Literary Analysis of the Odyssey Essay

Odysseus, now home, must keep his true identity under wraps until he gets rid of the suitors. He also wants to find out for himself how faithful Penelope has been to him. He enters his old palace under the disguise of a beggar; in fact, he gets help from Athena to help him change his physical appearance. Once in the palace, he sees how the suitors have totally overrun his home. He also finds that Penelope has been faithful to him, even using trickery to hold off the suitors for all this time. Odysseus gets his revenge near the end of the story by killing the suitors with his great bow. He also kills every maidservant who has gone to bed with a suitor. This is also a great example of how Zeus puts doom on someone (or in this case a whole group) who abuses the host-guest relationship. With this deed now

He is stricken with hunger and longs for nourishment, but he is able to triumph over this temptation by remaining mentally strong: “One day I withdrew to the interior / to pray the gods in solitude, for hope / that one might show me some way of salvation” (XII, 426 – 428). Instead of giving in to temptation, Odysseus heroically prays to the gods. In addition to physical and emotional challenges, Odysseus faces intellectual challenges, and is able to overcome these challenges with quick thinking. Odysseus must utilize his cunning wit when he devises a plan to surprise the suitors in an attack, and hide their weapons: “I / shall signal to you, nodding: at that point / round up all armor, lances, gear of war / left in our hall, and stow the lot away” (XVI, 335 – 338). This challenge tests Odysseus as a tactician, and he is able to succeed with intellectual valor. Odysseus encounters a mental challenge when he is on the Land of the Kyklopes. He quickly tells Polyphemos that his name is “Nohbdy”, and then once the Polyphemos is stabbed, the other Kyklopes think that “Nohbdy” hurt him. Then, Odysseus and his men are able to escape on the underside of sheep. Odysseus bravely risks the lives of his men and himself. Odysseus overcomes all these challenges, using his physical, emotional, and intellectual abilities. The courage he displays in each of these instances makes him more heroic.

His will power is strong; especially to hold back the ones he loves. He also shows perseverance by promising to return all the way back to Aeaea just to bury his fallen comrade. This section shows that Odysseus has a strong power of determination to do what he needs and what he believes in.

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.

One of the 4 epic hero traits that Odysseus has, is that he has a plethora of exemplary attributes. For instance, Odysseus is able to “bored (bore) that great eye socket” with an olive tree, suggesting the extent of Odysseus’ formidable might. In addition, Odysseus is also able to “strike and strike again” at the suitors while they “moaned at death”. This emphasizes the power and strength that Odysseus held. Moreover, when Eurykleia tells Penelope that if she had seen Odysseus it would have made “your (her) heart grow hot”, because Odysseus was like “a lion splashed with mire and blood”, it emphasizes Ancient Greek values of strength. Another exemplary attribute that Odysseus possesses is his contemplative and strategic mind. This can be illustrated when Odysseus cleverly uses the Kyklopes’ rams and “slung (slings) a man under… to ride there safely” (IX

Very rare are there people who are truly loyal. The definition of loyalty is to strongly support. In Homer’s epic poem, “The Odyssey,” there are two people that are consistently loyal to Odysseus through the whole story. Odysseus has been away from Ithaca for twenty years. He has been trying to get home from the Trojan War.

There are many examples of Odysseus' physical and mental strength throughout his journey home to Ithaca. Odysseus' character is a hero, he uses brains, and whatever is available to him. He specifically shows these characteristics in the trial of The Lotus Eaters, the Cyclops, and Scylla. Odysseus shows many examples of mental and physical strength throughout The Odyssey.

When escaping from Polyphemus, Odysseus has to make the smart decision to “sling a man under each middle” (207) sheep. His decision saves him and his men from death (HOW?). This conflict shows that Odysseus can make smart decisions quickly and under pressure. If this choice was not made, he and his men would be killed by the cyclops

However, the Homeric simile more deeply shows that Odysseus strings the bow with swiftness and brevity causing the suitors to be affected and change their opinions of him. Odysseus shoots the arrow and it flies through every socket ring. By stringing the bow so gracefully and shooting the arrow so precisely he has proven himself. The Homeric simile comparing Odysseus stringing his bow to someone playing a harp shows that his form was very smooth and his vigor was evident in the eyes of the

Does Odysseus’s journey back home worthy, leaving companions behind? As Odysseus comes back home from the battle of the Trojan War, he disguises as a beggar, which he thinks Penelope would not recognize and to see if anyone is still on his side. This seduces Penelope to run tests on Odysseus to see if it really is him. To see if Odysseus has returned, Penelope demonstrates her cleverness through three methods: an interrogation, a challenge, and a secret.

Penelope is Odysseus’ wife. While Odysseus is gone for 10 years, she had to stay loyal to him. She was waiting for him to come back. She had to pick someone else to be her husband because they all thought Odysseus was dead. Odysseus comes back disguised as an old beggar and wins the challenge to be Penelope’s husband. She was smart enough to make everyone use Odysseus’ bow because he was the only one that could

Penelope was able to do this until she felt the suitors growing impatient with the absence of Odysseus. Once this plan is worn out Penelope then develops another idea to continue to delay the choosing of a new husband and king. Penelope then says “I set before you the great bow of King Odysseus Now! The hand that can string this bow with great ease, that shoots an arrow clean through all twelve axes- he is the man I follow” (522). Penelope knows it will not be easy for the suitors to string Odysseus’s bow let alone shoot it through twelve axe heads. “No easy game, I wager, to string his polished bow. Not a soul in the crowd can match Odysseus-what a man he was…”(522). Penelope’s clever thinking and ability to stay loyal to her husband allows Odysseus enough time to return to Ithica and reclaim his throne by killing all of the suitors and the ones that betrayed him while he was away on his 20 year journey.

Everyone in the epic described Odysseus as strong in the sense of combat however, in order to ensure his destiny when he enter his household for the first time in twenty years, he needed to employ inner strong. One of the suitors named Antinous became angered by Odysseus, still disguised as an old man, and in retaliation threw a footstool at him. The stool hit him sqaure in the shoulder however, “Odysseus stood there as solid as a rock and didn’t even blink. He only shook his head in silence, and brooded darkly” (Homer 537). The younger Odysseus, greater in strength than most men and quick to act, would have lashed out at Antinous. This kind of action would have blown his cover and made his mission murky. His strength is shown in this instance by the action he doesn’t take against the suitor and the strength he exhibits in containing himself and his emotions. Odysseus decides to lose the battle, but in due time will get the opportunity to win the war and obtain his fate.

Odysseus is not your typical Greek hero. Greek heroes like Achilles and Hercules used purely their physical advantages and enormous strength to overcome their challenges. Odysseus however, in addition to his god-like strength, used his wits and mental horsepower -- which needless to say he had a lot of. This allowed him to get out of some very sticky situations. Odysseus primarily used thought, patience, and clever tricks to overcome obstacles thrown in front of him and his men. In the Epic Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus used his brains to take a Cyclops’ sight and escape its clutches, defeat the powerful witch Circe with garlic, and destroy tens of suitors attempting to steal his wife Penelope.

After he arrived, his wife Penelope had made a speech explaining a competition she was proposing. She had said that she need to wed and told the wooers that they'd compete to be her husband and live in the palace with her. The competition was to use Odysseus' bow and shoot all 12 axes. All the wooers had tried but not one was successful. This was Odysseus' chance for revenge. He kreptout of the corner and with ease, shot each axe directly. After succeeding, he transformed into his normal self