Why Ulysses is a Hero

This was an Essay I had to write for english on Proving that Ulysses was a hero. I kinda figure, hey, why not put it on writerscafe? see what others think. So yeah, that would be why an essay is here.

 

Ulysses Essay

     Everyone who has ever studied Greek mythology knows of the King of Ithaca, Ulysses. Ulysses left his wife Penelope, his son Telemachus, and his kingdom behind so that he can go and fight in the Trojan War. After ten years of war, Ulysses can finally go home. But Ulysses ends up offending the God of the Sea, Poseidon. And because Ulysses angered Poseidon, he will not let him return home. This is the beginning of The Adventures of Ulysses by Bernard Evslin based upon The Odyssey by Homer. There is one thing more that you need to know about Ulysses. He is not just King of Ithaca, husband of Penelope, father to Telemachus, the sly fox Ulysses, but a hero. Ulysses is in fact a hero because he possesses all of the character traits a hero has. Ulysses is brave and courageous, loyal to both his men and his family, Cunning and can also be arrogant at times. Throughout the book Ulysses shows all of these character traits.

     One character trait that Ulysses often shows is loyalty. Whether it is to his kingdom, to his men, or to his family, Ulysses is very loyal. One example of Ulysses being loyal to his kingdom is when after ten years of war, he tries his hardest to get back, even with a god after his head, lots of monsters, dangerous paths, and lots of twists and turns in the way of him getting home. He could have just given up and stayed with Circe, or Calypso, or Nausicaa which brings him to the next part of him being loyal. Ulysses meets the sorceress Circe who says she will grant him immortality, Calypso, daughter of Atlas the mighty Titan, who will give him immortality and power, and Young Nausicaa, daughter of King Alcinous of Phaeacia, who will give him riches and a kingdom. But Ulysses does not stay with any of them, instead he wants to stay with Penelope who shall stay old and gray until she dies. That is real dedication, to chose someone because you truly love them, not because they will stay young and beautiful forever. As Calypso puts it, “...Only the immortals do not age. I was 2,300 yesterday. Look at me. Do you see any wrinkles?” (110) Another way that Ulysses showed his faithfulness was to his men in the Chapter "Lotus Eaters". They fall in to a deep sleep only to awaken, eat some flowers then fall back into a deeper sleep, though Ulysses is able to fight this off. He could just leave them behind and leave on his own, but instead he takes them with him. This is true loyalty, to not leave anyone behind, even if it would make your life easier. Ulysses is as loyal to his men as a mother bear to her cubs. Ulysses is a very loyal king, husband, and captain.

     Besides loyalty, Ulysses is very arrogant. He gloats quite a lot and always has to show off his achievements. In "Cyclopes Cave" he shows hubris by basically going 'ha ha! I fooled you. It was I! Ulysses, king of Ithaca who blinded you. I did it. Me!'Because of this, Prometheus, the cyclopes that he had blinded threw a rock and killed seven of his men. Then Prometheus, being a son of Poseidon, prays to Poseidon to give Ulysses a hard time and make it near impossible for him to get home. So because Ulysses put his two cents in and gloated, he has a god angry with him, and God of the Sea on which he is traveling upon no less! Another example of this is in "Scylla and Charybdis". Ulysses is about to make it through the strait without loosing a single man when he says, " I can fight any enemy I can see!" (94). Because of this Scylla attacks and kills six of Ulysses men right in front of him where he can see. His Hubris Cost the lives of some of his men, if he were not so cocky, they would still be alive. The last example is of Ulysses being greedy. In "The Ciconians" Ulysses could have sailed right back to Ithaca, but instead they go to the white city and pillage it of all its goods. Though during the night, the Ciconians from the mountains come out and attack Ulysses and his men, killing eighteen of them. Greed is not a good thing to have, but Ulysses does try to fix this. When They have to throw their treasure overboard to save their lives, he does so first to show that he cares more about their safety than jewels. Even though Ulysses can be arrogant, it does prove that he is a hero because every hero has a fatal flaw.

