The Odysseus: A Great Greek Hero

A human who is favored by the gods, shows courage and strength when dealing with tribulation. These attributes are what makes Odysseus such a great hero, but not just Odysseus, but all the heroes of old Greek stories shows these traits too. Heroes of today have many similar traits to old Greek heroes, but they are immensely different. A hero today would be defined as someone who has had many hardships in life and has overcome them, or has carried out courageous acts that have benefited others and not themselves. The Odyssey, by Homer and translated by Robert Fitzgerald, is an example of a story that features a great Greek hero. I consider my father a modern hero. If I were to compare the two, they would be similar in many ways, but there would …show more content…
While on his journeys to return to his home, beloved wife, and son, he showed us, the readers, his best traits: his intelligence and cleverness. When he meets the giant Cyclops, named Polyphemus, he is put into a treacherous ordeal and must think his way out of the cave, where the Cyclops trapped him in. With the slight help of the Goddess, Athena, he comes up with a plan to blind the Cyclops. When Polyphemus opens up the cave to ask the other Cyclopes for help after the plan had been carried out he screams out the name, Nobody, the name Odysseus said was his. "Nobody is my name. My father and mother call me Nobody, as do all the others who are my companions" (9.366-367) By Odysseus planning out his plan thoroughly and saying that is his name before they had caused the Cyclopes to fall asleep he had thought for this very moment to come. Odysseus and his crew escape by tying themselves under sheep while they escape the hands of the now blind giant as he feels his sheep and lets them go. Odysseus in this scenario shows his intelligence and cleverness as he was able to escape from the Cyclops grasp in an unexpected …show more content…
When Odysseus arrives home he must be patient and create a plan before killing his wife’s suitors who have been rude and disrespectful to his family and home. He must resist the urge to tell his wife, Penelope, he has arrived home, and his want to kill the suitors. “[…] and out of the palace issued those women who in the past had been going to bed with the suitors, full of cheerful spirits and greeting each other with laughter. But the spirit deep in the heart of Odysseus was stirred by this, and much he pondered in the division of mind and spirit, whether to spring on them and kill each one, or rather to let them lie this one more time with the insolent suitors, for the last and latest time; but the heart was growling within him.” (20.6-13) With this citation of Odysseus feelings, he shows his distaste for the men who have rudely entered his home and the servants who have turned their backs to him. The feelings stated in these line show he is angered but must be patient with them so he can execute his well thought out plan to dispose of the ones who have betrayed and angered