A Hero vs An Average Person

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What qualities does a hero have? Is it someone who inspires us, or someone who you simply admire? A hero to me is someone who is brave, a leader, intelligent, and strong. A hero has to be able to sacrifice himself for others. A hero is someone who doesn’t look down on others, but someone who encourages others to look up to them. Odysseus, man of many wiles, husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus, Son of Laertes and Anticlea has all the qualities of a hero, but also has some flaws. Odysseus seems to be more than the average person, therefore he is an average person with a mixture of good and bad qualities. Intelligence, and strength, are both great traits that describe Odysseus, and his weaknesses are his pride, sensuality, lack of leadership, and temptation.

First of all, Odysseus shows great heroism through his intelligence. This quote for example “It was so strong that we usually diluted it in water twenty to one. The Cyclops tossed it back and then demanded more.” This quote relates to Odysseus when he shows intelligence and puts Polyphemus asleep by getting him drunk off wine in order to save his men. In todays time an example would be getting someone drunk to take advantage of them to fight them, because they’ll be drunk, and wouldn’t be as stable as they would be sober. This relates to when Odysseus got Polyphemus drunk. This is taking advantage because he stabbed his eye when Polyphemus was asleep which is taking advantage of him. Also, Odysseus shows intelligence when he comes up with the idea of the Trojan horse. This shows intelligence because he came up with the idea of sneaking men in the Trojan horse and having the Greeks leave it in front of Troy as a gift, but he really was tricking them so th...

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.... Right when Odysseus was out of sight the crew disobeyed and killed some of the cattle angering the Sun God. This also made Odysseus’ trip longer and got the last of his men killed. An example about this from todays time would be if you were demanded by your boss to go and do your work, but you just sat down and didn’t do it you would face the consequences of getting fired, which in Odysseus’ case his mens consequences were death. Overall, his weaknesses cause him to be an average person, and not a hero.
In conclusion, a hero can be both someone we admire or someone who inspires us. Not someone who fails along with his successes quit a bit. Odysseus’ mixture of great and bad qualities make him better than the average person, but not as good as a hero. He has great qualities along with some bad ones. This means he is an average person with good and bad traits.

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