     A third character trait that Ulysses shows is Cunning. This is a trait of a hero that Ulysses often uses. In "The Trojan Horse" Ulysses comes up with the brilliant plan of building a horse for some of the Greeks to hide in so at night when the horse is brought into troy, they can open the gate to the rest of the men and attack the Trojans. Because of Ulysses brilliant Idea, The Greeks beat the Trojans and took over Troy. This shows that Ulysses is a good strategist and knows how to plan things and how they should occur. Ulysses also shows his smarts in "The Sirens" when he and his men must pass the sisters without being lured to their deaths. Ulysses says to put wax in their ears so that they will not hear the sirens' alluring voices. He also says to tie him to the mast, that way he can tell them when the wax can be taken out. Being cautious, Ulysses posts two of his strongest men to guard him in case he escapes his bonds. Good thing that he does do this, because he “Burst through the rawhide bonds like thread, and dashed for the rail” (88) and if it weren't for his men, he would have swam to the sirens and gotten himself killed. This shows that Ulysses knows how to think ahead and take extra precautions. This saves his life and the lives of his men for the time being. Another Example of this is during “Scylla and Charybdis”. Ulysses knows that if his ship has to go in one direction, it would be best for it to go toward Scylla, who would only kill six sailors, not all of them, like Charybdis. Ulysses is once again looking out for his men, even if it does mean that a few will die. This all proves that Ulysses is truly as thoughtful as he is said to be.

     Because Ulysses is a hero, he was able to survive his perilous journey and make it home to Ithaca, but even when he got there he still had to use his heroic skills. He had to come up with a plan to get rid of the suitors in his castle and retake his kingdom without getting killed. He disguised himself as a beggar and stayed in a hut with a old friend named Eumaeus who did not know who he was until Ulysses son Telemachus came to the hut. Then he told them of his plan and they said they would help him. Telemachus brought the 'beggar' to the castle with him. Then Penelope said she wished to see the 'traveler'. He told her two stories of her husband Ulysses, then he told her his final wish was that the next king of Ithaca be decided by whoever could bend the great bow of Ulysses and the best mark. She then Told the suitors this and they tried with no luck, the bow was to hard to bend. Then Ulysses tried, He strung the bow swiftly and shot it perfectly throughout all twelve axe-rings. Then The suitors started to fight against Ulysses, realizing it was in fact him. Ulysses attacked them, many of them going down. One of the suitors managed to draw blood on Telemachus, and Ulysses went wild. He Used a lot of strength and heaved a slab of rock as big as a house at the rest of the suitors, killing them all except for four who were killed quickly. After this Ulysses tells Eumaeus to go and tell Queen Penelope that the winner has been decided and shall claim her hand. This is the great tale of the King of Ithaca and proven to be a hero, the great Ulysses!

Author's Note

Well, What do you think of it? Please review.

Reviews

[MOON]

You have dissected this quite well and told a good tale. If you take Sophie pointers below you will have an excellent write. Just based on content and the way you have written it . It is excellent.

[Sophie]

because this is going to be graded, I'm going to be harsh: "Ulysses can finally go home" in you introductory paragraph, this should be "Ulysses could finally go home" because "can" sounds like present tense.
Also, when typing, book titles are italicized instead of underlined, when written it's underlined. And because "The Odyssey" is a poem, you put quotes on it.
"Ulysses is in fact a hero..." should have commas around in fact
cunning should not be capitalized
Instead of "lots of monsters" which sounds unprofessional, say "many monsters" or "many (adjective here!) monsters" go through and change and "lots"s to "many", trust me, much more advanced sounding.
"Which brings us to the next part of him being loyal..." him" should be "his" I know it sounds weird, but it's right...
Calypso the daughter of atlas, the mighty titan" Should be "Calypso, the daughter of Atlas, the might titan,"
"basically going 'ha ha! I fooled you. It was I! Ulysses, king of Ithaca who blinded you. I did it. Me!'Because " sounds very unprofessional, also, there should be a space between ""Me!'" and "Because"
"Because of this, Prometheus, the cyclopes that he had blinded threw a rock and killed seven of his men. " read this sentence carefully, it doesn't make sense. Also, there should be a comma after blinded (which will fix the not making sense issue)
So because Ulysses put his two cents in comma after "So" and it should be "put in his two cents"
Hubris Cost no need for capitalization
When They they shoudln't be capitalized
Cunning is not capitalized
Troy is capitalized
idea is lower case
sirens and gotten himself killed. change this
example is lower case
"a plan to get rid of the suitors" rid himself of the suitors sounds better
told is lower case
he bow was to hard to bend wrong "to" it should be "too" (the first one)
hen Ulysses tried, He strung the bow swiftly and shot it perfectly throughout all twelve axe-rings. Then The suitors capitalization errors
used is lower case

if I were a teacher and I were to grade it solely on how it is written, not typos, I'd give it a 95, great job!

I'm going to be a teacher, so I'm practicing :D

[MoriartyMesa]

When writing anything about the Classic's, too many people will try to compare Modern Morality, Culture, Anti-Culture, and too many present day traits. But this is something I would say, inspiring of either Art, or From The Egg to The Apple. And remembering the most important fact, bringing his psychological structure to a modern light.



And now...............CREAM-TALES OF BRAVE ULYSSES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8hLc_nqx8g