Ships, open sea, spells, one eyed monsters, and boundless adventure is but some of the many exciting and thrilling features of the book The Odyssey. Favored by the gods, and a great man of war, Odysseus was a man to be looked upon with respect. After the war between the Trojans and Greeks had finally ceased, it was time for Odysseus and his men to return home, yet fate held another plan. “Just as I have come from afar, creating pain for many, men and women across the good green earth, so let his name be Odysseus, the Son of Pain, a name he’ll earn in full.” –The odyssey chapter 19. Odysseus’s grandfather spoke this quote unto him as an infant, describing how one day he would grow as a man enduring many trials and making it through …show more content…
Physical strength had also been blessed upon Odysseus, which allowed him to greatly influence the war. Nevertheless, it was Odysseus smart mind that helped the Greeks conquer Troy with the Trojan horse, not as much as his physical strength. These are only some of Odysseus many strengths. Odysseus’s natural tendency under pressure is to think his plan through and analyze the circumstance quickly and accurately. For example, when he and his men were stuck in the Cyclops cave, the crew picked up their swords and were ready to fight, yet wise Odysseus remained calm and told them to lower their weapons, for who would roll away the giant stone doorway if they killed him? Instead they got him into a drunken stupor and gouged his eye out. Successfully their plan worked and they safely made it out of the deadly cave. Another situation in which Odysseus remained calm was when he had to endure watching the horrible suitors mistreat his house, family, and world. He lived by the rule that there is always a certain time and place for anger. Nonetheless, Odysseus’s natural tendency under pressure is to remain calm, cool, and collected.
Of all that breathes and crawls across the earth, our mother earth breeds nothing feebler than a man. So long as the gods grant him power,
Odysseus was a leader who faced many challenges throughout his long journey and overcame them with the heroic attributes of intelligence, bravery and cleverness. When he completed his service fighting in the war, he could not have guessed the trials that would come his way. However, throughout the story, we have much evidence to show the strength and determination he showed, especially when facing the one-eyed cyclops, Polyphemus.
Spider-Man is your average modern day hero, he is a citizen who was bitten by an unusual and peculiar spider which gave him powers and abilities such as being able to shoot webs out of his hands and climb walls without the need of any equipment. And Odysseus is a Greek hero who was strong, heavily favored by the gods, and could take down any and all challenges he´d ever have to face. And if you ever compared the two you would see that both characters are extremely different. Why you would see this is because we know that Spider-Man is a modern day hero, but can we consider Odysseus as one. My answer to this would be NO. Society today would not consider Odysseus as a modern day hero because of many reasons. One would be that he doesn´t show
Odysseus’ bravery makes him an epic hero and also a role model, but what makes him a better one is his intelligence.
Of the three traits Odysseus most exhibits, bravery is one of the most prominent. A prime example of this bravery is the time when Odysseus tied himself to the mast of their ship. He did this to act as bait for the Sirens song while all of the other crew members had their ears plugged. This earned him the respect of not only his crew, but all who learned of this point in his journey. However, courage was not always the most practical feature of his personality. He almost got his crew killed not once, but TWICE while taunting the
Odysseus is certainly not known for being the classic strong, buff Greek hero but more of an intelligent leader who thinks everything through, Homer shows this attribute of Odysseus very well in a multiple stressful scenarios. One example of this is when Odysseus
In Greek literature of mythology, we have examined Odysseus. Students and scholars alike have held debates about Odysseus. The discussion is whether Odysseus was a true hero, as read in The Odyssey. There is abundant supportive evidence to verify all sides of the debate and opinions held about Odysseus. Odysseus had encompassed many qualities that I believe make him a hero. The qualities he embodied were mental strength, physical strength, and spiritual strength. I would like to advocate for why Odysseus was a hero.
Throughout the battle and the journey back to Ithaca, Odysseus faces many complications, and he is able to apply his bravery and intelligence to overcome the obstacles. To survive the deadly situations he comes across, he has to devise many solutions for the achievement of his goals and escape death. For instance, he faces a life-threatening obstacle during the Trojan War. The severity of the situation triggers him to come up with a strategy of the Trojan horse that allows him to succeed in the situation: “…they decided to resort to a trick thought of by Odysseus..." (12. 218). Another serious instance where he demonstrates his diligence during the journey was when he was trapped Cyclops' cave together with him men. His intelligence was revealed as he applied his leadership skills to unite the men to fight the common enemy by reminding them of how they had triumphed before by working together as a unit. To plan for a safe escape, he made a strategic more. "Friends, we're hardly strangers at meeting danger and this danger is no worse than what we faced when cyclops penned us up in his vaulted cave with crushing force! But even from there my courage, my presence of mind and tactics saved us all" (12. 226-230). This trick was influential in helping them reach the green island quickly and safely. The ability to plan
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.
For generations, heroes have always fascinated people and people have strived to achieve certain qualities of their heroes. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is considered the hero of the story. While Odysseus does demonstrate some qualities that are not heroic, he is still defined as a hero because of his better, more heroic qualities in which he is far superior in than any other man. The qualities in which define Odysseus as a hero are courage, intelligence, and leadership.
Before finally landing in Ithaca, he had to sail past Scylla, a six-headed monster who swallows one sailor for each head from passing ships, and Charybdis, an enormous whirlpool that could swallow an entire vessel. Circe instructed Odysseus to not put up a fight with Scylla as he sails past her, and he obeyed her instruction. Here, Odysseus showed firm self-discipline, where he refrained himself from the desire to battle with the monster when she plucked out and killed six of his strongest men (pg. 163). It is true that Odysseus is a war hero with immense physical strength, but what truly set him apart from other war heroes in The Odyssey are his wits and intelligence. The tale of the Trojan Horse, which was a device Odysseus designed to help the Greeks invade the city of Troy and win the Trojan War, greatly highlights his intelligence and skills in tactical warfare. The true extent of his wits can be seen when Odysseus tricked the cannibal Cyclops into letting his crew go by using a clever word play on his own name (pg.
Odysseus is very confident throughout The Odyssey. For example, when Odysseus and his crew are stuck in the cavern on the island of the cyclops, Odysseus tells the giant his name is Nohbdy in this quote, “Cyclops, you ask my honorable name? Remember the gift you promised me, and I shall tell you. My name is Nohbdy: mother, father, and friends, everyone calls me Nohbdy” (9.270-274). This shows that Odysseus knows his plans always work, and he’s confident that the cyclops will fall for it. This also shows that Odysseus can do anything because of his confidence, even tricking a giant cyclops
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.
First, one of the recurring themes in the Odyssey is that of cunningness over strength. Although Odysseus was known to be a strong and powerful of individual, his cunning was his strongest asset when it came to overcoming the obstacles in his travels. Instead of relying solely on his strength, he relies on his minds ability to deceive and manipulate individuals to do as he pleases. An example of this is seen when Odysseus with the help of Athena disguises himself as an old beggar. Instead of simply going to his home
Odysseus was known for his many of his mental traits, but his most useful ones were his bravery cleverness, and wisdom. Without these helpful traits he probably would have died from the very beginning. Fortunately, he was granted with these traits so that he could come back to his kingdom of Ithaca to see his wife and son for the first time in twenty years and to also kill the suitors that tried to kill his son and take his wife, land, and possessions from him.