Homer's Odyssey: Hero Or Zero?

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Odysseus, Hero or Zero?
There is a debate among scholars and students regarding the Odyssey on whether questionable morals and being a hero are mutually exclusive. The opinion on this topic is based off of what the readers definition if hero is. To the ancient Greeks, someone who defeated monsters and protected the public deserved the esteemed reputation, not letting their perception be altered by negative attributes.. The Greeks considered him one of their greatest and most powerful warriors, so Odysseus is a hero.
Odysseus vanquished several enemies that were threats to civilian lives as well as the gods’ rule. He was a brave protector who continually risked his life to protect his men and citizens from the inevitable demise associated with living in a world full of monsters. Such as when he looked for “some way for me to escape away from the deadly Charybdis, but yet fight the others off, when she attacks my companions” (Homer, …show more content…

This is most likely why they respected him and made him the protagonist of an epic poem to begin with, because he was a hero, “O Father, for all my life your fame as a fighting man has echoes in my ears- your skill with weapons and the tricks of war” (Homer, lines 926-928). Although he was an arrogant infidel, those were not uncommon traits and they did not undermine all of the lives he saved. It raises the age-old question about what makes someone a good person and Odysseus is a perfect example of how someone can be good in the traditional sense of the word and still have negative qualities because he’s a flawed human being. Odysseus was a hero to the Greeks because he intelligently defeated monsters and nobly defended his home. It is impossible to be the epitome of a hero to every culture and generation so it is only the ancient Greek’s opinion of him that is significant, and they believed he was a

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