The Hero

            Throughout the ages, nearly all literary works have followed the same plot criterion involving a hero, his journey into peril, and his subsequent escape and resolution from this peril. Written in the eighth century BC by the poet Homer, The Odyssey follows this same pattern of plot structure. Set in ancient Greece, the epic poem deals with the hero Odysseus' long-awaited return from the Trojan War to his homeland, Ithaca, after ten years of wandering throughout the ancient world. The current action of The Odyssey occupies the last six weeks of the ten-year war, and the narrative includes the many places that Odysseus had traveled to - Olympus, Ithaca, Pylos, Pherae, Sparta, Ogygia, and Scheria. In the middle books of the poem, Odysseus narrates the story of his travels in the years after the fall of Troy, and this narrative includes other far-flung places, such as the island of the Cyclops and the lair of Polyphemus. The main action of the poem takes place in Ithaca after a disguised Odysseus reaches there, is slowly reunited with his family, and takes revenge on the suitors that have been wooing his wife and wasting his property. In all of these situations, Odysseus faces perils, dangers, and great risks. However, typical of all heroes in literature, he overcomes each hazard, and reaches a resolution at the conclusion of the story.
             As its name reveals, the hero and protagonist of The Odyssey is the character Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, a small, rugged island on the western coast of Greece. Odysseus takes part in the Trojan War on the side of Agamemnon and the Greeks. Of all the heroes who return from the war, his homeward voyage is the longest and most perilous. Even after the battle had been won and many of the warriors had long since returned home, Odysseus and his men were still missing. The reader then learns that he is living in captivity at the isle of Ogygia with the nymph Calypso, who loves him dearly.