...physical but also by the capacity to motivate and guide others. In The Odyssey, Odysseus shows his heroic traits of his cleverness when he stabbed Polyphemus in the eye allowing him and his men to escape the cave. Additionally, he shows loyalty as part of his traits by staying loyal to Penelope throughout the 20 years despite being offered love by Circe. Ultimately, his pride was his fatal flaw, causing his journey to take 20 years to return home. Throughout his journey, Odysseus shows many heroic traits that define him...
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...positive impact on society. A heroic person is someone who can help in the time of need and comfort others in times of distress. A current day example of a hero is 19 year old, Christian Gunter. Christian was a manager at the home for disabled vets in Arkansas. He saved all 10 vets from a tornado that tore right through the home 20 min after Christian saved all the vets. For someone to be a hero, there is no physical limitations that makes it necessary to be strong and wear a cape with tights because heroes are judged by their actions and nothing more. Qualities that I associate with a hero are vigilant, selfless, and the willingness to take risks. Homer from the Odyssey suggests that Odysseus is made a hero by exemplifying qualities of being bold, savior, and sly. However, the characteristics that Homer equates with Odysseus are not always required for someone to be considered a hero. In Homer’s epic poem, the Odyssey, bold is a quality that makes Odysseus heroic. The act of being bold is the willingness to take surprisingly brave risks, which Odysseus demonstrates in his adventures. In the Adventure of the Cyclopes, Odysseus states that “we climbed, then, briskly to the cave. But Cyclops had gone afield, to pasture his fat sheep, so we looked round at everything inside.” This is an example of being bold because Odysseus and his crew are unaware of the contents inside the Cyclopes’ cave and entering his land without any signal to the “louts.” Odysseus is taking on a big risk...
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...November 18, 2012 World Literature I Odysseus and the idealist Don Quixote What is a hero? To be a hero means winning honor through competitive combat in ancient Greece and the middle ages. In those historic eras warriors, knights, and kings were honored the most. A hero was someone with a smooth fighting technique and would face death at any moment. Heroes were the people who would lead their armies, fellow knights, and comrades into battle and earned tributes for their courage and great deeds performed during their combat. In other light, the cowards of ancient Greece and the middle ages were considered a burden and were affronted. Throughout many books authors have explained different aspects of what it means to be a hero. Homer, author of the Odyssey, and Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, convey this characteristic frequently. In the Odyssey, Odysseus was a skillful fighter, but it was yet the proof Homer’s readers needed of his heroism. Odysseus also transpired characteristics of restraint and mercy. On the other hand, Cervantes’ character was not born a hero. He was fooled by chivalric ideas of heroism and sets out to reform the world along with his witty companion. Odysseus and Don Quixote are from two totally different eras, but both of them tried to conquer the world with their heroic acts. Not only their heroic acts made them well known, it’s also their imagination that makes them stand out. In comparison, imagination is what makes Quixote the hero, and imagination...
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...“companion of heroes” and is the patron goddess of heroic strive (“Athena”). The Athenians considered her their “protector” and in honor of this, they named their city after her; Athens (“Myths”). She is commonly symbolized with an olive tree. Her sacred animals are the snake and owl. Athena is usually described as a rosy cheeked girl with a muscular body (“Athena”). She was one of the three Greek goddesses that remained a virgin (Littleton 171). Athena is one of the only goddesses that shows heroic skill and wisdom and she is one of the most important Greek and Roman goddesses known during this ancient time period....
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...Odysseus has everything he needs in order to take on the role of hero throughout his journey. In Odysseus’s personality, he possesses the ability to strategize. The protection and care that Odysseus gives to his men help in portraying him as a hero. Odysseus has a goal-oriented mindset, the work and effort he puts into achieving his goal shows the heroic side of him. The character traits worn by Odysseus’s personality make it easy to see the hero inside of him. Odysseus possesses character traits amongst a wide variety that make him a hero in Homer’s, The Odyssey. Having the ability to strategize in all aspects of life aids in the characterization of Odysseus as a hero; Odysseus clearly displays his abilities through his decisions over the...
