Examples Of Heroic Qualities In The Odyssey

Everyone has different personality traits. Odysseus has both hero qualities and not so heroic qualities. This epic poem is called “The Odyssey”. It was written by Homer, an ancient Greek poet. Epic hero qualities are traits the hero character of a story has. They include strength, loyalty, intelligence, and courage. One would think Odysseus has many epic hero traits, but he also has many traits that are not heroic. There are many examples of his heroic qualities. Something that shows loyalty is when he says, “So we moved out, sad in the vast offing, having our precious lives, but not our friends.” This shows that Odysseus is loyal because talking about not having his friends anymore and being with his men. He also has strength. “I drove them, all three wailing, to the ships, tied them down under the rowing benches…” shows this because it takes strength to tie three men down to a ship. When he shows courage, he says “We beached there, and I told the crew to stand by and keep watch over the ship: as for myself I took my twelve best men and went ahead.” in which one would notice Odysseus had the courage to go see who the enormous man was when he reached Cyclops Island and told his men to watch the ship for him.