Odysseus As A Tragic Hero

Odysseus ~ Homeric Hero? In the epic poem The Odyssey, Homer writes about a supposedly homeric hero in their time. The Odyssey shows Homer's epic of Odysseus' 10-year battle to return home after the Trojan War (Hillegass). While Odysseus fights legendary animals and countenances the fury of the gods, his significant other Penelope and his child Telemachus fight off suitors contending for Penelope's hand and Ithaca's position of royalty sufficiently long for Odysseus to return. In their society he is seen as a hero because he does many latent and arduous tasks. In modern days though is cheating, cruelty, lying, and selfishness considered being heroic? Odysseus comes off as a selfish person. He was selfish in many ways but one of the biggest is when he goes to Cyclops island. The main motivation behind why Odysseus remains to see the Cyclops is that he needs the boasting privileges of asserting a visitor blessing from him. In the event that he had gulped his pride and either just stolen a few cheeses from the Cyclops, as his men asked him, or basically left

Odysseus killed all the suitors and maids that lived in his kingdom upon his return. He returns and becomes angry that some maids have been with the suitors so he decides to hang them. While he is away he cheats on his beloved wife, Penelope, with Circe and Calypso. He says he was “forced” to be with them but in all honesty he could have just left the land at his leisure. He sleeps with other women while he is married to Penelope, which in modern standards, that would be an affair and a horrible thing to do. In conclusion, Odysseus doesn’t always tell the truth, is egocentric, and cheats on his wife. Back then people only saw the good things he did that brought him home safely but it isn’t like that anymore. Odysseus in the eyes of modern day people, does many things that wouldn’t display him as a hero in any