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...Certainly Odysseus has done something to make people think he’s a hero, but has he made you think he’s a heroic king? Or not? There’s evidence that he did the opposite of what a hero would do. In my perspective, I do not consider Odysseus a hero knowing that he killed all of the suitors heartlessly. In The Odyssey, Odysseus says “ There will be killing till the score is paid,” this is evidence that he doesn’t know how to handle his rage and takes it all out without mercy. (Line 1284) In addition, Homer writes “ Fight your way out, or run for it, if you think you’ll escape death. I doubt one man of you skins by…” this is an example of how his uncontrollable anger toward the suitors makes him murder them all. On the other hand, he...
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...odyssey there is a character named Odysseus. Odysseus goes on an amazing journey and along his way he goes through many things that mold him into an epic hero. Odysseus also proves his heroism through his behavior. During the story Odysseus often presents us with his great intelligence, his superhuman strength, and also his great leadership and bravery. However though Odysseus does not always act like a hero and does immoral things but when the time is right, the true heroic side of him will come out and we will see how heroic Odysseus really is. Odysseus is a true epic hero and has the the personal characteristics to prove it. Throughout the Odyssey Odysseus presents us with examples of his superhuman strength. That is characteristic...
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...Humphrey Due May 21, 2015 Essay 4: Development of Heroes (+Hamlet) The Heroes of the Greek and Rome poetries share few common uniqueness. They are heroic in that they all sacrifice, they are all intelligent, they all have their own faith or luck, they are all remembered or also known as Kleos and they all wander and deal with many problems. We have read many of them in this course such as Odysseus, Oedipus, Aeneas, Achilles and Beowulf. Then there is the great Hamlet who is not one of the Greek Heroes but a character from a play by William Shakespeare. Today in this essay, I want to compare some of the Greek poetry characters with the Prince Hamlet. First of all, I want to talk about few similarities between Hamlet and one of the Greek poet characters we have learned from this course. In my opinion, the story of Hamlet itself can be very analogous to the story of the poetry Oedipus. Both of the story have a plague or a outbreak going on from the beginning of the story. In the Oedipus the King, it starts with the Plague of Thebes where then Oedipus start to take actions for his people. This is where he shows his heroic features being a great leader for his city and sacrificing himself to solve the problem. The play Hamlet also starts with an outbreak and there seems to be something strange. The play starts with, "who’s there?" (Act 1 scene 1 line 1) by one of the guards. The fact that the play starts out with a question and with a guard, it foreshadows that there is something...
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...Penelope, Epic Heroine During Ancient Greece, when women were seen as property, Penelope, Odysseus’ wife in The Odyssey, stands out as a woman beyond that claim. In Odysseus’ 20 year absence, she reigns over Ithaca, creatively staves off suitors, and raises a son, Telemachus, all while being faithful and devoted to him. Many of these obligations are not unlike what modern women grapple with. However, what sets Penelope apart is that she is accomplishing them at a time when women were seen as property and unable to have reigning duties. "The hero is the man or woman who has been able to battle past his personal and local historical limitations” (Campbell). Because of Penelope’s success in the face of adversity, she is a true heroine. Although inundated with suitors, she maintains her heroic loyalty to Odysseus in his absence. Contrastingly, her cousin, Clytemnestra, is unfaithful to her husband, Agamemnon, while he is fighting the Trojan War alongside Odysseus. Penelope knows that it is not conventional or acceptable to remain unmarried if one’s husband is considered dead, but her deep love and devotion to Odysseus keeps her inventing new means to avoid marrying any of the suitors. Because she is born to a prince and holds the royalty title, and anyone she marries will become King of Ithaca. For that reason, Penelope does not have to fear the same fate as Andromache, Hector’s wife in The Iliad. Hector was of royal blood, but Andromache was not; therefore, upon his...
