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Argumentative Essay: Is Odysseus Really A Hero?

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Odyssey Argumentative Essay: Is Odysseus really a hero?

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The Odyssey, is a very old Greek Mythology story by the author, Homer. The Odyssey is made up of several books and outlines the plot of a hero that we still use for movies and books today. It is a tale about the adventures of Odysseus traveling through the sea and numerous islands. He meets challenging obstacles that consequently affect the outcome of the story.
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In book 5 of “The Odyssey”, Odysseus demonstrates that he is immoral, which disqualifies him from being a hero. In the book, Odysseus has been trapped on the island of Ogygia for several years after losing all his crew from an attack by Helios. When Odysseus is about to be released from the island, he decides to sleep with Calypso, a nymph goddess who lives on the island, before he sets off to return home. In the first part of book 5, Odysseus and Calypso are illustrated kissing and sleeping together(Homer 53). At this moment, Odysseus is cheating and being disloyal to his wife, Penelope, who lives at Odysseus’s house in Ithaca. Odysseus’s actions signifies his unheroic qualities because he did not try …show more content…

For example, when Odysseus and his crew travel near the Sirens, who are man-eating mermaids, his men have to put beeswax in their ears to not listen for the Siren’s baiting song. However, Odysseus makes his men tie him up so he can listen to the song: Odysseus’s crew is illustrated tying Odysseus to the top of the boat(Homer 136). In this instance, Odysseus is putting his men in danger by his selfish action of listening to the Siren’s song. If Odysseus had been able to free himself from the rope he was tied from, he would have got himself killed and most likely put his whole crew in danger. Based on the choices Odysseus made in book 12, it concludes that Odysseus' selfish trait puts others in danger and makes him

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