the odyssey
Odysseus: A Dichotomy of Hero and Human There is no other epic more revered or celebrated than Homer’s Odyssey. The magnificent headpiece in the Odyssey is Odysseus. Many consider Odysseus a “hero”, but the criterion for a “hero” generally varies from one to another. A “hero” could be defined as a leader, one that is looked up to and is commanding, compassionate, yet sensible. Although Odysseus possesses the traits and virtues of a “hero”, he is also very human. His human traits allow the reader to connect with the experience, and show that no man, no matter what stature or ability, is completely invincible. In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus portrays categorically human emotions, and there are times when he displays human actions. Despite this, Odysseus lives the life of a hero and his voyage entails many valiant scenes when he seems no less than superhuman. Odysseus exhibits very human emotions during his ten-year voyage to the Kingdom of Ithaca. Here, Odysseus describes his longing for home, and his devotion to its image: But in my heart I never gave consent Where shall a man find sweetness to surpass his own home and his parents? In far lands he shall not, though he find a house of gold. (34-37) Odysseus passionately explains his yearning for his home. Thus, he relays an innate human quality. The fact that he needs to feel comfortable, and that he misses his family and his place of residence is a definite sign of natural, common desires. Odysseus’s humanlike qualities do not stop at merely desires. Odysseus also has a profound sense of sensitivity. He shows this natural sense here, while in the Underworld: Now came the soul of Anticilea, dead, my mother, daughter of Autolycus, dead now, through the living still when I took ship for holy Troy.