A Fated Glory

“I doubt if men ever made a trade of heroism. In the days of Achilles, even, they delighted in big barns, and he who possessed the most valuable team was the best fellow...”

- Henry David Thoreau

A Fated Glory


Serial killer John Wayne Gacy murdered 33 young men in cold blood during his lifetime, burying their bodies in the foundation of his own house. So, why does the American population not shower him with presents or sing songs in his memory? In Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey,” Odysseus murders his wife’s suitors and tosses their bodies out on the street. They were some of the “best men of the Kephallenians” yet still, the citizens of Ithaka continue to revere him as their hero (Homer 356). Clearly, the Greeks’ measure of heroic stature was drastically different than that of today’s society. Although Odysseus’ reveals his immoral character throughout “The Odyssey,” something today no “hero” would do, he is still a Grecian hero becau...