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Examples Of Deception In The Odyssey

Decent Essays

The book The Odyssey, written by Homer, is a story with many common themes. A few of these main themes, which recur throughout the book, include the ideas of lying, deception, and unloyalty between the characters. These themes, although they may seem wrong or evil, are depicted in the Odyssey as not only wrong, but wise in different circumstances. Lying and deception, throughout the book, is recognized as both corrupt and as a virtue in many distinct ways.
One of the first examples of deception in the Odyssey is the Greek goddess Athena, and her many human disguises. Throughout the book, Athena uses many different disguises, like her disguise of Mentes when she first meets Telemachus, and Mentor when she helps kill the suitors in Odysseus’ home. Her disguises, although they may be deceitful, are actually very helpful to the advancement of Odysseus’ journey. Without her, Odysseus would most likely still be stuck on Ogygia with Calypso, and Telemachus would have lost all hope in his father’s return. Athena helps to instill a sense of strength, hope, and courage to both men throughout the book, and these disguises help her to save Odysseus’ family without sticking out among the mortals. In these …show more content…

When Odysseus and his crew arrived on the island, they made their way into the cave of Polyphemus, a brutal, reckless Cyclops. There, Polyphemus killed a large portion of Odysseus’ crew. Odysseus immediately struck up a plan to escape the Cyclops’ wrath. Odysseus tricked Polyphemus by saying that his name was “Noman”, so whilst Odysseus’ crew attacked and blinded him, Polyphemus called out to the other Cyclopes by saying that “Noman is attacking me!” This example of lying and deceit is very virtuous because of how Odysseus lied to save the lives of his crew and himself. The plan worked well and the rest of the crew was able to escape, thanks to the cunning of

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