The Transformation Of Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey

The Odyssey written by Homer highlights the character development of Odysseus, the epic hero, in his journey of self-discovery. Odysseus is accredited with many strong traits including his nobility, smarts, and bravery. Having one tragic flaw, being his arrogance, was put to the test throughout his heroic journey. Homer stripped the protagonist of his arrogance as the story goes on, by giving him many challenges, giving dire consequences for his mistakes, and allowing him to continue to overcome obstacles. The main purpose of Odysseus’ journey was to reach his home as a humbled man. The hero’s journey can be used as a way to look at life’s morals. The reader is able to see the protagonist continue to make mistakes, because of his arrogance and continue to be punished by the gods. Once he overcame this, he is greatly awarded with the security of his home. This essay will analyze the arrogance of Odysseus along with his extraordinary traits, the molding of his identity, and his new found lesson of humility.

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.

When they got to the Cyclop’s cave, they could have taken what they wanted and left but instead Odysseus decided that they were going to stay so they can see what or who lives in the cave. Then some of his men got eaten because of Odysseus foolish mistake. Then he came up with a plan in order to save what men he had left. Which was make the cyclop blind, tell the cyclop that his name is nobody, make him blind, and finally get out by going out under the sheep. Then he made another mistake because taunted the Cyclop when he was going back out to sea.

In The Odyssey, Odysseus faces many enemies, but the one that defeated most of his men was “The Cyclops”. In “The Cyclops”, he and his men got trapped in a cave by a Polyphemus, the cyclops. A quote in the story stated: “caught two in his hands like squirming puppies to beat their brains out, spattering the floor” (Homer 959). The cyclops is a villain figure, because the cyclops killed Odysseus’ men and ate them. Another example is when Odysseus escapes from the cyclops after blinding him. This angered Poseidon and the cyclops themselves. Odysseus taunted the cyclops as he was leaving which led the Cyclops “he laid his hands upon a bigger stone and wheeled around… whelming seas rose giant above the stone…” (Homer 968), making it harder for Odysseus to escape. The cyclops is trying to stop Odysseus and his men from leaving alive by. This. Even if monsters are trying to prevent Odysseus from returning home, Odysseus still has a supernatural guide to keep him

Odysseus had an immense journey to get back to Ithaca, his home land. The author Homer writes about his incredible travels across the world with many crazy stories to be told. Odysseus has a very different personality from other people, but over time his person view point had changed upon himself. Odysseus had started out as selfish, self centered, he wanted to be looked at with such great power and had shown no emotions at all. However, throughout the story he did things that he kept to himself because saying it aloud he be looked down upon.

Heroes are everywhere, no matter how small their heroic actions may be. However, what is a hero? A hero is someone who helps others without regard to themselves. A person like Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, who put Tom Robinson in front of his own reputation, and was called a “black lover” in the racist community for doing the right thing. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus has done this more than once on his journey home, however he also has been selfish. Odysseus is a man who has been both heroic, like when he rescued his men from Circe, but he has also done unheroic actions, like when he didn’t tell his men about the dangerous bag of wind.

After defeating Troy in the Trojan War, Odysseus decides to pillage villages on his way home. During the pillaging they find an island with the Cicone people where they loot their villages. After partying through the night the men collapse on the beach. While they are asleep the Cicone people attack and Odysseus and his crew barely escape. When he found the cave of the cyclops Odysseus waited because he thought he was getting a present or could beat him. Instead, when the cyclops returned to the cave it ate two of his men and Odysseus feared him and his men were going to die.

Along his journey, a Cyclops confines Odysseus's crew, and Odysseus must figure out a way to escape. Odysseus patiently tricks the Cyclops; he calls himself “nobody” so the Cyclops, Polyphemus, cannot call out for his friends to save him from going blind. However, right before they escape, Odysseus boasts, “If ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him, Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye” (160). He continues to taunt the Cyclops even when the Cyclops throws a hilltop at them. Subsequently, their actions anger Poseidon and creates further challenge for Odysseus’s journey to Ithaka. Rather than revealing his true identity, which may anger the Cyclops and prevent the crew’s escape, Odysseus faces humility to carry out his plan of trickery. He and the readers learn that high expectations, or overconfidence, create harmful impulses, since the Greek custom of receiving gifts as guests lead them to carelessly help themselves in the Cyclops’s cave. As a result, the Cyclops gets angry and traps them. On the other hand, he forgets modesty while close to escaping due to overconfidence. The Cyclops’s reaction and their subsequent misfortunes from the Gods teach Odysseus the lesson to never underestimate the effects of your actions, despite being close to safety. To add on Aeolus, the

The admirable character or hero in Homer’s The Odyssey is Odysseus. Odysseus shows multiple heroic traits throughout the story, but a clear trait is displayed when Odysseus and his men are sailing through the land of the Sirens. Some might argue differently, that Odysseus has methods that are to cruel or harsh for a leader, but there is evidence to prove this wrong, and support the claim that Odysseus is the hero in The Odyssey.

In Homer’s The Odyssey we are presented with an interesting and quite controversial protagonist, Odysseus. There are many different types of heroes which mostly include superheroes and regular heroes. Odysseus most certainly does not fall into the category of super hero mostly because of his blatant disregard of his men's lives and his disloyalty to his wife. He does fit into the simple hero category because of his physical and spiritual abilities .

During one of Odysseus’ many experiences, he took on a fully grown cyclops named Polyphemus. Odysseus did not want to take on the cyclops instead he just wanted to be friends with him but things did not work for our hero. When Odysseus arrives in the cyclops cave he looked around wondering it was at, so instead odysseus went into his cave and ate his food while they waited for the cyclops to come when he did come hey brought

Whenever I think of a hero, visions of characters such as Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman often come to mind, as these strong figures have save their respective communities from danger using their remarkable skills. Odysseus from the Ancient Greek epic The Odyssey by Homer is often considered a hero, although he does not share the same characteristics that most people who are considered heroes in today’s popular culture have. This led me to wonder, what characteristics qualify or disqualify someone to be considered a hero? The thematic idea of heroism plays a key role in The Odyssey, as there are several occasions throughout the epic where Odysseus puts himself at risk to keep others out of harm’s way. After careful analysis of these textual

A quote from Epictetus, a Greek stoic philosopher, describes skillful pilots as gaining their reputation and glory through surmounting their storms and tempests. In the epic The Odyssey by Homer, one man named Odysseus shows his glory and builds his reputation in different ways. Odysseus is a skillful pilot in which he overcomes a long journey, a suppressed identity, and a battle in his own home.

During the episode on Polyphemus’ island, Odysseus needs to improve on using wisdom/logic. Odysseus takes his men into the cave and they very quickly get the idea that the Cyclops do not want them there. His men tried to turn him back, but they stayed despite the Cyclops obvious bad intentions and Odysseus acted as if he would be treated as a well-respected guest. Only after many of his men are devoured by Polyphemus does Odysseus start to formulate his plan. While in the cave, Odysseus says that Polyphemus “beat their brains out, splattering the floor” (Homer 194). Odysseus should have thought through the situation and tried to create an escape plan much faster. He needed to use his judgment and common sense to spare several of his best men’s lives instead of telling the Cyclops that “any gifts/ you give – as custom is to honor strangers”

Odysseus’s escape from the Cyclops is one of great intelligence. A Cyclops is a giant one eyed monster. Homer said, “The booming voice and the very sight of the monster filled us with panic” (IX, 256). From the first moment Odysseus and his men set eyes on the Cyclops they know they are in trouble and will not be able to get out easily. The Cyclops, Polyphemus, eats two of Odysseus’ men from the start. As soon as this happens, Odysseus