Odysseus, some will profess, is heroic for surviving in a largely uncivilized and immoral world. After all, he survived temptations his sailors did not, he deceived a one-eyed monster, and he returned home while others did not.
Not a single argument for Odysseus’ heroism can stand. At best, Odysseus is a fool and a scoundrel, or, in the language of Hollywood, he is the world’s best action hero. He fights one-eyed monsters and immoral men; he has a 7-year affair and hangs immoral women. Plus, the young girls love him, his wife and family wait 20 years for him, and a goddess escorts him. Among action heroes, you cannot beat Odysseus.
In fact, Odysseus is a disgraceful husband, a disgraceful father, a disgraceful son, a disgraceful brother (according to the cowherd) and a disgraceful leader. If you haven’t read The Odyssey yet, you just have to, if for no other reason than to laugh at the brilliance with which one author hid all the perverse habits and desires of the ancient feudal lord in sublime hexameter.Besides, it may amuse us to recognize modern failings in The Odyssey. For example, while plenty of modern military families remain affected by delinquent fathers, the norm is the father who, thanks to his (and often the mother’s, too!) enslavement to work, is hardly ever a father, and when he is with his children, hardly knows how to be their delightful companion. To overlook the perverse and irresponsible behavior in The Odyssey is not an innocent act of scholarly self-indulgence, it is socially irresponsible … yet this is understandable, for the perversity I speak of refers to completely normalized and largely accepted behavior.
The Bible has undergone much scholarly scrutiny and criticism in modern times; why have Homer’s works been spared? They have much in common with the Bible. Perhaps the scholar’s prejudice stems from a blind, left-eyed, left-wing preference for all things secular – as if they were one-eyed readers, readers blinded by perverse notions of heroism.
