Odysseus: A Famous Greek Epic Hero

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Plato said, “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” Homer’s The Odyssey is no exception to this idea. This theme of heroin figure is focus and portrayed by the main character. A hero definitely has to be brave. He is Odysseus, a famous Greek epic hero, displays all these qualities throughout his journey home, and abroad. Odysseus conquers this characteristic in several ways. He is considering a hero because he was a very intelligent, brave man, and physically powerful. Odysseus is on a long quest to get back home and faces many monsters such as Cyclopes that are a lot more ugly and evil than anyone in real life. Throughout the Odyssey story, the idea of intelligence…show more content…
Living a life with immortals and Gods around you, it was not ordinary to be a mortal and carry the strength of a God. He fights the monster Cyclops, the suitors who are going behind is back at home and trying to steal his wife, sleep with Circe to save his men who has been transformed to swine. He clearly demonstrates bravery when he crosses through the strait because he knows he is risking being killed by Scylla and Charybis. When Odysseus fights with suitor, there were many suitors. He carried out the plan anyway, showed his bravery and put aside his fears. Odysseus had to go through twenty years of turmoil before he could get home to his beloved Penelope and son, Telemachus. “Now shrugging off his rags the wiliest fighter of the islands leapt and stood on the broad door still, his own bow in his hand. (Homer, 22. 231-233). “He poured out at his feet a rain of arrows from the quiver and spoke to the crowd: “So much for that. Your clean-cut game is over. Now watch me him hit the target that no man has hit before, if I can make this shot, help me, Apollo.” (Homer, 22.234-238). “He drew to his fist the cruel head of an arrow for Antinous- Odysseus’s arrow hit him under the chin and punched up to the feathers through his throat.” (Homer, 22. 234-247). Odysseus endured all of this with the hope that someday he would again be with his family. Being only human, Odysseus' bravery was tested to the…show more content…
In his quest, Odysseus uses his superior and super human strength to overcome the suitors. In The Odyssey, Penelope holds a contest for all the suitors. She declares that she will marry the one who can string and shoot Odysseus's bow through all the twelve axes. None of the suitors were able to bend the bow and string it. Odysseus disguised as a beggar then asks if he can try the bow. “Odysseus took his time, turning the bow, tapping it, every inch, for boring that termites might have made while the master of the weapon was abroad.” (Homer, 21. 187-189). “But the man skilled in all ways of contending, satisfied by the great bow’s look and heft, like a musician, like a harper, when with quiet hand upon his instrument he draws between his thumb and forefinger a sweet new string upon a peg: so effortlessly Odysseus in one motion strung the bow. Then slid his right hand down the cord and plucked it, so the taut gut vibrating hummed and sang a swallow’s note. (Homer, 21. 197-206). Odysseus is the only person strong enough to string his bow and fire it through ten axe handles. He also has emotional strength because he is constantly dealing with the fact that he is homesick and missing his wife. Strength is an important aspect of a hero because a hero’s strength is seen as his main physical power. Strength allows him to do things that others

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