Examples Of Perseverance In The Odyssey

he epic hero that ventured forth from the regular world into a region of supernatural fascination where he comes across fantastic forces and fights mysterious enemies. This describes Odysseus, the epic hero that faced malicious creatures and life-threatening events, yet exhibited heroic and convenient traits to reach triumph successfully. In the epic of The Odyssey, Homer depicts that Odysseus is an epic hero by confronting his enemies and accomplishing his goal in returning home to his family using the traits of intelligence, and perseverance. In addition, his leadership trait is significantly dignifying him in the case of proving that Odysseus is an epic hero.

I feel that in order to achieve personal success in our society you need 3 key things. For one, you need to have determination. In our culture, we seem to have a universal ideology along the lines of “keep going, and you will succeed eventually.” I feel that these idea’s are incredibly true, and have been shown to be effective every time. A good example of this trait in one of the texts we read is in the Odyssey when Odysseus needed to get back home, and despite the odds being against him, he never gave up. He always kept going, and when the going got rough, he got back right up and started over again. Another trait is intelligence. Because we have gone away from warrior culture in modern times, academic success is more than mandatory to achieve

When Odysseus returns to Ithaka, his curiosity in viewing whether people remembered and missed him drives him toward testing people. His own beloved wife, Penelope, is apart of his trial making. Without approaching her in his true form and telling her who he is, he rather has a conversation with her lying that he entertained Odysseus. From the deceiving stories of Odysseus, Penelope listened as “ her tears ran and her body was melted… as Penelope wept for her man, who was sitting there by her side” (287. 205). Causing her so much sorrow and grief through Odysseus’ trials. He even has “ pity for his wife as she mourned for him” (287. 210). In his reckless curiosity he generates more pain and suffering upon her fragile self than deserved. Also, Odysseus tests his father in curiosity “to see whether he will know [him] and his eyes recognize [him], or fail to know [him]” (350. 217). However, Odysseus takes it too far, using words of mockery, and even seeing his father break down in tears over him, Odysseus continues in his deceit. Speaking to the extent that Laertes “ caught up the grimy dust and poured it over his face and grizzled head, groaning incessantly” (353. 315). In those days such was the epitome of mourning, to cover ones face in ashes and dirt. Out of Odysseus’ reckless curiosity, Laertes who is already old and weary has to endure mockery and mourning from his own

In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is away from his home, Ithaca, for twenty years. Despite the low odds of Odysseus ever returning home after such a time, those in Ithaca were expected to remain loyal to Odysseus as they awaited his return. While this was a daunting task, those who accomplished it were heavily rewarded, while those who didn’t were met with death. Upon his return, Odysseus promised Eumaeus, the loyal swineherd, that he would find him a wife, grant him property next to his own, and that he would become one of the “comrades to Telemachus, brothers from then on” (21.243). His own wife Penelope remained loyal for all of the twenty years of Odysseus’ absence, never once giving in to the many suitors who invited themselves into her home and spent years vying for her hand. While she probably would have been killed by Odysseus if she had been unfaithful to him, perhaps her greatest reward was just being able to be with her husband again and being able to live. The suitors, however, were not so lucky. Odysseus, along with the help of the goddess Athena, carefully plotted and executed the death of every suitor that entered his home and gone after his wife. With the help of his son, the swineherd, and the goddess, Odysseus took down every suitor, until “the suitors lay in heaps, corpse covering corpse” (22.414). The resulting death of every disloyal character in the epic

In “The Odyssey”, a novella by Homer, he tells a detailed story about a warrior named Odysseus and what he goes through on his journey back to his family on the island of Ithaca. He shares all of the challenges Odysseus had to overcome on his expedition home. Odysseus was a brave warrior that was sent to Troy for 10 years to fight a war against them. On his journey home,he came face to face with many obstacles that led to his voyage going on a 10 year detour. Overcoming obstacles or challenges can be one of the most difficult things a person has to endure in their life, but those challenges can shape you into the person you were meant to become.

Odysseus:Courageous or Cowardly? Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey” features a very larger than life sort of character known as Odysseus he is a general for Ithaca. He is the king and ruler of that land. He fights in the trojan war and then gets lost at sea on the way back home.

