Odysseus Humibility In Homer's 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.

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.

Who we are depends on how we react to major events in our lives. Our character traits build off of these experiences, too. In The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus shows many traits while he travels on this adventure. Some of these include cleverness, leadership, and self-restraint.

In The Odyssey- Part II, Odysseus with the help of his son and loyal servants. They slaughtered all the suitors and maids for the following: they tried to take advantage of his goods, they tried to marry his wife continuously, and destroyed his house. The slaughter of many of the suitors may have been brutal, but it was necessary.

The love that is shared between a husband and wife is sacred. Their bond should be as close as peanut butter and jelly on a sandwich. Their love will be tested, and there will also be trials and tribulations. Most important, their loyalty should be to each other. In Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, Odysseus is faced with more temptation than any man should. In Book Five, Odysseus’ conversation with the nymph Kalypso, she questions his desire to go home to Penelope. Odysseus’ speech appeals Kalypso’s values and the reader’s emotions.

Pride is a good thing and a bad thing. Odysseus’s greatest problem was pride. When Odysseus tried to return home, there was an island, therefore they stopped looking for food. This island was the home of Cyclops's. Odysseus along with his men infuriated a Cyclops named Polyphemus. Odysseus along with his men ran back to the ship, it was then he had let pride immerse him. Polyphemus ended up asking his father Poseidon for revenge.“The rate of major earthquakes--those with a magnitude higher than 7.0-- more than doubled in the first quarter of 2014 compared with the average since 1979”(Yan and Berlinger 2). Just alike the earthquakes doubling in the amount, Odysseus will encounter more storms than usual. Odysseus was extremely smart at first

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.

A true hero will go through immeasurable lengths to benefit not him or herself, but the people around them. Heroes are neither selfish nor uncaring. They seek every opportunity they get to help those in need. One must have also gone through the entire hero’s journey to be deemed a hero. He must start off naïve and inept and through his challenges, transform into someone worth calling a hero. Most importantly, a hero is not perfect. He must listen to other’s ideas and utilize them. However, in The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus disrespects his crew men and the gods’ advice, lets hubris interfere with his men’s lives, and is unfaithful to his wife Penelope.

Here he was willing to walk straight into danger and willing to sacrifice himself for his crew. Yes he had to give in to her desires and bed Circe, but this was all within the grand scheme of things, to show her that she could not do to him what she had done to his men, again with some help from the gods. Also, in exchange for him agreeing to sleep with her, she had to agree to undo the spell from his men. Mission accomplished, and they journeyed on, with the help of Circe even. However, For all of his great heroic feats, his accomplishments on the battlefield and his cunning ways, and his willingness to put himself in arms way to save his men, time and time again Odysseus showed us how earthly and human he was by the many temptation to which he succumbed. In book 12, prior to his departure from the island of Circe, Odysseus was warned of the Sirens and was told that he nor his men should allow themselves to listen to the song of the Sirens. However, Circe gave him an alternative so that he could listen to the song without succumbing to its effects. "but if you yourself have a mind to listen, have them bind you hand and foot upright in the mast-step and tie the end of the rope to the mast. then you can enjoy the song of the Sirens" (468). Upon hearing this Odysseus could not help himself, he had to exercise the option and heed to the temptation of hearing the songs of the Sirens.

This occurs once again in the Tests, Allies, and Enemies stage of his Hero’s Journey. After being driven by a storm to the island where Helios keeps his cattle, they are driven to the brink of starvation, but still refrain from eating the cattle, fearing the Sun God’s wrath. Then, Odysseus declares, “You’ve gone through everything: listen to what I say. All deaths are hateful to us, mortal wretches, but famine is the most pitiful, the worst end that a man can come to...Better open up your lungs to a big sea once for all than waste to skin and bones on a lonely island!” (586). Odysseus clearly illustrates pride in this scene, as once again he is warned against a rash decision that could lead to his own doom, but disregards it anyway. He was cautioned not to eat the cattle, but decides to anyway simply because he wants to die in a more heroic way, rather than starving. This led to Odysseus narrowly surviving, and only due to intervention by Zeus. Obviously, Odysseus is shown to be very prideful in The Cattle of the Sun

Secondly, by regaining his modesty, Odysseus succeeds in reaching a further point in heroism. Don’t repeat! The first time he accepts the fact the gods have control is during the revelation. The revelation occurs in Hades, when Odysseus begins to change his way of thinking. He says, “Teiresias, my life runs on then as the gods have spun it.” (XI, 154-155) This shows his ability to understand some things are out of his power. The whole reason he is able to have his revelation is because he goes to Hades to fix his mistake of permitting a crew-member to die an ungraceful death. He putting aside his hubris, or self-pride, to honor a comrade. A second time Odysseus shows remorse is during the atonement. The atonement occurs when he is fighting, completely outnumbered, against the suitors. He says, “I’ll tell you now. Suppose Athena’s arm is over us and Zeus her father’s, must I rack my brains for more?” (XVI, 308-310) He concedes to the fact that, with the gods on his side, he is invincible.

Odysseus is considered to be a typical hero, in a typical Hero’s Journey. Odysseus, however, shows a style of change that was pioneered in the Odyssey. Throughout each book of The Odyssey, Odysseus does not only fight monsters on his way home, but also monsters inside of him as well. His monsters, or flaws, must be addressed for Odysseus to be able to come home victorious at the end of the novel. Despite Odysseus may have more unknown character flaws, 2 specific ones come into play throughout the book. The first is pride, or hubris, is exemplified primarily by Odysseus, while the second one, lust, is exemplified more by his crew, but can be seen in Odysseus as well. These two temptation provide numerous temptations and pitfalls to Odysseus on his nostos, or journey home, and both me be bested by him before he finishes his journey and reunites his with his wife, son and father. In the Odyssey, Homer demonstrates that despite Odysseus’s flaws, he successfully accomplishes the hero’s

Odysseus was very smart and chose to listen to exactly what the gods had told him. His crew however, did not. As Odysseus rested the crew slaughtered all the cattle that they were told not to touch. This, of course, makes Odysseus furious with his crew and he was very scared for what was to come. Zeus was already not pleased with Odysseus, as Polyphemus is his son and prayed for a curse upon them. Given that Odysseus had specific instructions not to do this, he also knew what the consequences were. As the crew got onto the ship Zeus stuck down a Earth-shaking bolt of lightning that cracked the ship and killed all of Odysseus’s men. Odysseus wept and was now alone. In this section he starts to sympathise more. He feels horrible for his crew, and for the fact that he is alone. He listened to the gods and it is here where he realises he must pay attention to wisdom and recognize its importance in the

Throughout books one through twelve in Homer’s book, the Odyssey, characters face challenges that must be solved. Just like in highschool, freshman face many problems that they must solve to succeed. Three ways in which the challenges Telemachus meet in establishing his identity are similar to the challenges students entering Fordham prep as a freshman meet in establishing their identity are that in both situations the student and Telemachus had to become a leader, more confident in themselves, and take on responsibilities. Because of Odysseus’s absence, Telemachus had to take on the challenge of ruling his kingdom. Through these challenges, he became the leader by calling his own assembly and enforcing the law on the suitors. Freshman also must become the leader in their life and not rely on others for success. Telemachus had to also take on the responsibilities of a ruler and protecting

Odysseus was such a great man. He saw his palace was in distress, he had to make it right. I agree with what he did to everyone involved. Because of this, some might dislike him, some might now praise him. The fact that Odysseus took care of what was his and fought for it back amazes me. I call that loyalty to him. You have to be loyal to yourself before you’re loyal to anyone else.