The Hero Of Odysseus In Homer's The Odyssey

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to preserve and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”- Christopher Reeve. This quote relates to the hero, Odysseus because he does many heroic actions in the epic that classifies him to be heroic. The Odyssey is a about a man named Odysseus, who has to face many challenges in order to return to his home, Ithaca. He must go to many different places, and he must fight many different beasts. It is a big challenge that he faces, but his heroic qualities allow him to defeat these obstacles and return home. In Homer’s The Odyssey, the qualities that make Odysseus a hero and allow him to defeat his challenges are is quick intellect in tough situations and his act to show courage.

Throughout the events of this epic, Odysseus shows courage through many acts of bravery. A

A way in which he fulfills this is when he gets his men out of Polyphemus’s cave. While they are trapped, Odysseus has the idea to stab Polyphemus eye with a hot steak to blind him. This is smart by Odysseus because while he is blind, Polyphemus asks Odysseus what his name is and Odysseus responds with nobody so that when the other Cyclops come over and ask who is hurting him he will say nobody. This is an example of quick thinking because this led them to be able to escape from his cave. Without him saying that, they may not of been able to get out. Another example where Odysseus shows quick intellect is when they are at Circe’s island. He shows quick thinking here because he has to save his crew from being held captive and being turned into pigs. He thinks quickly in this situation by eating a herb that makes him unable to get any spells put on him. By doing this he can convince Circe to turn his men back to normal. Without him thinking quickly, the crew would have still been pigs and would not have been able to go back to