I do think that Odysseus would be considered a hero in the modern day world. Although he does lie, and has a problem with pride, so do our modern day heros. Many heroes the population at large look up to such as sports stars and politicians lie on a daily bases such as baseball players who take steroids and politicians being sneaky in general. Odysseus has to lie in The Odyssey when he is concealed in the fog that Athena creates for him to get into the palace of Alcinious. He also has to lie and hide his feelings/conceal his identitiy while the bard is singing of the sacking of Troy. Another point in time he lies is when he tells Polyphemus that his name is Nobody, but that lie in turn leads him safely out of the Cyclops' grasp. Some lies such as the last one do lead for the greater good but others not so much.
Odysseus does also have a very strong pride. One example of his pride is when he so dearly wants to hear the siren's song that he lets his crew tie him up on his ship, just to listen to it. This could have worked out very poorly for him if he got free because he would go crazy on his crew. He overcomes this still and does not go crazy on his crew. Also his pride gets him into trouble when he starts yelling back to Polyphemus when they are escaping. He scorns him, and Polyphemus starts throwing boulders at him. This is comparable to trash-talking in sports like football, and sometimes you can get a penalty for it. Chad Johnson has pride and is cocky like Odysseus, but he is also a hero to lots of people even though he has very colorful touchdown celebrations.
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5 comments:
I agree. Odysseus is so strong and powerful, how could we not see him as a hero? There are times when people have to lie and do something wrong for the benefit of the people.
I agree as well. I think that Odysseus just seems to have the essence of a hero and that in modern day he would defiantly be considered a hero even if he lied to get where he needed to be!
I also agree with the idea of Odysseus being a hero in modern day society. Yes, there are times when he had to lie, but he did it for the right reasons.
I agree with you Shane in your comment that Odysseus is alot like modern day heroes. All modern day heroes such as sport stars, musical groups, etc. all have the same problems that Odysseus have. You have to have a certain amount of pride to be a hero because you have to belive that you are good at what your doing.
Nicely done and really helpful. However I don't see how the thing with the sirens shows pride.
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