with wine and after stab him in the eye with an extremely hot staff causing his to go blind previously the Cyclops had asked odysseus for his name and tell the cyclops that it’s “Noman”, after conquering and escaping the cave odysseus calls out his true name with pride so anyone who could hear would know that he is the one who defeated the cyclops. This was a huge mistake because after that the Cyclops calls out to his father Poseidon for vengeance. (Homer 275-283) His pride and wanting everyone to know that he conquered the Cyclops almost caused him his death, His temptation is also a weak characteristic, he gives into the beauty of the goddess Circe, which she turns Odysseus men into pigs, Odysseus tries to save them and to get Circe to turn them back. Hermes come to Odysseus in form of a boy and advises him to to eat a moly which would make him immune to Circe's drug. Odysseus overcame Circe and got her to turn his men back to the way they were. Later on Odysseus and Circe became lovers, Odysseus and his men ended up staying with Circe for a year living a luxurious lifestyle.( Homer 289-298) This shows that even though Odysseus was perceived as a powerful man he was still human and was driven by looks, this caused his crew to critisize him.Like any other man Odysseus was overpowered by the beauty of a woman and had a sot spot for Circe. Although Odysseus was looked up he was still a normal man and has lust and hubris.
In conclusions Odysseus was a wise and obedient man that was looked up to as an archetypal hero and made it through his journey because of this , but a man is a man and odysseus had his downsides which was pride and lust, which caused him to get into