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...Odysseus is a captain, above all. One who is in command, who must make important decisions. Now, though some of these decisions may have resulted in the death of his crew mates, I think it is important to consider his heroism in other areas of his life. From being the man who brought about the destruction of the Trojans during war time to his many warnings to his crew of the dangers of their journey, his heroics have far outweighed his villainous acts. It is hard for me to say, but sacrifices needed to be made, and he did what he could to bring his men home, however unsuccessfully he did so. First up, we have the making of the Trojan Horse. Athena, favoring Odysseus, came to him and instructed him to create a giant wooden horse to trick the...
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...interpreted in many ways throughout the ages an Odysseus is one literary hero that stands the test of time. There are many heroic traits that makes Odysseus in The Odyssey a hero even in today's world. The first trait that makes him a hero is Odysseus is hubristic which is one of his flaws. The next trait is he is stro In the Odyssey Odysseus portrays many traits that make him a hero such as his flaws. In multiple books he shows how hubristic or pride he is especially in book nine at the cyclops island. When Odysseus and his crew first arrived on the island Odysseus picks out a dozen of his best fighters to scope out the island. They find one of the cyclops caves and de themselves at home and “built a fire, set...
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...to the development of Odysseus's character and the theme of the epic when Odysseus learns the importance of humility, the value...
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...A hero is defined as someone who is admired or idolized for courage, outstanding, or noble qualities. In The Epic of The Odyssey written by homer, is a story of the quest from Troy to Ithaca. During his quest Odysseus runs into many obstacles and dilemmas. He often has to choose which is the right choice, and which would be the best for him. Although considered by many to be a heroic story, the tales of Odysseus are not always heroic, because of his unethical Andy not noble quest, his polytropos identity, and that is adventure back was only about himself. After his wars at Troy, Odysseus found himself in many unethical and not noble places within the journey home. When on calypsos island, Odysseus cheats on his wife many times while staying...
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...Nicholas Dell Professor Daniel Richter CLAS 150g 10 October 2012 Achilles’ Speech What makes a hero exceptional? What separates heroes from the people around them? Achilles, Agamemnon, Odysseus, and their companions believed in a heroic code of sorts that defined how one should act in order to prove their honor and glory. In the eyes of the ancient Greeks and Trojans, there were two things that defined a hero: the quest for glory and the duty to protect. In Achilles’ speech to his companions Achilles attempts to hold up his own honor while shying away from his duty to protect. This juxtaposition of heroic and anti-heroic behavior creates an internal conflict within Achilles that causes the reader to question how heroic Achilles truly is. By abandoning his duty, Achilles also raises questions about his loyalty to his brothers, companions, society, and his own King. Achilles’ speech raises the question whether certain parts of the heroic code can be ignored or to what extent the code among heroes is actually followed. Arguably the most important part of the heroic code is kleos. Kleos is glory, prizes, and fame earned through fighting in battle. Achilles deeply desires everlasting kleos, but at what cost? Achilles has two choices according to Thetis, he says, “Either, if I stay here and fight beside the city of the Trojans, my return home is gone, but my glory shall be everlasting; but if I return home to the beloved land of my fathers, the excellence of my glory is gone...
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...Father-Son Relationship in The Odyssey The Odyssey introduces the theme of father-son relationships to exemplify how influential fathers were at the time. Fathers act as role models to their sons and can determine their actions even if there is a physical and psychological space and difference between them, like Odysseus and Telemachus. The reader is able to gain greater insight into the nature of ancient Greek society by analysing these father-son relationships for their complexities and circumstances of their familial ties. With each father-son relationship shown, Homer offers a unique perspective about the roles that were available to both father and son. Book 1-4 Throughout the Telemachia, we learn that Telemachus has been forced to grow up without the influence of his father and has been directly affected by Odysseus’ absence. When he confides in Athena under the guise of Mentor, he proclaims that he does not have solid proof that he is in fact Odysseus’s son and doubts that he is still alive. However, the dialogue between both Athena and Telemachus initiates Telemachus’ spiritual development. So, when the pre-economy of Odysseus and Telemachus re-uniting is fulfilled – Telemachus will be in the position to assist his father in killing the suitors and to restore the natural order in the Ithacan society. Telemachus first asserts his male privilege by ordering Penelope from the public rooms of the palace, indicating to the suitors of his intention to assert his claim...
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