Essay On Odysseus Is A Hero

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Pages: 6

Is Odysseus A Hero? Most people around the world know of Greek Mythology. Most importantly, they know the story of Odysseus, “the hero,” and his long journey returning home after the Battle of Troy. Throughout this prolonged trip, he faced many challenges and was forced to make tough choices. But were they the right choices? Odysseus returned home after putting his men in unnecessary dangers that resulted in them all dying, he slaughtered even more lives on purpose after he arrived to his household, and then he got mad at his wife thinking she cheated, but he cheated on her his whole journey. Even though some people believe he is a hero, he was selfish, a hypocrite, and disloyal. These are not traits that are found in a hero, these are traits found in an evildoer. Many people determine whether someone is a hero based off of the Hero’s Journey Outline. This system goes through stages such as Ordinary World, Call to Adventure, Refusal of the Call, Meeting the Mentor, etc. Out of the 12 stages, Odysseus does indeed qualify for 11 of them. The one thing he failed to succeed in was returning home a “changed person.” This outline is suppose to show growth of the character and when Odysseus returned, he committed even more sins without remorse. A hero may make it through challenges, but what’s important is who they are as a …show more content…
During Odysseus’ travels he put his men in unneeded jeopardy that resulted in all of their deaths, he killed innocent men for being in his home but he used other people’s houses his entire trip, and then he cheated on his wife for years but got enraged accusing her of cheating. All of these scenarios and how he handled them do not replicate a hero. Just because someone is able to make it through challenges does not qualify them for that title. What is most important is the hero found inside. When you look inside Odysseus, you cannot see a hero, you see a