Examples Of Perseverance In The Odyssey

Constantly throughout the book, Odysseus shows great courage in any and every situation he is put in. We see this glimpse of courage when he fights the suitors, or when he saves his whole crew from the Cyclops. In book 9 as Odysseus and his crew are journeying through the cave of a Cyclops, Odysseus decides to make a very bold decision and blinds the Cyclops. “Hoisting high that olive stake with its stabbing point, straight ingo the monsters eye they rammed it hard.” (page 223, line 427-428) In this scene Odysseus drives a stake into his eye, in result blinding him. This was a very courageous decision because of the fact that he and his men are up against a Cyclops. At the same time, Cyclops’s are very strong and big, and Odysseus could have easily been killed . It turns out that the Cyclops is a offspring of Poseidon which put him and his crew into a lot of trouble and danger later in their journey, and if Odysseus knew that or not it was still a brave thing to do in order to save him and his crew at that moment.

For instance, he acts irrationally by deciding to reveal his identity to Polyphemus resulting in Odysseus’ crew, “having our precious lives, but not our friends” (Homer 505). For example Odysseus yells out, “Cyclops/if ever mortal man inquire/how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him/Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye”’ (Homer 503). The cyclops becomes enraged by Odysseus’ taunts, so Poseidon curses the boastful man, leaving him with a lonesome, treacherous journey. A leader must put his men first, but Odysseus is arrogant for he instead only cares about basking in the glory of defeating the cyclops. For instance, Odysseus will regret not listening to his crew’s cries to stop irritating Polyphemus, for he eventually is the one to indirectly cause death among them. Another example arguing foolishness is his failure to take the necessary precautions when warning his men about Helios’ cattle. After days on Helios’ island his men were driven by hunger and “ignore Odysseus’ warning not to feast on Helios’ cattle...To appease Helios, Zeus sends down a thunderbolt to sink Odysseus’ ship” (Homer 529). The leader of Ithaca is not a hero because he is threatening the lives of his crew who would die for him, because he is careless and unaware about the importance of informing his men about the dangers that they will face. Even though his past actions have had severe

The protagonist, Odysseus, encounters Polyphemus and Scylla and must surpass them with his intelligence and perceptive in order to keep his shipmates safe. Polyphemus questions the main character, Odysseus, about his ship’s whereabouts. “Tell me, where was it, now, you left your ship-.../ He thought he’d find out, but I saw through this,/ and answered with a ready lie: ‘My ship?.../ broke it up on the rocks at your land’s end” (269, 271-272, 274). The author uses this scene to elucidate how the protagonist uses his cleverness to see the cyclop’s genuine intentions and answers with a perfect lie to keep the ship and his other crew members in it safe. The cyclop was one of the many antagonists and Odysseus had very cunningly dealt with him. Furthermore, as they approached Scylla, the main character doesn’t tell his crew members that six of them were going to die. “But as I sent them on toward Scylla, I/ told them nothing, as they could do nothing. They would have dropped their cars again, in panic,/ to roll for cover under the decking…” (790-793). Homer uses this specific event to substantiate how Odysseus had made a reasonable resolution for his crew members, because Odysseus knows that he can't win against Scylla, another one of the several enemies of Odysseus in his odyssey. His intelligence is truly unveiled when he doesn't tell his men about the incident bound to occur, because he knew the aftermath. The main character uses his intellect when opposed to Scylla to make the best decision possible for his men, and he use his quick wits when he moves the focus off of his ship when conversing with Polyphemus.

Polyphemus also happens to be Poseidon’s son. It would upset Poseidon enough that Odysseus blinded his son. Odysseus made it worse by gloating afterward, and humiliating Polyphemus, making him angrier and more upset. “Come back Odysseus and I’ll treat you well, praying the god of earthquake to befriend you- his son I am, for he by his avowal fathered me, and, if he will he may heal me of this black wound- he and no other of all the happy gods or mortal men.” Polyphemus is saying that if Odysseus comes back, he will tell his father to befriend him. But Odysseus does not do that, he only makes Polyphemus angrier, ensuring Poseidon’s hate for him. His ego only hurts him because he cannot set it aside and do something that will hurt his ego but ultimately save himself and his men. Poseidon does end up delivering revenge as Polyphemus said, simply because Odysseus had to boast.

