Pride In The Odyssey

In The Odyssey, Homer’s exciting and exhilarating tale of the great Odysseus, the mighty hero, brave and strong, slays and conquers many terrors and great evil. The greatest evil however, is his hamartia, hubris against the gods, his arrogance. Odysseus’ pride is the worst villain of all, keeping Odysseus away from his goal. Does his hubris stop him from being a hero? A hero must be just and moral, meaning they are loyal and selfless, while also having integrity and common sense. And without his hubris, is Odysseus still a hero? Who else in the story shoes heroic qualities? Let’s find out! One of the many ideas of being moral is loyalty, always sticking by or standing up for those you are close to. This one quality Odysseus does, sadly, not
Commanding his men, Odysseus demands they scout the area. The crew meets Circe, the nymph with the golden braids who welcomes them into her home. Eagerly going inside, the men naively enter her house, where she traps them and turns them into pigs. When Odysseus hears of this he wants to rescue his men. With the help of the giant-killer Hermes, Odysseus tricks Circe by being immune to her spell. After she agrees to turn his men back, the master tactician and his crew celebrate. Odysseus spends a year with Circe and in her bed, until a crewman persuades him, “’Captain, this is madness! High time that you thought of your home at last…” (245) His life content, Odysseus sees no reason to leave, and is happy to stay there forever. Odysseus is not loyal, because of his own accord, he allows himself to go to bed with Circe, without any regard for his wife, Penelope. Though Odysseus is often perceived as a hero because of his epic deeds, he is not faithful to his wife and seems to fling himself at any eligible woman who comes by. Therefore, he is not a hero in that aspect. Whereas Odysseus was off gallivanting across the sea, Penelope is holding down the fort in their house. In the poem “Penelope” by Dorothy Parker, told in
Indecisive, Odysseus wonders what to do. “…should he wheel with his staff and beat the scoundrel senseless- or hoist him by the midriff, split his skull on the rocks? He steels himself instead, his mind in full control.”(362) Odysseus is ultimately taking control of himself instead of letting his hubris take over. He finally learns his lesson, after everything he has been through. Odysseus might not be a hero at the beginning of the novel; he is certainly by the