Is Odysseus a Hero?

     Odysseus is portryed as a very strong and brave character. The actions that he does, and the desicions that he makes shows his true character. However, the choices also show some of Odysseus' personality flaws that could lead him and or others to death.
     Since Homer writes about Odysseus being a brave Trojan War hero, it makes him seem like the perfect character to be a hero. Many times when his crew and him landed on a random island, Odysseus had to rescue his men. For example, the land of the lotus eaters. Odysseus had to drag his crew members back to the ships. Without him coming back for them, they would have unknowingly stayed due to being drugged by the addictive lotus fruit.
     He is also a good hero becuase of the decisons he made on the island of the giants. Odysseus though of a logical plan to safely rescue all of his men out of the giants cave. He put himself at risk to save the lives of his crew members. Odysseus was the one who offered the giant wine, and proceeded to make him drunk to the point of sleeping. After, he held the large sharp pole in the fire until it was glowing red hot. Odysseus then used all of his force, and jabbed the stake into Polyphemus' only eye. He waited for the giant to role the boulder out of their way. He then tied his men to the bottom of the largest rams. When the giant opened the pens to let the sheep out his men where able to ride under them and escape unnoticed. Then Odysseus held onto the bottom of a ram, but his was stopped by the giant. He sat there and pet it, Odysseus was sure that he was dead. This shows that Odysseus is a very strong and brave character.
    But, Odysseus also has some characteristics that could be his hamartia or fatal flaw. One of them is him thinking that he is so strong and brave. He just ventures off in random places leaving himseld and his crew in danger. Odysseus is also very trusting towards people that he just met. For example, he immediatley ate the flower handed to him by the messenger god. He also quickly agreed to stay at the Goddesses house. Decisions like these can get him and his crew members killed.