The Hero's Journey In The Hobbit And The Odyssey

The Odyssey and The Hobbit Comparison Essay

“You have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have” J.R.R Tolkien. When it comes to the hero’s journey, both The Odyssey and The Hobbit are very similar. They are mainly similar in encountering challenges and temptations throughout both journeys. And in both The Hobbit and The Odyssey, it is shown that challenges and temptations must be faced throughout the hero’s journey. Altogether it is taught that by using wits and skill challenges can be overcome.

In The Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew face many challenges and temptations throughout their journey, and these challenges must be overcome in order to get home. For example, one challenge that is faced

is Polyphemus the cyclops. And to overtake this challenge Odysseus and his men must drive a sharpened trunk of an olive tree into the cyclop’s eye. Before doing this Odysseus asks his men “Whose hand could bear to thrust and grind that spike in the cyclop’s eye” (10. 185). This quote shows that Odysseus had to use his skill to come up with the plan of making a spike to stab the cyclops in the eye. One other challenge that is faced in the Odyssey is the Sirens. The Siren’s are half bird and half woman creatures that sing with such beauty that men don’t see how hideous they are and go to them almost in a trance, and get killed then eaten. And to get past the Sirens Odysseus gives his men bee’s wax to stuff in their ears. Also Odysseus has his crew tie him to the mast so he can hear the Siren’s song. “Square in your ship’s path are sirens, crying beauty to bewitch men coasting by.” (12.5). Therefore Odysseus had to overcome this challenge by using his wit to have the plan to put beeswax in his crew’s ears. Finally one of the final challenges that Odysseus faces alone is fighting off the 100 suitors who wish to marry his wife. He defeats all of them with only a bow, and Athena helping him to land every shot. “Run then while I hold them off with arrows as long as they last” (22.105).

Also, just like in The Odyssey, The Hobbit has many challenges faced throughout the adventure.

And while some challenges are greater than others, they have to be conquered in order to complete the journey. A big challenge that had to be overcome was defeating Smaug, a dragon who took over the mountain which was filled with treasure. The dwarves must defeat him to reclaim the mountain. “Then the dwarves forgot their joy and their confident boasts of a moment before and cowered down in fright. Smaug was still to be reckoned with.” (Tolkien 199). Also Defeating Smaug is important because one of the main reasons they are on their quest is because they want to kill Smaug and reclaim the Lonely Mountain. Another challenge that Bilbo must face on his own himself while on the journey is killing giant spiders to rescue his friends. While in the dark forest of Mirkwood, the dwarves get taken by spiders and wrapped up in string while Bilbo is on the top of a tree. Using his sword and rocks he has to kill the spiders and free his friends.“Suddenly he saw, too, that there were spiders huge and horrible sting in the branch above him” (145). Also this challenge helped Bilbo grow and discover what he can do, and prove to the dwarves he is useful. When the dwarves finally reclaim the mountain Thorin soon becomes very protective of the newly acquired gold, to the point where he starts to trust no one. “But none of our gold shall thieves take or the violent carry off while we are alive”

(236). And the rest of the dwarves must get Thorin back to normal to in order to have their leader back due to being on the edge of war.

In conclusion, The Hobbit and The Odyssey both have challenges and temptations throughout the journeys that make them similar. Some of those challenges include Smaug the dragon, Polyphemus the cyclops, giant spider, and Sirens, yet there are many more that our heroes encounter. And in the final analysis they both seem to convey that challenges can be overcome using skill and wit.