The Odyssey: The Qualities Of A Hero

Odysseus should not be granted an award for being a good leader in the Odyssey Although he fought well and won many battles he still made some very selfish decision 's. The Choices that the so called "Great" leader made caused the innocent solders to lose their life 's Odysseus chose to think by him self and not discuss with his mates about his dangerous ideas. Odysseus is A man know from the city/island of Troy, he is a so called leader, knight and great fighter. One of his selfish decisions that he made was when him and the soilders wandered into the cave of the cyclops, his soldiers suggested that they should take some food and leave, while Odysseus deiced to stay longer and examine the cyclops cave, This is were things get worse, as

Webster Dictionary defines leadership as simply, “providing direction or guidance,” but to be a successful leader one must focus on completing a goal in a way that is beneficial for the majority, not only the one in charge. This can be achieved by utilitarianism, which is doing of what is best for the most number of people, and carrying out actions that lead to positive effects, instead of merely being done with good intentions. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is not an exemplary leader because he went against utilitarianism by not being honest with his men, letting his arrogance control his behavior, and by killing many people in his house without a fair trial. Firstly, a leader must be truthful with those he works with in order for no errors or confusion to occur as a result of information being hidden. In The Odyssey, not being truthful lead to negative consequences for everyone on Odysseus’ ship, and thus contradicted the principle of utilitarianism stating that actions must lead to positive effects.

A hero can mean many different things. It could be a man unknowingly be chosen and rise to the point or a man that chooses to be the hero. But is the man that chose to be the hero really going to do the heroic things oppose to the man chosen on the spot. In Metress 's literary criticism, he suggests that Atticus was not a model of moral courage. The critic 's argument is invalid because Atticus did not need to volunteer because Judge Taylor already knew Atticus 's standpoint and work ethic.

Throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, we see many places where redemption and self-worth are extremely important to the plot. Redemption is the act of failing and falling, but getting back up again, time after time. Gawain fails to meet this in many parts of the story, including bad bets, trying to believe he was faultless, and, most importantly, blaming others for things he himself did. While the act of redemption is very real, Sir Gawain does not showcase this. Gawain can’t seem to learn his lesson when it comes to betting.

This is showing how even as he is dying he is still thinking about his people. Some would argue Beowulf isn’t smart and that his pride is in the way of him being a beneficial hero. Meaning it wasn’t smart of him to travel over the seas to fight a monster that he knows nothing about. Also, he thought he was the best of the best and that nobody can beat him. Although some people think that, other understand Beowulf was only thinking about what’s best for the people.

Furthermore it is not simply the actions that dictate whether or not a man is truly a hero. For example there was also the fact the Beowulf only wanted one thing, “But Beowulf longed only for fame” (485-486) and “So fame comes to men who mean to win it and care about nothing else” (490-492). Heros do not lust after fame, yet Beowulf does. He didn 't care about protecting his people, that isn 't why he did any of what he did. He did it for fame and it 's stared at plainly in the story.

Be that as it may, even Theseus can’t escape the tragic fated ending for every great epic hero. Incidentally, Theseus had a fatal flaw that eventually is what led to his regretful demise, “All of the cares of state, however, and all the deeds of knighterrantry to defend the wronged and helpless, could not restrain Theseus’ love of danger for the sake of danger” (217). With that, this quote reaffirms Theseus as the better epic hero. Unlike Perseus–whose story ended happily–Theseus’s life came to a bloody end, therefore an epic hero cannot be an epic hero if they do not fall victim to their own

Furthermore, Lancelot was considered the best knight but was not the best person. He had multiple flaws that diminished his reputation. White decided to transform Lancelot from the handsome, dashing knight that appeared in most of the other Arthurian stories to an “ugly brute.” This leads to Lancelot’s constant insecurities and negative self-image throughout his life. The book states, “He was trying to find out what he was, and he was afraid of what he would find… the boy thought that there was something wrong with him” (White 311). Lancelot had always thought of himself to be different.

Fool, do not flatter.” (V, iii, 201-204) Such confusion is a result of a broken system of values. Being a King seemed very pleasant to Gloucester, but once he became one, it turned out to be not as fascinating. That very moment he has started questioning the price he has paid in order to get the throne. As soon as an evil goal of an evil person is reached, there is no more motivation behind the evilness. Therefore, maybe Gloucester would have applied his bright mind to improve the life of civilians.

Though it was his pure intention to shock the reader with vivid details to get them to acknowledge how these “heroes” might be the actual opposite, it does little to no powerful effect if the readers are negatively shocked. By declaring the world would need better villains, as if these crimes are not horrendous as is, he does not captures the audience 's understanding but rather yet captures just even more anger by doing so. The audience will not be able to comprehend his column in the way he wishes they would if he communicates in rather shallow