Christopher Hamel
March 3, 2008
Odyssey Essay
The Odyssey: The Journey of A Selfish Man
A hero is a person who does something for the welfare of another. A hero will go to great lengths to help people. A hero is somebody who is not reluclant to risk something that may have
repercussions for him if it will help out other people. A hero is not acquisitive. A hero is somebody who you would like to aspire to be. In Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey, Odysseus did not possess any of
these traits very well.
In Homer's Epic Poem, The Oddyssey, Odysseus was far from a hero. Odysseus was covetous. He looted The Cicones. As a result, he lost some of his men due to his own greed. When Odysseus
arrived in the Land of The Cyclopes, greed overtook him. He and his best fighters set out to explore the land. They discovered the Cyclop's cave. There, they found hordes of cheeses, pens, and lambs. Any
genuine hero would have been in and out of there without risking any of his men. Instead, Odysseus had to satisfy his urge to see the Cyclops, which in turn, lost some of his men their lives. He gave no
recognition to his men after they helped him hoodwink the Cyclops. Odysseus claimed every bit of credit for himself by arrogantly yelling to the Cyclops that he, Odysseus, raider of cities, Laertes' son, whose
home's on Ithaca, took his eye.
In the adventure Scylla and Charybdis, Odysseus had to take a path that would claim the lives of six of his men. He neglected to tell them of such a detail, fearing that they
would oppose his decision to go down that path. The aftermath of his decision got six of his men eaten by Scylla & Charbydis. In the adventure The Cattle of Helios, Odysseus was faced with the decision of
letting his men starve, or eating the sacred cattle of Helios. Odysseus was forewarned that if he or his men were to eat any of the sacred cattle, when he returned to Ithaca, his life would be in ruins. Men would
be eating his livestock and trying to court his wife. Despite all of this, Odysseus gave in to his men and let them eat the sacred cattle in fear of mutiny. A true hero would have found other sources of food for
his men. For this, Zeus struck his ship with a thunderbolt killing everybody on it aside from Odysseus. Odysseus ended up landing on Calypso's island, spending 7 years there as Calypso's lover because of a promise of immortality before returning to Ithaca.
Overall, Odysseus was not a hero in the least bit. He was a selfish and arrogant man who did not care for anybody but himself. Oddyseus did not do anything to help the welfare of others. He did not
go to great lengths to help another. Oddyseus would rather sacrifice his men before himself. Odysseus was a greedy, arrogant, self absorbed man.