The Hero's Journey In The Alchemist

Odysseus is an archetype hero. All of these are examples of when Odysseus was a hero and saved his men. All throughout the story of The Odyssey, people have dissed Odysseus for some of his decisions that he made. In the end, he still gets back to his wife and son in Ithaca."A cruel turn, this. Never had I thought to see this land, but Zeus has let me see it..."

Everyone has their favorite super hero, whether it be Superman, Batman, or even Ironman. These heros helped anyone they saw in need, even if it put themselves in danger. People describe them as brave, daring, and trustworthy. This is not how I would describe Odysseus from the book The Odyssey by Homer, everyone always thought of Odysseus as the “hero” of the story, but he was quite the opposite. He does not deserve the credit for his getting home from the war at all. Odysseus doesn’t deserve the title of a hero because he made bad decisions that affected his crew poorly, Athena did almost all of the work in getting him home, and he cheated on his wife multiple times throughout his journey home.

He fights to the best of his abilities against many monsters such as Polyphemus, Circe, and the sea monster Scylla. There has been many claims that Odysseus isn’t hero because he lets his crew die. Just because his crew didn’t survive, it certainly does not mean he isn’t a hero. He tries his very best and even test his limits in order to get him and his crew back home. An example of this is in Homer’s ‘The Odyssey” where Odysseus tries to persuade his crew to bypass Thrinacia, the island of the sun god Helios, but they were too stubborn and insisted on landing. Due to their ignorance, and refusal to listen to Odysseus they accidentally angered the god Helios and to appease Helios Zeus sent down a thunderbolt on their ship killing all of Odysseus’s crew except himself. This is proof of how this was not entirely his fault, and how his name and reputation of being a hero shouldn’t be

At many times in people’s lives, they consider giving up. This is also true for Santiago, the protagonist in Paulo Coelho's fantasy novel The Alchemist. Santiago is on a journey to find a hidden treasure he saw in a dream. Along this journey he continues to contemplate whether he should just give up, or continue his adventure. By continuing he finds his true inner strength. In the story, the author shows the importance of perseverance, and how to face the many obstacles that people are presented in their lives to complete their goal.

Odysseus is heroic, courageous, outrageous, bold, fearless, manful, and valiant. Odysseus is heroic because he tricked the cyclops thinking that nobody was his name. Odysseus told his men to make a sharp spear and drop the spear in the cyclops eye so he can remove the giant rock and escape. Odysseus is fearless because him and his son killed the men that tried to take over his kingdom and marry his wife. Another thing is that Odysseus is bold because he made his son believe he was the father after the son did not believe him.

Many characteristics can be applied to Odysseus in the book the (Odyssey, Homer), but a few really stand out. In fact, Odysseus can be considered an epic hero in the Odyssey, as evidenced by his actions, his faults, and his loyalty. An epic hero is brave, adventurous, a leader, and loyal. Most epic hero’s have faults as well. These characteristics closely follow Odysseus’s own.

Because of Odysseus’s sharp intellect, cunningness, and with the help from the gods, he finishes the heroes’ journey.

So is Odysseus really a hero? There is a lot of reasonings to both sides, he could be a hero because he was loyal to his homeland and men. He was also clever and dedicated to all his plans and ideas to conquer creatures and return home. On the other hand, he does not seem much like a hero because he was unloyal by having affairs on Penelope. And he was also cocky and arrogant with his overconfidence which caused tension between him, the Cyclops, and

Some think Odysseus is a hero for many reasons, mainly because he helps many people including his family and his crew. Even when terrible things happen to him and his crew he perseveres and continues on his journey home. Even though Odysseus and his men do bad things like eating the sun god’s cattle there still are many reasons why he is a hero.

Yes, Penelope struggles greatly with a very important decision throughout the course of the story.

Odysseus, he’s known as a war hero on his way back to his homeland, who ends up going on a ten year long journey due to unforeseen circumstances. On this journey, he encounters many monsters, many ladies, and we see his good side and his bad side. Due to the fact that he’s very noble and brave (and in an epic poem), that makes him an epic hero. He’s also a very famous archetype for The Hero. Odysseus has some good traits, some bad flaws, and has been in some ugly situations, but overall he is a true hero.

Heroes can range from the well-known Superman to Harriet Tubman during the American Civil War, to the very parents that get you up in the morning. Despite who the hero may be, heroes are said to display selflessness, humility, and integrity. Specifically, epic heroes are expected to also illustrate loyalty and devotion. In the Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is depicted as the bigger than life epic hero of the epic poem that has had such an overwhelming impact on Western culture. However, his character flaws and the byproduct that are their consequences negate his heroism. Though Odysseus was successful in his journey home and in hand obtaining justice, he allowed for hubris get the best of him, remained disloyal to his wife and was not considerate

Odysseus was an effective leader in battle, an amazing fighter, and he was the person who helped defeat Troy by using the wooden horse. Although everyone thought this was a heroic action by Odysseus to obtain victory, the gods were not so happy with him, especially Zeus. The gods punished Odysseus by making his journey back home difficult for him and his men. Even though Odysseus was being challenged by gods, he had traits that were of an epic hero. Also, throughout his journey he had friends and companions to help him travel back to Ithaca safely and obtain his kingdom once again.

First off there is the fact that he is faithful. Though many years have passed since he left home he has never stopped trying to get back, proving the statement to be true. Second, he is loyal. Though his crew members were captured many times he always went to rescue them. For instance when he saved them from the Lotus Eaters or when he went to get them from Circe. He could have left and kept going straight for home but he instead went back to save them, this leading into another quality of Odysseus. Bravery. Throughout his venture he has stayed courageous, getting past the Cyclopes, Circe, and sirens. Now, he does have a multitude of great qualities but, despite all of the good that he has done, Odysseus still has flaws. Firstly, when he had finally gotten past the Cyclopes and they were far off from the shore he shouted out to the Cyclopes “’Would you feast on my companions? Puny, am I, in a Caveman’s hands? How do you like the beating we gave you…’”, letting his anger get the better of him. This is a fatal flaw that could have killed him and the rest of his crew. Another flaw is that he let himself fall into the luxury of Circe’s home when he could have left once he had the rest of his men back. Instead he stayed for many months until finally remembering he needed