During his journey Odysseus used what he has learned from is mistakes to return home and kill the suitors of his wife. On the island of Cicones,and with his encounter with Polyphemus, Odysseus learned that bragging can bring great misfortune. On Ithaca Odysseus never brags to the suitors and is able to enter his house with the Antinous and the other suitors knowing his real identity. He takes the punishment of Antinous and the other suitors without saying a word and is able to see those who have invaded his house. Odysseus is able to see who is loyal and who is not and take his revenge with the suitors never knowing who

Odysseus has the ability to quickly contrive and implement deceitful plans that successfully allow him to achieve his heroic intentions of protecting Ithaca. This theme is a frequent occurrence in the book, and is highlighted with his struggle for power against the Suitors. In “The Suitors” Odysseus approaches his adversaries executing the plan that he and his son, Telemachus constructed. Odysseus, disguised as an old beggar successfully deceives Antinous and the other Suitors, providing an excellent distraction while Telemachus locks away the weapons. Odysseus asks Antinous for some bread, which results in Antinous attacking him. Penelope, intrigued by the rowdiness of The Suitors, decides to interrogate the old beggar. Odysseus’ trickery

Joseph Campbell’s lengthy twenty five step journey taken by all epic heroes such as Homer’s valiant king Odysseus from his classics The Iliad and The Odyssey, J. R. R. Tolkien's vigorous king Aragorn from the well know series, The Lord of the Rings, even George Lucas’s robust young Jedi Luke Skywalker from the dramatic Star Wars, shows the importance of perseverance in acquiring the status of epic hero, ultimately determining the path they followed. Although only heroes of myth and legend, the same principles that apply to their journey, apply to one’s everyday life. Even as infants we begin to learn the reward of perseverance. Standing up, taking a step, falling back down, then getting right back up and trying it again, it is only human nature

The food, game, and resources in Odysseus’s manor is taken voraciously by the suitors, and there is nothing that his son and wife, Telemachus and Penelope, can do. They treat the king’s family with such disrespect that Athena helps Odysseus plan to kill them. The suitors do not pay attention to the fact that they are being so ill behaved. One suitor in particular, Antinous, throws a stool at Odysseus when he is disguised as a beggar. Another suitor mentions that this may upset the gods; after all, the gods tend to visit Greece in the guise of someone wishing for help. The fact that Antinous so bluntly disregards this only adds to the gods’ wish for him and the suitors’ deaths. The actions of the suitors come back to haunt them, when Odysseus kills them all with no mercy. Odysseus’s actions, however have earned him good favor from the

Odysseus, the king of Ithaca from the Odyssey, has been lost on a journey after the Trojan war. His quick-thinking results in him wronging Poseidon, losing his men, and committing adulty. The most important aspect of his journey is that his is not being able to return to his kingdom. Although Athena admires his wits and heroism and even has the desire to help him return, he still runs into many troubles on his adventure. Because of him not home, his household is held captive under the suitors’ rule. The suitors mistreat it completely by eating and drinking their supplies, sleeping with the maids, and plotting to take over the kingdom. Odysseus hears and experiences the mishap when returning to Ithaca undercover as a homeless man. The disloyalty displayed by the suitors not only made Odysseus furious, but made him desire vengeance. Odysseus’ rage, in book XXII, drove him to relentlessly murder all the unfaithful suitors and maids solely for their disloyalty.1

He curses Antinous after he throws a stool at him, rather than providing him with any sort of food. By the law of the gods, all guests must be treated with respect when they enter your city or home. Although Odysseus’ curse does not do anything to Antinous, this curse frightens the rest of the suitors who believe that the beggar could be a god in disguise. The curse is a demonstration of his incredible speaking skills, and helps prove that Odysseus is an epic hero. While on Ithaca, Odysseus is severely outnumbered and resorts to whatever methods he can think of to defeat them (Frank). His clever disguise as a beggar is a method that Odysseus used to defeat the beggars by entering his palace. Odysseus’ persuasive, magnificent, and incredible speaking skills help prove that he is becoming an epic hero.

Heroism a Concept What is a Hero? According to Umberto Eco (an Italian novelist) “The real hero is always a hero by mistake; He dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else.” I think this is a magnificent quote. In some ways I agree with Umberto Eco but in other I don’t.

The books I read were the Odysseus and the Old Man and the Sea. In the Odysseus, the most memorable moment to me was that when Odysseus came back to his house as a beggar, the most men in his house all gave him food generously except Antinoos. Unlike the other men, he didn’t pity Odysseus at all. He called Odysseus the “nuisance that bad luck has brought to our spoil our dinner” (p. 221). He told Odysseus to “leave this hall with a sound skin after the piece of rudeness” (p. 221) and “picking up the footstool, he threw it, and hit him full on the back under the right shoulder” (p. 221). But Odysseus wasn’t afraid of him, he “stood firm as a rock” (p. 221) though it was painful. At that time,

At the beginning of his quest, Odysseus was still relatively young and proud, especially since he just won the Trojan War. Many a times on his journey, it was his own pride and curiosity that became his undoing. The most ample example would be his infamous encounter with the Cyclopes, Polyphemus. Odysseus and twelve of his men went to explore the land for its inhabitants, only to find a cave full of food. Not only did Odysseus’ men eat Polyphemus’ food without permission, Odysseus had ungratefully asked for a gift: “It was our luck to come here; here we stand / beholden for your help, or any gifts / you give – as custom is to