Odysseus Hero Analysis

When reading The Odyssey, most think of the main character, Odysseus, as a true and epic hero on his adventures. In reality, Odysseus is not as much of a hero as his made out to be. His decisions are cowardly and unwise of him to make. The Greek gods do most of the work during his venture to Ithaca. Plus, Odysseus’ motives are almost entirely for his own self gain. The Odyssey is not a tale about heroism, but about a man who simply is trying to go back home. Odysseus is thought to be a wise man who is brave in the face of danger. His actions say otherwise. From the very beginning, he shows how his strong desire not have to go into war by pretending to be a mad man to get out of it. Heroes can and are scared at times, but they push through with courage. His cowardice could be forgiven …show more content…
Odysseus does manage to get past some evil creatures, but he does not save many lives on his long quest. In the Trojan war, he does aid in its end, which saved tons of lives in the process. Though this act wasn’t solely his doing. Even if you give him that credit, after the war, he doesn’t help anyone else. When he is told of the prophecy that says that he will be the lone survivor of him and his men, he does nothing to stop it from coming true. He did not notify the crew because he wanted their help to reach home. If he had spoken to the men about it, the members could choose if returning home was worth the risk instead of dooming them all. Odysseus’ men did eat the cattle of Helios but it was Odysseus’ job as a leader to prevent that from happening. He sleeps while his crew feasts just to wake up and yell out “‘O Father Zeus and gods in bliss forever, you made me sleep away this day of mischief!’” Homer (Book 12). A good sum of of his men died for reasons that were not their fault in the slightest. The crew trusted and believed in their leader’s actions, and that got them