Heroism and Humility of Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey

In Homer’s poem called, “The Odyssey” the protagonist, Odysseus, endures a twenty year sentence of suffering condoned by the Greek god Poseidon as the result of the death of one of his beloved cyclops. Throughout the intriguing epic poem, Odysseus is thrown every obstacle from being trapped on an island to tempting compromises such as the gift of immortality in an attempt of going home. Ancient Greek themes in mythologies emphasized a noble hero which Homer was able to portray in this epic poem. Homer was able to achieve many Greek morals commonly used in mythologies that gave the audience perspective of the ideal man in the perspective of Greeks. Along with Odysseus, many supporting roles such as Athena and Telemachus all display the concepts of heroism, humility, and resisting being hubris which are Greek themes that are emphasized constantly and brought up differently by each character.

An example of Odysseus’s heroism evolving through the poem is when Odysseus expresses his discontent and hatred for the disrespectful suitors. In this case, Odysseus is seen more as the stereotypical image of a hero as he swoops in to save his wife, Penelope. However, if he was still a hubris character like the beginning of the poem, he would’ve been killed instantly by the suitors if he showed off that he finally made his homecoming. Instead he disguises himself with the help from Athena to fight the suitors. Athena plays a large role in Odysseus’s journey back as she guides him to make better choices and also forewarns him of potential dangers in his way, this pattern is very apparent in the epic poem. However, with her guidance Odysseus is able to symbolize a Homeric hero as he resists fighting when:

Melanthius, crossed their path,/

herding his goats with a pair of drovers’ help,

the pick of his flocks to make the suitors’ meal.

As soon as he saw them there he broke into a flood

of brutal, foul abuse that made Odysseus’ blood boil.

“Look!” – he sneered – ” one scum nosing another scum along,

Dirt finds dirt by the will of god – it never fails!

Wretched pig-boy, where do you take your filthy swine,

this sickening beggar who licks the pots at feasts?

After hearing all of this said by a measly suitor, it took a lot for Odysseus to not punish him as he is the King after all. Odysseus also has loyalty embedded into his heroic code so when Melanthius was mocking Eumaeus he was enticed to confront him himself. Disregarding his power, he allowed Melanthius to kick him after scorning him and Eumaeus, who is Odysseus's trusted friend he met when he returned to Ithaca. Therefore, Odysseus becomes heroic and non hubristic as he overcame his temptations to discipline his own subject in order to reestablish his position at home properly.

A second example of Odysseus evolving throughout the epic poem as a hero is when he humbly resists the temptations of the sirens. Odysseus becomes wiser through his journey across the island of the sirens as he evolves into a more mature character from defying the seductive sirens. Although it was one of the biggest temptations, his yearning to go home ultimately was overpowering his other desire. Odysseus even prepared to resist them when he was warned by Athena of:

The high, thrilling song of the Sirens will transfix him,

lolling there in their meadow, round them heaps of corpses

rotting away, rags of skin shriveling on their bones...

Race straight past that coast! Soften some beeswax

And stop your shipmates’ ears so none can hear,

None of the crew, but if you are bent on hearing,

Have them tie you hand and foot in the swift ship,

Erect at the mast-block, lashed by the ropes of the mast

So you can hear the Sirens’ song to your heart’s content.

Therefore, Odysseus “battles” the sirens in book 12 as he also attempts to stay loyal to his wife Penelope. The trait of humility appears in this particular scenario as he withstands something he could have potentially benefitted from, however, he remains faithful to his wife Penelope. Humility was also another Greek theme that kept Odysseus alive as it taught him to think twice about his actions before irrationally acting upon his instincts which was what he was like before his journey as a prideful king.

One of the largest achievements of Odysseus was how he resisted to be his hubristic self when Irus the beggar approaches him and calls him offensive names. Due to the fact that Odysseus is the king of Ithaca, he had a lot of power to punish Irus, but he teaches Irus a lesson by showing him his true identity when “Odysseus belted up, roping his rags around his loins”, exposes his built physique of “his big rippling thighs-his boxer’s broad shoulders,/his massive chest and burley arms on full display”. This extensive description of Odysseus’s body from travelling showed how much labor he had to go through in order to maintain his body physique. However, he didn’t flaunt that his body was muscular, instead of being prideful in how he was going to beat Irus, he let Irus learn himself to not overlook people. Odysseus turned out to be a different hero in the end of the epic poem as he resisted to be hubris in many parts of his exhausting journey.

Through these greek morals, Odysseus is able to change as a hero throughout the epic poem as he is first a godlike king then becomes wiser by the end as his perspective on life changed through the greek theme of humility. Along with humility, being hubris was extremely frowned upon as it resembles antagonists which Odysseus learned from. Therefore, Odysseus is the perfect example of what a modern Greek hero is supposed to be. It is also very honorable that even through his hard journey, he became many of the components of what a hero should be. Nonetheless, these two major Greek themes contributed to the ultimate concept of being heroic through these characteristics. Ultimately, Homer implies that being a hero consists of none other than being humble and knowing your limits in order to be the most truistic heroic version of yourself.