Tuesday, February 12, 2008
BA #3
The hero in chapter 12 was Odysseus because he showed that not even he is indestructible. The way he shows this is when he asks the men to “bind me with tight chafing ropes” (79. 276). So than he would not want to go to the Sirens which would kill him in the end. It takes a willing man to admit that he will have a weakness that he cannot control and seeking help is a huge thing for Odysseus, because of how smart, and wise he says he is.
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4 comments:
I would agree that Odysseus is a hero who shines in comparison to other characters in Homer's Odyssey. However, is he truly a hero because of his need to prove himself indestructable? I would label that as self indulgent rather than heroic. By wanting to hear the Sirens' song, he is hindering his crew rather than helping it. They now have to tend to the boat themselves while ensuring his safety as well. Odysseus has a tendency to want to satisfy his own needs. He shows this in Book 12 after Circe's warning, stating "Deadly Charybdis - can't I possibly cut and run from her and still fight Scylla off when Scylla strikes my men?" (12.124). Placing his men in harms way, he wants to prove himself battle hardy and possibly gain more renown for his accomplishments. So yes, I do believe Odysseus is a hero. I just don't think his need to prove himself is what makes him so.
I am going to disagree with the both of you here, while there is no denying that Odysseus in indeed the books "hero" character the last few chapters in which we read give many examples of Odysseus exuding qualities that are unbecoming of a hero character. As we saw in earlier books,9 and 10, with the encounters with the cyclops and circi. Odysseus has a group accompany him into the cave, where several of his men die, and yes he leads them out but upon exit puts all of his men in danger by taunting the wounded cyclops thrice. The following book we see Odysseus send a group of men into Circe's den, suspecting harm he sends others to the "slaughter". "feed the men, then send THEM out for scouting" (10.170. Also in book 11 in the break from his tale, we see Odysseus' greed get the better of him."Urge me to stay one whole year" so that he may recieve more treasures from his hosts Odysseus says " I would gladly have it so" (11.405,407) and finally in book 12 we see Odysseus intend to put his crewmates in harms way again with his intentions to fight the Scylla rather than try and sneek by it.
I also at this point disagree that I would consider Odyseeus still a hero. During the beginning of the book I would say he was but the last couple books he has lost points of what i believe a hero should be.
I agree that although Odysseus is the book's "hero", there are many points in the book where he does not portray heroic qualities. Odysseus is arrogant and his intelligence/cleverness are fed by his curiosity, which can be both good and bad. Odysseus also gives into temptation- both his inner temptation to receive fame any which way he can, and also the persuasion of his crew (for ex., in Book 12 when he doesn't want to land on Thrinacia but is persuaded to by his men). This ends up risking his life as well as the lives of his men. We also have to remember that Odysseus is telling this story, so what we see as "heroic qualities" can be a stretched or fabricated truth. Homer reminds us of this in Book 11 - "Odysseus paused...They all fell silent, hushed, his story holding them spellbound" (11.378).
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