The Honorable Hero of Ithaca

In Greek mythology, there is a brave warrior named Odysseus who was forced to help the Greeks destroy Troy. Although the war only lasted ten years, he was unable to go back home for another ten years. This is because, after the war against the Trojans, Odysseus thought that he had won the war all by himself. Due to his lack of humility, Odysseus was punished by the sea god, Poseidon, who had helped him during the war. However, even though Odysseus had been disrespectful, he was still a honorable hero of Ithaca. Despite his rudeness towards the gods, he has many traits of a modern hero. One of Odysseus’ heroic traits is his respect for his advisors, as shown during the episode Land of the Dead. Another heroic trait of Odysseus’ is his positivity, shown in the episode Scylla and Charybdis.

In the episode Land of the Dead, Odysseus speaks to a ghost who was once a prince of Thebes, Tiresias, who helps Odysseus show respectfulness to his advisor. Tiresias tells Odysseus in earnest that his kingdom is now filled with suitors courting his wife because they believe he is dead. The prince tells Odysseus that he must return to Ithaca and “‘make those men atone in blood!’” (l. 651). Odysseus dutifully follows Tiresias’s command and disguises himself as a beggar so he can insidiously kill the suitors. He successfully executes all the suitors as Tiresias told him to and starts to live a normal life with his family again. Therefore, in this event, Odysseus shows the trait of obedience to his guide’s words which is very important because if a hero only listens to himself, he may get into all sorts of deadly situations.

Another episode that proves Odysseus to be an honorable hero is from Scylla and Charybdis, because during this event, Odysseus shows his trait of positivity. During this event, Odysseus and his crew are on their journey homeward. Along the way, they face Scylla, a monster with six heads, each of which could eat one man if it felt like it was being attacked, and Charybdis, a monster who is a whirlpool and could eat the entire ship by sucking it down into the ocean. Odysseus’ entire crew all know about these two monsters because they were warned by the goddess, Circe. Although they know how the monsters are like, they are all still very scared. Odysseus sees the fear in his soldiers, so he vivaciously gives his crew hope for survival by saying, “Friends, have we never been in danger before this?” (191). By saying so, Odysseus gives his crew the hope of living. Being positive is very important role for being a hero. This is because if a hero is negative and only tells his soldiers depressing things, it could lead to the crew to not fight as well as they are able to. Additionally, Odysseus has the trait of positivity because he was able to get his crew to fearlessly to get past the two monsters.

Overall, Odysseus is an honorable hero because he has the two traits of a modern hero: respect for advisors who guides him to success and positivity toward those who works for him. An example of a modern hero who all has the exact same traits as Odysseus is the fictional character, Superman. As many know, Superman goes on missions to save those who are in danger. He goes to the policemen to see what is wrong and goes on his mission to help those who are in need. Therefore Superman takes guidance from the policemen and is able to successfully resolve crimes, dutifully doing his job as a hero. Additionally, Superman also stays positive by saying his slogan with a smile, “Have no fear, Superman is here!” Thus, Odysseus and Superman are both honorable heroes.