The Heroic Hero In Homer's The Odyssey

Throughout the history of traditional storytelling, well developed characters have been an essential aspect in the Greek culture. These heroic characters and their adventures get passed on to future generations and have shown to withstand the test of time. These heroes display courage, honor, strength, and perseverance. The well-known Greek storyteller Homer speaks of one such hero in his epic poem The Odyssey. After fighting victoriously in the Trojan war, Homer's character Odysseus begins a seemingly endless journey, with one goal in mind: to make it back to his homeland of Ithaca.

Odysseus holds high a heroic ethic- his creative strategies, wit, and his determination to make it home are his natural weapons. Odysseus is a survivor, who fights to save his life, as he attempts to make it back to his hometown Ithaca. On Circe's island, for example, he will not abandon his advance party which has not returned, even though the rest of his crew urge him to leave. He fights not only to save his life but also to bring his shipmates home.
Telemachus is still maturing when the Odyssey begins, still an infant when Odysseus, his father, left Troy.
He is entirely devoted to his mother and to maintaining his father’s estate; at the same time, he does not know how to protect his father’s estate and his mother from the potential suitors. His meeting with Athena in Book 1 changes things; Athena confronts him and teaches him the responsibilities of a young prince. He soon becomes more assertive, and he confronts the suitors and denounces the abuse of his estate. One of the most significant characteristics of Telemachus that is stressed by Homer in The Odyssey is the commitment to his family and the persistence and desire to advocate the honor of his
family.

The epic tale takes Odysseus through many adventures, aligning in one way or another with the a hero’s path. Epic heroes must overcome obstacles in order to prove themselves true heroes, after all. Odysseus faces many challenges on his adventure, although we are just touching the tip of the iceberg in the beginning of Homer’s The Odyssey.

The first challenge of the Odysseus’ journey is when the hero is living in a mundane world. The mundane world is a place where the hero doesn’t feel like they are accepted for who they are and also where they don’t feel a challenge, and are bored by what is around them. In Homer’s Odyssey, book five has an example of what the mundane world for Odysseus, when Odysseus is stuck on the island of Ogygia with Calypso. Calypso is a goddess that gives Odysseus a luxurious place to stay and the offer of her love, but Odysseus is not pleased by all this and desires to be back at home with his mortal wife,

Achilles and Odysseus are clearly the two main stars in the The Iliad and The Odyssey. Odysseus and Achilles are very similar in some of their heroic ways, however, they are also drastically different. They both endure personal losses and they are both tested by the Gods. Some of the heroic traits they share include their sense of duty, their courage, their bravery, as well as their compassion. Both of these men are leaders in their heroic journeys. Odysseus, as well as sharing many qualities with him, is also very different from Achilles. When Odysseus is faced with his trials he uses more caution than Achilles. He is so concerned with the safety of his men and making it home, that he makes sure to think out a plan in order to ensure he would make it past the monsters he faced. Achilles is also concerned with the safety of his men, but he is not as clever as Odysseus. Achilles is a more impulsive man than Odysseus. He doesn’t consider any of the things that could go wrong, he is simply driven by his want for revenge. When comparing Odysseus with Agamemnon, Agamemnon is selfish and cared not whomever he stepped on as long as it was for his own safety and glory, while Odysseus is generous and noble.