Homer's Odyssey Essay: Is A Hero A Human?

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Is a Hero a Human? Throughout history our humanity has been the ruin and the creation of many great societies. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the half-man half-god Gilgamesh struggles to accept his humanity and the faults that come with it, while chasing immortality. Similarly, Odysseus in The Odyssey by Homer comes to realize that he isn’t impeccable and that all people have faults, while fighting to come home to the people he loves. In both these men’s stories their strengths, weaknesses and humanity are what fashion them not perfect, nevertheless heroes. All men have different strengths; it is what gives them individuality. Gilgamesh has courage, Odysseus wisdom, and both of them have an unfailing belief of what is right. Gilgamesh’s courage not only helps…show more content…
To be perfect is to be a god, which is exactly the idea that Gilgamesh struggles with. “"Who is the mortal who can live forever? The life of man is short. Only the gods can live forever.” Once his beloved friend Enkidu has died, he strives to never end up comparable to him. “Must I die too? Must Gilgamesh be like that? It was then I felt the fear of it in my belly. I roam the wilderness because of the fear. Enkidu, the companion, whom I loved, is dirt, nothing but clay is Enkidu. Weeping as if I were a woman I roam the paths and shores of unknown places saying: 'Must I die too? Must Gilgamesh be like that?'" Odysseus may have been smart in tricking the Cyclops, although his pride gained the best of him and it later led to the death of his colleagues “I cried to him: "Cyclops, if any mortal man ever asks you who it was that inflicted upon your eye this shameful blinding, tell him that you were blinded by Odysseus, sacker of cities. Laertes is his father, and he makes his home on Ithaca." They both face difficult shortcomings, and their flaws almost overtake both of them. Yet they still have a certain characteristic that their gods never seem to grasp,

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