Odysseus Character Analysis

Around the 1200 B.C., Odysseus was sailing the Mediterranean Sea for the purpose of reaching home. In his long narrative poem, The Odyssey, Homer conveys how Odysseus desperately wishes to go home to Ithaca. However, he faces brutal treatment and obstacles from several different antagonists, and more obstacles appear when he reaches home. Odysseus came across many external conflicts, which he dealt with intelligence, determination, and loyalty.

“Are you flesh and blood, Odysseus, to endure more than a man can? Do you never tire? God, look at you, iron is what you’re made of” (12.162-164). In the epic poem, The Odyssey by Homer, the focus is on the journey of Odysseus, the island of Ithaca’s king, after he defeated the Trojans in a war that spanned ten years. He travels far and wide in an attempt to get home to his wife and son, but is repeatedly blocked from doing so by gods, nymphs, and monsters alike. He’s a skilled warrior that fears next to nothing and this poem follows him as he uses these facts to his advantage. Odysseus is persuasive and clever and refuses to shy away from a challenge that requires either one of these characteristics.

In the Homer’s, The Odyssey, Odysseus has a very resilient view of himself and is exceptionally selfish. The book starts out with Odysseus on an island where he is “held captive” for 7 years. He really is cheating on his wife with Calypso, a persuasive nymph. Eventually Athena is sent to fetch Odysseus and return him to his Kingdom where he has been missing for 20 years.

Odysseus, the ruler of the island kingdom of Ithaca, was known by all for his cleverness and cunning, but what I noticed throughout my readings of Odysseus is that he is also shows some weaknesses at times. I will discuss examples of each of these prevalent traits throughout this essay.

In the epic The Odyssey by Homer, the protagonist Odysseus is traveling home from the war in Troy. Odysseus has been traveling home for twenty years and throughout his journey longs for his son Telemachos and his wife Penelope as well as his estate in Ithaca. Odysseus is a man with a penetrating mind as well as outstanding valor; however, a weakness of Odysseus is his sensualness. Odysseus always encounters women throughout his journey home. These women adore Odysseus because of his attractive looks and brave spirit and wish for Odysseus to remain with them. Although Odysseus is vulnerable to the rich and beautiful women he encounters, he rejects their kind offerings with the determination to be reunited with his wife Penelope.

Throughout the Odyssey Odysseus faces an internal battle between loyalty and betrayal in the presence of numerous temptations. Odysseus’s first situation was with Kalypso. Although Odysseus does cheat on Penelope with Kalypso, he still remains loyal, and his love for her hardly wanes. Kalypso

In Epic Poem “The Odyssey” Odysseus is the protagonist. Odysseus’ over-the-top ego caused him to lose his men and his son’s childhood, but taught him a valuable lesson about humility. The Odyssey, written by Homer, tells the story of Odysseus and how he faced misfortune in his attempts to return home after the Trojan War. Odysseus is not famous for his great strength or bravery, but for his ability to deceive and trick. To his friends, he was a brilliant strategist. To his enemies, he was a deceiver and a manipulator of the worst kind.

Odysseus arrives on Calypso’s island alone, after the loss of his men and ship. Calypso rescues him and loves and cares for him in her cave. At first, it seems like Odysseus doesn’t seem much to mind her taking care of him, but over time it is plainly evident that he is unhappy with her. When Hermes arrives on Calypso’s island to give her the message from Zeus to release Odysseus, he is bawling on the beach a day-long activity for him. Calypso is holding him with her by force; she has no companions to help him back to Ithaka, nor has she a ship to send him in. Athena pleads with Zeus to give Odysseus good fortune, saying that "he lies away on an island suffering strong pains in the palace of the nymph Kalypso, and she detains him by constraint, and he cannot make his way to his country, for he has not any ships by him, nor any companions who can convey him back

On the surface, The Odyssey is the story of a weary warrior who has long endured perilous trials and yearns to get home. It is a timeless classic about one man’s struggle to persevere and reclaim the home that was taken from him while he was away at war. However, The Odyssey is much more than a simple message about getting home. Odysseus’s outer struggles with his trials mirror the inner battle he is fighting within himself: one to regain the masculinity which has been abused and taken from him from various women throughout the tale. The three women illustrated in the book who either defile and or define Odysseus’s sexuality are Circe, Calypso and Penelope. Masculinity and femininity are intertwined throughout The Odyssey, and one needs the other in order to prosper.

