Odysseus: Hero or Villain

Breyer 1
Lauren Breyer
Holcombe
Period 8
April 2, 2014
Odysseus: Hero or Villain? In the epic poem “The Odyssey” by Homer (translated by Robert Fitzgerald) Odysseus, the King of Ithaca embarks on his journey home after the Trojan War with his crew men. On his way home Odysseus gets caught in storms produced by Poseidon and end up traveling to many islands to survive. Meanwhile his son and wife stay at home dealing with over welcomed sutors in their home who are trying to marry Penelope. He is not a hero because he is stubborn, disrespectful, and, unfaithful. Some people think that Odysseus is a hero because he tries to come home as quickly as he can, but with more in depth analysis of his characteristics and actions he is in fact a villain. Some may say Odysseus is a hero because he led his men out of captivity inside the cave of Polyphemus. He was clever in thinking of a way out, but he could’ve avoided the whole situation if he wasn’t so stubborn. His crew wanted to take the cyclops's cheese and goats and make a run for it but he thought “Ah how sound that was! Yet I refused. I wished/ to see the caveman and what he had to offer-/no pretty sights, it turned out for my friends.”(pg.151, ln 248-250) He focused too much on his own needs and didn't think of this crew men's safety first. A hero would think of his companions first before the wants of himself. His stubbornness put all of his men at risk which reveals his villainous quality of being stubborn. Another villainous trait Odysseus has is his disrespect to the gods. A hero would have the trait of being respectful and considerate, especially to the mighty gods. When he was in the cyclops’ cave, he disrespected Poseidon, by not only stabbing his son in the eye, revealing himself, and bragging about it by saying “‘Kyklops,/if ever mortal man inquire/ how you were put to shame and
Breyer 2 blinded, tell him/ Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye:’”(pg. 160, ln 548-550), but later he yells “‘ If I could take your life I would and take/ your time away, and hurl you down to hell!’” (pg. 161, ln 571-572). Because he revealed himself to Polyphemus, the cyclops prayed to his dad telling him to delay Odysseus from getting home. His disrespect ended up affecting his journey home and causing them to take even longer. Being disrespectful is not a heroic trait proving that Odysseus is not a hero. Lastly, Odysseus is not a hero because he is unfaithful. On his journey home, he stops at Circe's island where she tells him she will turn his men back to pigs, only if he sleeps with her. Odysseus, being as clever as he is, could’ve come up with another way around this offering. When she first suggest he replied with “‘Kirke, I am a boy,/ that you should make me soft and doting now?/ Here in this house you turned my men to swine;/ now it is I myself you hold, enticing/ into your chamber, to your dangerous bed,/ to take my manhood when you have stripped./ I mount no bed of love with you upon it.” (pg.175, ln 379-384) but that quickly changes as he “entered Kirke’s flawless bed of love.” (pg 176, ln 390). Penelope is still waiting, crying at home from Odysseus to get home, while he is screwing around with goddesses. He was being unfaithful to his beloved Penelope, which is definitely not a characteristic of a hero. Odysseus is a villain because he is stubborn in Polyphemus’s cave, disrespectful to the gods, and is unfaithful to his wife. These events lead to him losing crew members and putting them into dangerous situations, elongating his voyage home, and putting his integrity at risk. These traits and consequences do not fit for a heroic character which reveals Odysseus as a villain.