A-level classics students, do you like Odysseus?

I don’t really like him to be honest. I think ‘man of twists and turns’ sums him up pretty accurately, he seems tricksy and just not trustworthy. Also, I don’t like his focus on Kleos, I find it self centred. He also sleeps with Circe and Calypso while expecting Penelope to be a faithful wife which seems to imply double standards based on gender. I know that compared to other heroes of his time he is certainly a better character and that many of the qualities I dislike about him are perhaps due more to the culture in which he lives than his character specifically. Still, I much prefer Virgil’s Aeneas, and the ideal of the selfless Roman hero as opposed to the Greek hero who seek only personal glory.

I agree with most of this to be honest, but would u argue his affairs with Circe and calypso were out of survival? Hermes and instructed him not to defy Circe’s wishes and he was also trapped in ogygia. I think he is way worse for the gruesome slaughter of the suitors. He violently hunted them down one by one, telling his own son to torcher them by cutting off their facial features and hang the maids who most likely had no choice but to be with the suitors

I don’t really like him to be honest. I think ‘man of twists and turns’ sums him up pretty accurately, he seems tricksy and just not trustworthy. Also, I don’t like his focus on Kleos, I find it self centred. He also sleeps with Circe and Calypso while expecting Penelope to be a faithful wife which seems to imply double standards based on gender. I know that compared to other heroes of his time he is certainly a better character and that many of the qualities I dislike about him are perhaps due more to the culture in which he lives than his character specifically. Still, I much prefer Virgil’s Aeneas, and the ideal of the selfless Roman hero as opposed to the Greek hero who seek only personal glory.