Characteristics Of Odysseus

Odysseus’ bravery makes him an epic hero and also a role model, but what makes him a better one is his intelligence.

Odysseus was known for his many of his mental traits, but his most useful ones were his bravery cleverness, and wisdom. Without these helpful traits he probably would have died from the very beginning. Fortunately, he was granted with these traits so that he could come back to his kingdom of Ithaca to see his wife and son for the first time in twenty years and to also kill the suitors that tried to kill his son and take his wife, land, and possessions from him.

One of the major themes of Homer’s Odyssey is the importance of cunning over strength. This also happens to be the case with Odysseus and his long ten year journey home from fighting in Troy. Odysseus uses his intelligence over strength to ‘fight’ through tough times and bring himself home to Ithaca. Odysseus uses his intelligence when he has his men tie him down while passing the Sirens, so he himself will be able to hear their beautiful song, but not be entranced by their singing. He also uses cunning to escape from the Cyclops’ cave without being harmed. He then uses his cunning by storing away all of the armory, shields, and knives from the suitors so he is able to kill them easily.

In The Odyssey, the hero Odysseus shows many heroic traits, the one I think is most important is loyalty.

One of Odysseus’s most well known traits is his ability to use his wits to conquer challenges that stand in the way of him and Ithaca. Out of the many examples strewn in the epic, the tale of the Cyclops is the most obvious situation that clearly depicts the main character’s sharpness. In this scene, Odysseus and his men are trapped and must escape the Cyclops, Polyphemus. After they have already struck Polyphemus in the eye, ruining his vision, the men tie themselves to the underbelly of the rams in order to sneak out when the animals are sent to the pasture. In the text it states, “Blinded, and sick with pain from his head wound, the master stoked each ram, then let it pass, but my men riding on the pectoral fleece the giant’s blind hands blundering never found.” This excerpt conveys that Odysseus’s astute plan worked efficiently because none of his crew was noticed by Polyphemus. Odysseus was able to flee the Cyclops, which is respectable considering he used his brains rather than brawn.

Odysseus has many heroic qualities such as cleverness, physical strength,and bravery. First, Odysseus tricked the cyclops, Polyphemus, by telling him his name was “Nobody” ( The Odyssey 1058). This showed cleverness because Odysseus gave the cyclops a bottle of wine to make him drunk, which caused him to fall asleep. Then, Odysseus found some wood and sharpened it to stab Polyphemus in the eye. While Polyphemus was blind, he asked Odysseus what his name was, he said it was Nobody and made the cyclops believed that was his name. Another example of when he showed a heroic quality is when Odysseus tricked the suitors by doing an impossible task he knew no one could do and it was to string

In The Odyssey, Odysseus goes on a long journey in which he takes part in dangerous adventures. Odysseus is an example of Homer’s greek hero. He is a leader of his people and they depend and follow him. Odysseus is brave; he believes in himself and trusts that he is doing the right thing. Odysseus values his honor and is confident in himself.

A characteristic that defines Odysseus as an epic hero is his intelligence. Odysseus and his men were trapped in a cave so Odysseus came up with a plan to injure Polyphemus, the cyclops, in order to escape as Polyphemus furiously stood in front of the entrance. Odysseus managed to escape by his cleverness. An example is, “I took the wooliest ram, the choicest of the flock, and hung myself under his kinky belly”. This explains the way Odysseus had escape by wrapping himself under a sheep’s belly and waited until morning for the flocks of sheep to leave the cave and enter their pastor. It turned out to be a successful escape because he managed to come out alive. Overall Odysseus did not only stab the cyclops in the eye for it to lose his vision but he manages to come up with a clever plan to escape. This shows Odysseus using his intelligence to defeat cyclops which is why he is

Odysseus was a strong person, and was thought of to be brave but he does have his flaws, showing he doesn't need god like powers to be a hero. The ruler of Ithaca, Odysseus, was brave but he was not very bright. So what he didn’t have in intelligence he made up for bravery and strength, even Odysseus second in command Eurylochus said "You are a hard, man, Odysseus. Your force is greater, your limbs never wear out. You must be made all of iron" (12.279-80). A moment where this is true can be seen when Odysseus lead some of what was left of his soldiers into a cyclops’ cave expecting gifts because he thought themselves as guest, but the cyclops feels as it trespassing and thievery.

The first trait that comes to my mind when talking about Odysseus is superhuman.He is much stronger than the average human being which allows him to excel in anything physical.  At the battle in Troy Odysseus showed his skills and knowledge of war when he sent the wooden horse into the walls of Troy. Odysseus showed his strength when the where at the land of the Lotus-Eaters when he dragged the three men who had tried the lotus to the ship with no problem, even though they were kicking and struggling the whole way. “I drove them, all three wailing, to the ships, tied them down under their rowing benches” Another time we saw the superhuman strength of Odysseus was at the cyclops home. He strapped all of his men on the bottom of sheep, but he had to hold on to the bottom of the sheep the whole entire night. “ I took the wooliest ram, the

Homer, a poet from ancient Greece, wrote The Odyssey which illustrates the values of the Greeks. As the hero, Odysseus embarks on a journey home from Troy and, through this journey, the reader sees the traits that Odysseus is praised and rebuked for. Odysseus’s incredible strength and courage as well as his confidence both positively and negatively affect the outcomes of his decisions. More often than not, these two characteristics are what keep him alive; although, he relies on these qualities more than he should and it ultimately gets him into trouble. Odysseus is able to use these traits to his advantage from time to time; however, they could be considered his fatal flaw.

Christopher Reeve once said, “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” The great epic, The Odyssey by Homer reveals the courageous, daring life of Odysseus, as he travels from his victory in Troy to his home in Ithaca. Throughout the journey, Odysseus reveals his heroic traits of intelligence, skill, and resourcefulness.

“Intelligence can do nothing without courage”, a old Chinese proverb thousands years ago that old people always say. In the epic poem by Homer “The Cyclops” and “Cyclops” video part 1 and 2, Odysseus used his intelligence and courage to save he and his friends’ lives.

An example of Odysseus’s cleverness in The Odyssey occurs when the crew and Odysseus are trapped in the cave with Polyphemus. Polyphemus asks Odysseus what his name is and Odysseus tells him, “Nobody-that's my name” (12.410). This is clever of Odysseus because when he stabs him in the eye, Polyphemus screams that nobody is killing him and the other cyclops don’t come to help. Odysseus also puts his cleverness on display when he tells the crew only he was to hear the sirens. He tells the crew, “I alone was to hear the voices” (12.174) even though Circe never singled him out. By deceiving the crew, Odysseus avoids potential uproars from the members of his crew about wanting to hear the sirens as well. The cleverness is Odysseus’s personality is again shown in Ithaca when he is disguised as an old man to find out who is loyal to him. Odysseus’s body was covered, “top to toe with the wrinkled hide of an old man” (P. 300, L. 494-495). By doing this Odysseus can tell which members of his staff are loyal or disloyal to him without much effort. The traits that make Odysseus a hero can also be found in many of the people we believe are heroes

The epic poem The Odyssey, written by Homer, centers around the main protagonist Odysseus and his long journey back home. Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, returns home after defeating the Trojans in a ten year war. On his way back, he angers Poseidon, god of the sea, by blinding his son, Polyphemus the Cyclops. Due to Odysseus’ actions, Poseidon refuses to let Odysseus reach home, and Odysseus and his crew are forced to go through a series of obstacles throughout the epic. Through this adversity, Odysseus must show his heroic attributions in order to survive. Homer portrays Odysseus as a hero by giving him characteristics such as: craftiness, loyalty, and bravery.