Odysseus’ courage in the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus banishes his crew’s trepidation and eventually gets them out of there. When Polyphemus returns to the cave after capturing them, Odysseus takes the risk to get the Cyclops’ attention so he can manipulate the one-eyed giant into drinking the potent wine. Odysseus’ bravery is catching and he inspires those with him. Once Polyphemus has passed out, Odysseus and a few other men stab the giant’s eye. This quote of Odysseus inspiring his men in the Cyclops’ cave shows how Odysseus bravery never abandons him even in a situation where it seems he cannot win: “Now, at last, I thrust our stake into a bed of embers to get it red-hot and rallied all my comrades ‘Courage—no panic, no one hang back now!’” (9. 420-422). Odysseus’ boldness ultimately leads to an escape. Without the courage that never seems to

Odysseus, king of Ithaca, was probably on of the greatest warriors in the history of Ancient Greece. It is said that the poet, Homer, wrote the story of the Odyssey. In this story, Odysseus and his crew are trying to make their voyage back home to Ithaca after they have fought with the Trojans. During the long journey, Odysseus will show some of his character traits which include his bravery, cleverness, and wisdom that will assist him with the situations he encounters on his journey home.

Odysseus describes this incident himself “I called back with another burst of anger, ‘Cyclops--if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so--say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out your eye, Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca!” (Homer 227). This is a clear representation about how his overconfidence in himself has gotten the better of him. This causes Polyphemus to bellow out what Odysseus did to his father, Poseidon, “Hear me -- Poseidon, god of the sea-blue mane who rocks the earth! If I really am your son and you claim to be my father-- come, grant that Odysseus, raider of cities, Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca never reaches home. Or if he’s fated to see his people once again and reach his well-built house and his own native country, let him come home late and come a broken man-- all shipmates lose, alone in a stranger’s ship-- and let him find a world of pain at home!”(Homer 228). This is the reason that Odysseus came home late, the reason why he was alone, and the reason why he had such a rough, terrible, journey back to his homeland

Odysseus thinks that his reasoning are final and his activities are constantly just and right, although he frequently allows his ego control his rational thinking, resulting harm to his group and messing with the gods’s plans. His men could have went back home Securely for it is the desire of Athena and the other heavenly gods who surround to her in Mount Olympus, however Odysseus takes it to himself to outrage and blind Polyphemus, the monstrous son of Poseidon, adored by his dad yet abhorred by the people, In this way distrusting their whole arrangement . Subsequent to being blinded by the heroine, Polyphemus tosses huge pieces of rocks at Odysseus's ship, nearly obliterating them at the same time. But instead of retreating for safety, Odysseus keeps on provoking Polyphemus and “[calls] out to the cyclopes again, with [his] men hanging all over [him] begging him not to”(Book 9, 491-492). His feeling of pride and presumption influences to disregard the requests of his people even in these critical circumstances . He will fulfill his own feeling of interest and pleasure without thinking of the result it would have on his crew. Despite the fact that he is bound to get away from all passings and assaults, his group isn’t so blessed. Their lives are in mortal peril since Odysseus considers them as child sheeps who should forfeit their lives for him when the circumstances comes, much the same as how mortals make conciliatory offerings of sheeps for the heavenly gods. He is willing to fulfill his own feeling of interest without thinking of his groups lives or their suppositions and is regularly infuriated when they negate his request. If they hurt his sense of pride and self-importance and pomposity , Odysseus will be overcome with outrage and

Perseverance is exhibited again in the episode of “Circe, the Grace of the Witch,” when Circe gives Odysseus a magic drink but it does not affect him and he threatens to kill her with his sword.” (Homer, P.387) This shows that Odysseus used his mind and perseverance when dealing with Circe and ended up creating a deal with her, which eventually saved his men. This is important because his key quality of perseverance played a big role in his part of surviving, and without perseverance, the story might have changed completely. Perseverance was another bold trait that identified Odysseus as an epic

