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The Virtue Of Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey

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The Virtue of Odysseus We are a species of black and white. We take pleasure in sorting people into definite categories with little room for variation. In the arena of virtue, we are no different. Even though virtue may be difficult to define, people are considered either virtuous or unvirtuous depending on the trends of their actions. Virtue, however, is probably not best categorized this strictly. Rather, we should allow shades of gray for the not-quite virtuous. Odysseus from The Odyssey illustrates why quite well. Odysseus is incredibly virtuous in his quest for home and reunion, yet he also commits egregious crimes that make it impossible for him to be a paragon of virtue. In order to classify Odysseus, we must first attempt to understand …show more content…

The tales Odysseus tells to the Phoenicians are all ones characteristic of Odysseus: tales of cleverness overcoming all challenges. From his use of the name Nobody to trick the cyclops and gain freedom to the way he disguises himself and crafts a master plan to kill the suitors with his guile, it is indisputable that Odysseus is often the cleverest man around. Athene herself watches over him because of it. His bravery is also showcased in the stories, as well as in his murder of the suitors. He goes back to Circe’s house even though his men have all turned into pigs, and he takes on multiple suitors even though he only has himself, his son, and two servants. Thus, his bravery is displayed in every situation. What these two characteristics lead to are his great acts of virtue: his protection of his family and men. Even though all his men eventually perish, Odysseus still tries to save them all. He goes back to Circe to transform back his men, as well as putting on armor in a futile attempt to possibly save more men from Scylla. As for his family, he dresses up as an old man, takes plenty of abuse, and kills the barbaric suitors in order to save his family. As such, it would appear that Odysseus is somewhat of a paragon of

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