Odysseus Archetype

In the works we have read so far there are many characters that show up more than once. These characters demonstrate the thoughts of the author they were written by. We can find information about Greek culture by analyzing the different texts that characters show up in. I am going to argue that Odysseus is a smart, versatile, and cunning character that shows a different type of masculinity than is portrayed by other characters.

Not all heros come in movies or little kid books. Some heros come from thousands of

He is cunning and hides some truth from his fellow men to prevent them from being afraid and panic. “I did not mention the inescapable horror of Scylla, fearing that in their panic my men might stop rowing and huddle below decks.” This show that Odysseus care for and wants to protect his men from harm. Odysseus gets angry when he returns home after twenty years of being away and the Suitors are in his home, courting his wife. Odysseus is described as an excellent warrior and a brave hero and protective of his men. “Odysseus, you are one of those hard men whose spirit never flags and whose body never tires. You must be made of iron through and through to forbid your men, worn out by our efforts and lack of sleep, to set foot on dry land, with the chance of cooking ourselves a tasty supper on this sea-girt isle.” Odysseus knew that eating the cattle would cause harm to the men, and he tried to forbid them from eating it. He is the paterfamilias of the household. Odysseus was portrayed by Homer in this way because during ancient Greek times, men were seen as strong and brave by society and Homer intended to portray him as a Hero who faces many trails on his journey home but ultimately succeeds.

A murderer. A liar. A philander. A Narcissist. Is this the kind of man children should model after as their hero? The Ancient Greek poem The Odyssey by Greek poet Homer, tells the story of great Odysseus, the king of Ithaca who was sent off to fight in war for ten years, and his long journey home. After the war, Odysseus showed that he was not the leader and king that his crew had thought. For instance, Odysseus showed many more remarkable character flaws, such as continual disrespect to the Gods and men, his very self-centered way of life, and his many crimes committed during the entirety of the story. This protagonist of our epic story and the king of the great land of Ithaca, is by no means a hero in the modern definition of the word.

Odysseus is considered an archetype because he is considered to be the ideal example of manhood. Odysseus is a strong leader who is greatly admired by peers, subjects, and even enemies. However, Odysseus displays some negative characteristics. In conclusion, Odysseus is considered an archetype because of his manly character and leadership

Odysseus is strong which is one of his critical characteristics. In the cyclops odysseus and his men picked up a large shipmast and stabbed the cyclops in the eye. He fits this archetype so well because in the story it shows he’s strong all the time. In the cyclops after him and his men stabbed his eye out they hid under the sheep. This shows he fits this archetype because he can hold himself under the sheep without falling or getting caught.

In the beginning of the Epic Poem The Odyssey Odysseus is very immature but towards the middle he starts maturing more and more.

Odysseus’ exaggerated pride takes over him at times and causes him to make foolish decisions. For example, when Odysseus and his crew escape the cyclops, his ego took over and he

Odysseus was a King, and a Warrior. He fought through a ten year battle that he was forced to fight in by Menelaus. Which he tried to get out of fighting by acting insane, and loony so he could be with his son whilst he grew up. But Menelaus knew he was faking it. So he fought threw it, and at the end

Who is the ideal Greek man? It can be argued that through the illustration Homer weaves throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus's character traits cast a lens as a prime example of a man in ancient Greek society. He appears to be brave, intelligent, well-spoken, and clever. Much of his knowledge is discovered by his travels, absorbing the local culture around him and using it as a guide. Aristocratic and a warrior. Perhaps the best warrior of all time. It is the Iliad which presents these attributes initially. The commander of the Greek army, Agamemnon, calls on Odysseus for assignments frequently, ones that required someone cunning and brilliant. He sends Odysseus off to ask Achilles if he would be willing to return the army and has Diomedes come along also into the Trojan camp to gain more information. Odysseus must act quickly on his feet impulsively in order to not be caught. Interestingly enough, despite how valiant he can be during battle, it is in the Odyssey in which it becomes clear how Odysseus can be seduced and enchanted by women. In the Odyssey, myriad examples of such temptation reflect the importance of gender and the role of women. His specific interactions make this clear, creating an interesting duality between the power of men and women as illustrated throughout the poem.

After leaving Troy it takes Odysseus ten years to return home to Ithaca, during this time he uses different aspects of his character in order to survive, some of which are not exactly heroic characteristics. Erwin Cook describes the traditional hero as a ‘man of pain’ but also describes Odysseus as a ‘man of hatred’, a ‘man of suffering’ and a ‘man of pleasure’ all of which are not the traditional view of a hero.

Odysseus, after the longest war he has been a part of, still hasn’t returned home to his beloved family, Penelope and Telemachus. Like any other male in the Greek world, “kleos” or glory is part of a man’s essence, almost making up part of his being and identity. But, sometimes to escape the worst, you have to go through the bad. In this case it was giving up some of his self-dignity and pride. The first disguise that Odysseus uses is “No man.” He uses this disguise when he is trapped in the cyclops’ cave. He blinds the cyclops and tells him that he, Odysseus, is called no man, basically saying he is nothing, like a voice inside his head he thought he had. Without this hidden identity, it is unlikely that Odysseus could have gotten out of his predicament. To me, this identity shows that Odysseus is cunning, yet he is not completely willing to abandon his own identity. Being no man is like he isn’t there. It still refers to him, but he is trying to disguise himself. This identity is successful, and he eventually escapes the cyclops and his cave. The identity doesn’t abandon his identity entirely, and I think it barely abandons his identity. In fact, I think that if it dramatically sways to one side

The most important development to Odysseus character is the journey. I say that because the whole journey was helping him get home. Like Athena was helping him throughout the whole journey. Odysseus character is strong, smart, and confident. During the whole journey Odysseus and his men went through a lot of obstacles. They went through harsh things and good things, but he had to go through it to get home. Also sometimes he was selfish like when he was hiding under the biggest ram so the Cyclopes didn't see him and in the Sirens because only he could hear them singing. In matter of fact he dies stupid things sometime like if he was listening to the sirens singing and is men didn't listen to him and took the beeswax off they would have all died.

It is not unsurprising to encounter a myth from another culture whose plot or characters seems almost identical to a story from one’s own culture. Creation story is one of them—how ancient Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Greeks, and Chinese all envisioned the world to be born out of chaos, and a god figure would put things in order; flood narrative is another—even in Chinese myths there is explicit mentioning of the Great Flood of the Yellow River, and (here the story deviates from the western narrative) how the ancient Chinese were able to build canals to mitigate the problem under the command of emperor Yu. According to psychologist Carl Jung, these recurring motifs in myths across times and cultures exemplify what he coined as the human species’ collective unconscious; and Jung believed that those recurring ideas and characters, or archetypes, are deeply embedded in every human mind.

Odysseus is an obviously superior man. He is clever, wise, and it is clear he cares for his men like family. His first reaction to meeting me, was to save his men, then himself. He was also smart enough to escape. He is wise