The Odyssey: Is Odysseus a Hero?

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Poseidon has his way with Odysseus for twenty years before he lets him return home with all his men dead.

The third and final characteristic all heroes have is overcoming their obstacles in order to reach their ultimate goal. Odysseus faces many obstacles during his journey with intelligence, bravery, and a dash of pride. Odysseus has to come up with solutions to many situations in order to survive and reach his home of Ithaca. An example of this is that during the Trojan War Odysseus came up with the idea of the Trojan horse that led the Greeks to victory. Another example of how Odysseus overcomes he’s obstacles is when Odysseus and his men were trapped in the Cyclops’ cave, Odysseus came up with a plan to get out safely. "Friends, we’re hardly strangers at meeting danger and this danger is no worse than what we faced when cyclops penned us up in his vaulted cave with crushing force! But even from there my courage, my presence of mind and tactics saved us all." (Lines 226–230)

Odysseus’ super natural help, his ability to overcome life threatening positions and his fatal flaw make him an epic hero. He received help from Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, in order to get home to Ithaca. He also shows his fatal flaw: his pride and arrogance with the cyclops Polyphemus. And by pushing through on all of the obstacles Odysseus had faced on his long journey, he proved himself to others by coming up with smart solutions to reach his goal: to be reunited with his family and his friends. In the end, Odysseus defines what it means to be an epic hero. He gets help from the supernatural. He survives life threatening situations. And he has a fatal flaw. "Tell me, Muse, the story of that resourceful man who was driven to wander far and wide after he had sacked the holy citadel of Troy. He saw the cities of many people and he learnt their ways. He suffered great anguish on the high seas in his struggles to preserve his life and bring his comrades home. But he failed to save those comrades, in spite of all his efforts. It was their own transgression that brought them to their doom, for in their folly the devoured the oxen of Hyperion the Sun-god and he saw to it that they would never return. Tell us this story, goddess daughter of Zeus, beginning at whatever point you will." (Lines 1–12)