Odysseus: The Tragic Hero In Homer's The Odyssey

The epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, was brilliantly written in Ancient Greece, is about the journey of Odysseus. The main character of this epic poem is a tragic hero, admired by many and even praised by some gods. Nonetheless, Odysseus is far from being perfect, he is in fact remarkably flawed. Throughout his journey home, he will have drawbacks and challenges and he will struggle to overcome them, consequently these events transform him. Odysseus starts as a boastful, prideful hero that gives into temptation easily due to his lack of judgment. Even though Odysseus was already quite a man before his journey, he still has lessons to learn, and as a result of all the challenges he has to overcome, Odysseus grows in character and spiritually as well. By the end of the epic, the tragic hero is humble, wiser and has better judgment and self-control. Undoubtedly, Odysseus’ most significant flaw is his pride and ego. This is the characteristic that causes most of his conflict and for a great part of the story, we see him being extremely boastful. Perhaps what affected Odysseus the most was his pride when he met the cyclops, which caused immense conflict with the god Poseidon. “Cyclops—if any man in the face of the earth should ask you …show more content…
Despite the moral ambiguity of the epic hero of The Odyssey there is a clear change in attitude throughout the poem. Odysseus starts as a prideful and boastful leader that thinks he can have it all and ends empty handed enduring the mistreatment of the suitors, having to swallow his pride and addicti0on to glory to survive. He also becomes an even wiser man, that is able to resist temptation and judge and analyze situations before acting upon them. Finally, perhaps the aspect that triggered most of Odysseus’ change happened in the underworld, because after he came out, Odysseus reborns as a new and improved