The Qualities Of A Hero In Odysseus The Odyssey

What makes a hero a hero? The ancient poem The Odyssey, written by the epic poet Homer, tells the story of a man by the name of Odysseus and his travels home to Ithaca after being at war in the Battle of Troy for nine years. Odysseus encounters many challenges and obstacles through the many adventures that he faces on his way home. His challenge concluding the story is of finding a way to rid the suitors that pillage his kingdom in order to retrieve his position back as lord and husband to his wife, Penelope. As Odysseus went on many adventures, he displayed the qualities of cleverness, bravery, and vengeance. One quality that separates Odysseus from the many other heroes of his time is the ability to be clever and cunning. Odysseus shows
cleverness in Book Nine, titled New Coasts and Poseidon’s Son, where he gives the cyclops, Polyphemos, a false name as he devised it into his plan of escaping the cyclops’ cave. Odysseus tells Polyphemus in response to his question of asking his name, “My name is Nohbdy: mother, father, and friends, everyone calls me Nohbdy,” (Homer 397-398). Odysseus telling the cyclops a false name then resulted in him stabbing Polyphemus’ eye. Polyphemus yelled out in pain and when the neighboring cyclopes came to see what was wrong, everything seemed to be fine because Polyphemus called out that “Nobody” stabbed his eye. Odysseus’ devised plans were very intuitive and his cleverness has been acquired as a heroic attribute, for without his false name, he and his men would have been targeted as they tried to escape. A name holds so much power, for with knowing it, fingers will be pointing and Odysseus and his men would have become the cyclopes’ dinner through retribution. There has been more than one quality that was clearly shown by Odysseus on the Cyclopes’ Island, and that was bravery.
Odysseus has portrayed courage through being persistent in every situation, especially when being stuck within Polyphemus’ cave in Book Nine. In order to escape the grasp of Polyphemus, Odysseus had to face the cyclops by stabbing its eye. Homer describes the moment of defensive attack, writing in Odysseus’ point of view, saying, “I drew it from the coals and my four fellows gave me a hand, lugging it near the Kyklops as more than natural force nerved them; straight forward they sprinted, lifted it, and rammed it deep in his crater eye, and I leaned on it turning it as a shipwright turns a drill in planking, having men below to swing the two-handled staff that spins it in the groove,” (Homer, 412-419). Odysseus has been shown to pertain the qualitative trait of bravery and courage because he did not go against any mere foe, he went against a cannibalistic monstrous giant that had more physical strength than all of his men combined. Instead of running away in fear, Odysseus thought about him and his men’s live, strengthening his mental and physical ability in order to face Polyphemus, the cyclops that can easily break him in two. Odysseus’ bravery in defeating Polyphemus has attributed to him the portrayal of a hero, for he was able to save not only himself, but his men that have survived alongside
him. A third heroic attribute Odysseus has exemplified was being full of vengeance.
In Book XXVI, Death in the Great Hall, Odysseus and his son, Telemachus, have taken revenge upon the suitors and their allies that have pillaged his home during the many years that Odysseus was proclaimed MIA. Odysseus had killed all of the suitors and Homer describes the aftermath as the old nurse Eurycleia had seen her master, writing, “As she gazed from all the corpses to the bloody man she raised her head to cry over his triumph, but felt his grip upon her, checking her,” (Homer, 455-458). Homer expressed this moment to be triumphant, so it can definitely have been described as a heroic moment. Odysseus’ drive for vengeance against the suitors have raised his family and townspeople from the suitors that take advantage of them to the glory they had twenty years before. Without Odysseus killing all of the suitors, he could have not reclaimed the throne and revive
Ithaca. As Odysseus exemplified the heroic qualities of cleverness, courage, and being vengeful, a greater understanding has been made of what a hero was like in Ancient Greece. However are these attributes of a hero valued in today’s society? Odysseus has been found to be different from any hero of his time because rather of portraying extreme physical strength, he has shown more mental strength by getting out of situations through trickery and wit. Heroes today are not known for strength, but for what they internally bring out and by using words to end world injustices. Relations can be made between the two times through having a sense of bravery because every person that become courageous to face fears were seen as an act of heroism, for most people do this in order to save the people they love most. Although, modern heroism and Ancient Greek heroism have one extreme difference, which shows that values have totally changed: there was no humility back in Odysseus’ time. Throughout most of The Odyssey, Odysseus has put others before him-like sacrificing his men on his journey home- and most of his heroism were committed for this personal desire of regaining power and his family. Much has been changed of what would be heroic qualities of today’s time, but a lot is known that heroes in Ancient Greece and every person today is subjugated to doing whatever they can to pertain to their own needs.