Odysseus: Hero or Anti-Hero?

While discussing The Odyssey in class, we have already come to a slight break in the class of those who view him as a hero and those who view him as an anti-hero. Claire's point in class really brought this home to me and why I loved Odysseus's character. It's largely due to the fact of how unheroic he acts. In the standard archetype the hero is humble. Odysseus shows time and time again how he has to beat people in every way. When asked to play in games by Laodamas and Broadsea he declines but after a few insults his spirits are high and he decides, not only to talk back, but to also show them up (8. 190-215). This is not the kind of hero we would expect from an epic poem. We would expect someone who would have calmly talked down the men and declined their offer. Not someone who took pleasure in embarrassing them in front of all their people verbally and physically. This is not the only time that Odysseus hot headedness has got the better of him. While escaping from Polyphemus' Odysseus has the audacity to yell and taunt at the blinded giant from his boat (9. 558-562). It seems like such a human thing to do and not so much of a trait of a hero. You would have thought Odysseus would have been happy just getting away but that was not enough for him. He had to rub it in. Even his crew mates try and calm him so Polyphemus is not able to kill them all (9. 549). It just goes to show Odysseus' is very brash and not at all humble. Odysseus may not be a very conventional hero but that is what strikes me as one of the most interesting parts of The Odyssey. Odysseus is a very modern character and is really quite complex. It seems like he is more human than most characters that are on journey's such as these. Don't get me wrong, I love Edgar Rice Burroughs esque heroes. The larger than life and impossibly impeccable characters. Odysseus is simply not that. He is a man with the help from a Goddess. I think Odysseus being a hero or anti-hero is still completely up to interpretation but I thought I would just share a few points that I find interesting.

Musicians as Hereos

I've been thinking a lot about who my hero's are due to college essays and preparing for ACT's. While I'm thinking of these questions I usually can only think of musicians which I do't find that strange. I have grown up with music being a very integral part of my life. I was listening to Green Day by preschool and now clamor to anything I find good or interesting. Most people can attest to the fact that I always am wearing headphones or ear buds while walking around the hallways in school. Music is really important to me so naturally my hero will probably be a musician. While I was thinking of who to list I began to realize how ridiculous it was that a musician would be my hero. Some of these guys (or gals) never finished high school or were drug addicts. If they weren't musicians I would not even talk about them let alone call one of them my hero. Why is it that when someone does something we, as a society, deem worth paying attention we basically forget about everything that came before. This kind of ties back to he first week when we were talking about hero's and Isaak mentioned football players. He even said he realized some of these people were awful. They beat women and some are accused of murder but we still look up to them. It makes it difficult to answer such a basic question of who your hero is because everyone has a past. Some of the things you may never want to associate yourself with but these essays almost force it onto you like it is mandatory to have a hero. or now I will stick with a musician who may have dropped out in 8th grade and is a drug addict. They make good music so that makes up for their downfalls.

Love At First Curse

In Book 10 of The Odyssey, Odysseus and friends end up on the island of Aeaea (Pronounced A-E-uh). From there some of his men are turned to pigs by this witch named Circe. So we automatically hate her. Hermes rolls up and basically says"The only way to stop her is to act like you're gonna have sex. Then, BAM! Hit her with this poison. And also heres the stuff so you don't become a pig." So Odysseus strolls in and asks for his people. She tries to transform but she fails. She thinks this is hot or something and asks for him to have sex. Odysseus says yes and is about to do the deed when he basically has a meltdown and is crying and stuff. Now, I was very confused because I thought Odysseus was supposed to be all manly but this was totally not cool. Circe finds pity and basically falls for him and Odysseus doesn't need to use the poison. I feel like Odysseus should not have just disregarded a god and got this crazy witch to fall in love with him. It just seems very strange but it may get sorted out in later books.