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Odysseus Is Not A Hero Essay

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Odysseus is Not a Hero
The translated version of the story The Odyssey, also known as The Epic, is a story about Odysseus, king of Ithaca, spending ten years on a journey back to his homeland. During his trip home, Odysseus makes cowardly decisions that reveal he is not a hero. Odysseus is not a hero because he is selfish, greedy, and secretive. Odysseus is not a hero because he is selfish. When Odysseus is leaving Ismarus; the island of the Cyclops, Odysseus and his men are sailing away from the island after escaping the Cyclops cave by stabbing him in the eye. When they start to sail away, Odysseus starts to taunt the Cyclops. This makes the Cyclops angry, which turns into him throwing a hill and boulder at Odysseus and his men. Odysseus’s …show more content…

Odysseus doesn’t listen to his men and instead yells at the Cyclops again, causing him to throw another boulder. This shows that Odyesseus is not a hero because he is selfish and …show more content…

Odysseus and his men stop at an island, where Odysseus meets Aeolus; the god of wind. Aeolus gives Odysseus a bag of wind to use on their trip back home to Ithaca. Odysseus receives the bag and boards back on his ship with his crew. His men ask what is in the bag, but Odysseus does not tell them what's inside. His crewmates are skeptical of what's inside the bag, so while Odysseus is sleeping they open the bag. The wind ends up blowing their ship in the opposite direction of Ithaca, this is what Odysseus gets for not telling his crew what's inside the bag. “When they are near home, Odysseus’s men open the sack, letting loose a storm that drives them back to Aeolia” (Homer 699). This quote talks about how Odysseus’s men open up the bag of wind from Aeolus, sending them back to the island of Aeolia. This is the result of Odysseus being secretive, and not telling his men what was inside the bag. Odysseus is not a hero because he was secretive with his men, and it resulted in a longer trip

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