When Odysseus becomes trapped in the Cyclops, Polyphemus’s, cave, he realizes that now is the time to use his strategy rather than strength. It all starts with his ‘libations’ to the Cyclops. Odysseus consistently gives Polyphemus wine “to top off the banquet of human flesh [he has] bolted down!” which is the crew members that Cyclops has eaten ( 9. 222). The most crucial part of Odysseus’s plan is when he tells Polyphemus his name is “Nobody- so my mother and father call me” (9. 223). This particular name that he tells Cyclops helps him escape the other cyclops on the island. Once they stab Polyphemus’s eye with a burning hot stick, the other cyclops wake up to ask him if anyone else is in there with him. Polyphemus, thinking that Odysseus’s name is actually ‘Nobody’, tells them that ‘Nobody’ is in there with him, While escaping death from the cyclops, Odysseus also blinds the cyclops, and saves the rest of his crew. Odysseus chose to use his strategy in place of trying to use his strength which would not have helped him escape. In this situation, strength is no use, seeing as the cyclops is ten times as strong as him.

In the “Odyssey”, Odysseus goes through obstacles throughout the book that a normal man couldn’t subside. One example is in book 9, his main obstacle that he is trying to face is to escape from being held hostage in a cave by a Cyclops better known as Polyphemus. Odysseus is a archetypal hero, he is also a role model, with an ambition to get to his homeland Ithaca. He goes through resisting temptation and using his intellect and physical strength to get him there, no matter the obstacle nor the negative flaws that he faces. Odysseus put himself and his men in that situation by being curious and wanting to know what kind of land his ship and the winds led him to. This was selfish of him because it cost him some of his men, but a leader and hero has to play that role and some lives will be dealt with on the way. Odysseus says, “The rest of you will stay here while I go with my ship and crew on reconnaissance. I want to find out what those men are like, Wild savages with no sense of right or wrong Or hospitable folk who fear the gods” (Homer 429). Saying this quote alone makes Odysseus a humble man due to the fact that not even a piece of land is going to slow him down on his journey back home.

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.

Odysseus’ hubris played a negative role when Odysseus revealed his identity to Polyphemus. Odysseus and his crew had just managed to escape from the Cyclops, Polyphemus, after driving a stake into his eye. But then, Odysseus told the blinded Cyclops his identity by shouting, “Cyclops – if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so- say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out you eye, Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca” (9, 558-562). Odysseus managed to tell Polyphemus his name, father, and home. Polyphemus then prayed to Poseidon, his father, to get revenge on Odysseus. Poseidon ended up killing Odysseus’ entire crew and delaying Odysseus for 10 years. None of those terrible consequences would have happened if Odysseus had suppressed his enormous pride. Odysseus’ hubris resulted in a lot of suffering for many people. Odysseus’ hubris prevents Odysseus and his crew from getting back to Ithaca again when Odysseus did

Numerous characteristics define an epic hero, including the aiding or hindering by supernatural forces. The main characters opposing Odysseus include Polyphemus, a cyclops, and his father Poseidon, lord of the seas. Due to Odysseus’ blinding of Polyphemus, Poseidon obtains revenge against him by lengthening his trip home and attempting to drown him multiple times. Athena, the gray eyed goddess, continually helps Odysseus concerning his plan with the suitors, including the battle at the end in which she directs his weapons toward the suitors and killing them. Ulysseus prays to God saying,” We’re helpless, lords…help us, please,” (Oh…Thou) and in return, God creates a flood that drowns the officials and saves them. Epic heroes also perform deeds of great strength. Ulysseus accomplishes more realistic deeds, yet he still walks all the way home from a penal farm while resisting many temptations and evading police. Odysseus performs various deeds; one of the more famous acts consists of blinding the cyclops Polyphemus under the pseudonym Nobody. During that story, the reader sees Odysseus as a strong and strategic man who tricks a cyclops while also saving a lot of his crew members. Lastly, the reader can usually find a flaw in many great heroes. In The Odyssey, Odysseus obtains a big issue due to pride and ego. In the story of Odysseus and Polyphemus, Odysseus ruins his great deed as he sails away, telling

Homer's epic tale The Odyssey is a story of the triumphs and downfalls that are in store for one warrior's long pillage home.  Odysseus, the hero from the Trojan wars, has led his people of Ithaca and other Achaean soldiers to victory and now wishes to return home to his wife and family of Ithaca.  Through his twenty year journey Odysseus is often tested not only of his physical strength, but his wits as well.  The many accomplishments he achieved earned him great status and recognition throughout ancient Greece.  The mistakes he made caused the deaths of many men.  Consequently, we as readers are able to see the many personas that Odysseus carries with him.