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Flaws In The Odyssey

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The Odyssey is one of the many ancient Greek literal master pieces written by Homer. Not much is known about Homer, but from the looks of it, he was probably an accomplished author. The Odyssey is centered on one man, Odysseus. Odysseus has the defining character traits of any hero/antagonist in any story: strength, courage, authority, confidence, but the most distinguishable of all his character traits was his Wit and quick thinking as we shall see later on. Although the Odyssey doesn’t really have an antagonist, I think Odysseus was his own antagonist. He was the main problem for his delay in returning to his homeland and to his family. It is also worth pointing out that Odysseus is highly favored by the gods and they play a big role in …show more content…

From the way Homer tells the story, it seems like Odysseus wants to get home, but he is in no rush to do so. First when he landed on the island of Aiolia, he spent over a month there telling tales about the Trojan War. Personally I think if he was serious about getting home, he wouldn’t have spent that much time in one place. Plus, who even spends a whole month just telling stories? Another place where he spent a lot of time was on Calypso’s island. Even though she held him captive for seven years, he liked the fact that he made love to her every night. As we have seen on many occasions, Odysseus is a witty guy and if he wanted to get out of the island, he would have, but instead, he spends his whole day crying at the beach. But because the gods favor him, Athena goes to Zeus on his behalf and finally Calypso frees him. Another instance was when he encountered Circe, the sorceress. After she turned his friends into pigs, Odysseus comes to rescue them. Hermes, messenger of the gods, helps Odysseus from falling victim of Circe’s tricks by giving him a magical herb called “Moly.” He uses this herb to prevent Circe from turning him into a pig like she did with all his other companions. When he bypassed Circe’s trick, she offers him her body and invites him to stay at her palace a little longer and also to …show more content…

He was the type of man who thought he always was right and always wanted to do things his own way (which is why I refer to him as stubborn). We saw this in his encounter with the Cyclops when his men advised him to take some of the cheeses and cattle and leave. All in all, I think Odysseus was acting against himself. His greed, pride and stubbornness made him encounter all the problems and the hardships he faced on his journey back

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