Heroic Or Flawed: Examples of Odysseus Being a Hero

In epic stories, epic heroes are often thought of as the most successful victor that they can possibly be, but this is not always the case. Yes, heroes are strong and smart, but their faults will often lie beneath them, beneath and because of their virtues. A hero's greatest strengths may even lead to their greatest downfalls. In Homer’s The Odyssey, the protagonist, and epic hero, Odysseus is a true representation of this. Odysseus is a hero of the Trojan War and is trying to get himself and his men back to his homeland of Ithaca after many excruciating years. Throughout the epic, this warrior faces the cyclops, Polyphemus, and the wrath of his father, Poseidon. He also tells the tale of what happens when he comes upon the manipulating sirens and monstrous Scylla, after the nymph, Circe, warns him about them, to King Alcinous. As Odysseus travels, he makes decisions that both help and harm him. In The Odyssey, Odysseus behaves with both intelligence and Rashness. Let`s research this topic in 'Heroic Or Flawed: Examples of Odysseus Being a Hero'.

In The Odyssey, Odysseus is a strong and respected Greek hero. After the Trojan War, he has a long journey home. During this journey, Odsseus’ mind flourishes but his arrogant ego begins to reveal itself. Despite this, Odysseus is intelligent. In Book IX of The Odyssey, Odysseus shares and drinks wine with Polyphemus in an attempt to persuade the monstrous cyclops to help him on his way home. When Polyphemus asks for his name, Odysseus responds with, “Cyclops, you ask me my name and I will tell it to you; give me, therefore, the present you promised me; my name is Noman; this is what my father and mother and my friends have always called me”. By giving the cyclops a pseudonym, Odysseus is able to avoid future consequences of the extreme harm that he and his crew are about to give to Polyphemus, stabbing him in the eye and blinding him. This is a very smart decision and should protect him. Furthermore, telling Polyphemus the name “Noman” will hinder the cyclops’ attempts to get help from his other allies, cyclops, on the island, for it seems as if Polyphemus is saying that “no man” hurt him, when it was in fact, Odysseus. This choice that Odysseus makes seems foolproof since he and his crew managed to escape the clutches of Polyphemus after blinding and making him seem mad to the other cyclops, but his success falls short when he says, “Cyclops if anyone asks you who it was that put your eye out and spoiled your beauty, say it was the valiant warrior Odysseus, son of Laertes, who lives in Ithaca” to Polyphemus after he leaves the island with the victory of blinding him. By revealing his true identity, Odysseus allows for Polyphemus to get his father, Poseidon, to make Odysseus’ journey home difficult and extended. If Odysseus would have left without coming to this rash decision, his voyage would be much more bearable. In the end, Odysseus’ stronger quality is his intelligence, because while he often gets himself into trouble, he is quick to think and resolve the issue with ease. He always seems to win in the end. Heroes will often have flaws, but it doesn’t lessen their strengths.

In Book XII of The Odyssey, Odysseus uses his intelligence and knowledge from Circe to avoid harm, but his lack of faith in his crew causes him to act impulsively about their strategy. When Odysseus and his men face the enchanting Sirens and their ability to lure people in with their singing, he recalls the instructions that Circe gives him and swiftly follows them. Odysseus is retelling this to King Alcinous, “I took a large wheel of wax and cut it up small with my sword. Then I kneaded the wax in my strong hands till it became soft, which it soon did between the kneading and the rays of the sun god Hyperion. Then I stopped the ears of all my men and they bound my hands and feet to the mast as I stood upright on the cross piece”. Odysseus not only performs this great tactic effortlessly, but he manages to get his crew on board with the plan with his clear and intelligent directions, making him a great leader as well. Odysseus' intelligence is very prominent in situations where he is under much pressure, such as this one where the Sirens are moments away from capturing them. His quick thinking to slice the wax with his sword and ability to direct many people at once to bind him to the mast shows how bright he really is. Odysseus, using his cunning memory and sharp-witted leadership, is able to prevent the death of his crew. While Odysseus does protect his men momentarily, he does the opposite when they approach Scylla, a hideous monster that Circe warns him about, after avoiding the Sirens. Odysseus tells King Alcinous his decision regarding the crew’s encounter with Scylla, “I said nothing about the awful monster Scylla, for I knew the men would not go on rowing if I did but would huddle together in the hold”. By having no hope for his men, Odysseus makes the rash decision to leave out the fact that there is a man-eating obstacle in their path. This prevents them from having any source of preparation for the danger they were about to face, Scylla brutally murdering and eating them. Odysseus costs his men’s lives for the sole purpose of his own fear that they will cower before the monster. He makes this impulsively because he doesn’t think about legitimate future consequences, and only what he thinks will happen. At this moment he is selfish and very rash with his decision-making. Overall, in Book XII of The Odyssey, Odysseus’ most prominent quality is his impulsive decision-making, due to the fact that he indirectly ends the lives of innocent souls. Odysseus does get his men out of most situations, but when facing Scylla, he only focuses on facing the danger head first, and not the fact that the danger, is dangerous.