Odysseus would remain on the island forever if not for the intervention of his guardian Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Athena petitions her father Zeus to release Odysseus from Calypso and secures his safe transport off of Calypso’s island. With the knowledge of his imminent release and the eyes of Athena watching over him, Odysseus musters his strength and looks past Calypso’s charms. Odysseus builds a raft and sets sail with enthusiasm in his heart, proudly exclaiming “bring the trial on!” (Homer 159, L248).

As he gets the Cyclops drunk he then says his name is nobody. He then pierces the spear through the sleeping Cyclops’s eye, blinding the giant beast. The Cyclops then tells everyone that nobody blinded his eye. Nobody is actually Odysseus who is king of Ithaca who can be very smart and cunning in the story. The author of this story is a man named Homer. Homer cannot be proven the author of this book because there is no proof he ever existed. Odysseus king of Ithaca set sail with his crew to fight at Troy, but Odysseus and his crew run into some problems returning to Ithaca. Odysseus’s character in the story shows he is very cunning, he is very cocky, and he is very brave.

The most important development of Odysseus' character is his journey,The thing that defiant him as a men and even as a hero,His journey back home would be the biggest aspect of his life. Throughout his whole journey,Odysseus has been nothing but patient,enduring,confident,strong and believe or not,even responsible particularly for his men at first he cares for his men but then everything changed once they proved to him that they not trustworthy and at the end Odysseus was alone at his journey. Odysseus is not god like or larger than life character we first imagine,He is nothing more than human who has emotions. His love for Penelope proved to be his only hope, as

The emotional pain of missing his beloved Penelope looms the worst pain Odysseus must undergo. Homer first introduces Odysseus while he sits outside Calypso’s cave. Thirteen years have past since Odysseus last saw Penelope, yet he longs for her as terribly as their first day apart. Odysseus spends most of his time missing Penelope, and “weeping, his eyes never dry, his sweet life flowing away/ with the tears he [weeps] for his foiled journey home,/” (Od. 5. 168-169). Even from the start of The Odyssey, Odysseus struggles with the emotional pain of separation from Penelope. This emotional pain motivates him during his journey, and forces him to persevere even during the most challenging times. Moreover, Odysseus continuously mourns the distance between himself and Penelope, yet he still battles the emotional pain until the moment before their reconciliation. Penelope forces him to withstand the pain for one last test before allowing their pain to culminate. Telemachus scolds his mother by declaring, “What other wife could have a spirit so unbending?/ Holding back from her husband, home at last for her/ after bearing twenty years of brutal struggle—/” (Od. 23. 188-190). Telemachus pointed highlights his father’s endurance of the emotional pain of the separation for twenty years. The pain of the separation constitutes the motivation for Odysseus to

Odysseus is a man of many ways. He has seen numerous cities and has learned the minds of countless people (Book I: 1 – 4). He is glorious. Zeus calls him godlike, greatest among other men in mind (Book I: 65). Athena and Hephaestus taught him the arts of war and carpentry, respectively (Book IV: 233). He sacrificed more to the gods of heaven than any other mortal and thus, he is loved by all the gods. Additionally, he is a noble father and is as just and kind to his subjects as to his own kin. He is schooled in justice and does not act harshly or severely towards his companions. He gives the best counsel, for he is fit to be the counsel for gods and yet, he is unmatched in his cunning. This description gives us the impression of a perfect

The Odyssey is an ancient Greek epic by Homer. It recounts the journey of Odysseus, set after the events of The Iliad and thus, the Trojan war. Odysseus’ name is quite obviously derived from the word Odyssey which means “a series of adventurous journeys usually marked by many changes of fortune” [3]. Being the protagonist and, as such, the one enduring said journeys, the name is quite telling of him and his experiences. Odysseus is not humble in his speech. In Book 9, as he tells his tale to the Phaeacians, he begins with a foreword about himself. “I am Odysseus, son of Laertes, known to the world for every kind of craft--my fame has reached the skies” [212]. He is well aware of his own fame and skill. His pride has caused him trouble though. For example, when he leaves the Island of the Cyclops, he says “Cyclops, if any man on this Earth should ask you who blinded you...say Odysseus, raider of cities” [227]. Had he not done that, he would not have invoked the wrath of Poseidon on him and his crew. So his pride or boastfulness would be considered a major flaw in his character. Building off of that, some adjectives to describe him would be: Cunning, for things such as the Trojan horse and blinding Polyphemus. Brave, for, again, dealing with Polyphemus, braving the seas with the sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis, and of course fighting the suitors.