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How Does Odysseus Show Courage

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“He [travels] to faraway cities and [fights] in many battles.others who fight with him have all returned home. All but Odysseus have [return]” (Next Next post). Regardless of going through challenging circumstances, Odysseus has to leave his family and fight the Trojan War. The Odyssey, written by Homer, takes place around the Aegean Sea in Ithaca. This novel is a world of mythology filled with numerous characters having different adventures throughout the story. However, Odysseus stands out the most out of the others with some unique tragedies occurring in his life. Despite having to abandon his loved ones, Odysseus is courageous with the potential of having strength, cleverness, and the ability to be patient while understanding the consequences …show more content…

Therefore, Odysseus displays his physical strength by “showing his strong thighs, his broad chest, and shoulders, and his mighty arms” (Nextext 157,158). This reveals that, even after he lets Antinous get away with something wrong, he still doesn’t allow himself to be treated disrespectfully by anyone, particularly by a beggar who formerly worked for him when Odysseus used to be the King of Ithaca. Odysseus has the courage to maintain his reputation among all the suitors, even if he has to disguise himself as a beggar to put his plan into action later on. By demonstrating his physical strength, he is able to scare some suitors that are taking him easy and threatening his wife even when he is present in his own house. Regardless of getting in trouble at the Island of the Cyclops, Odysseus manages to work his way, cleverly, through the cave and escape with his crew. When Polyphemus, Poseidon’s son, asks Odysseus about his name, Odysseus responds intelligently, referring to himself as “...Nohbdy: mother, father, and friends, everyone calls me Nohbdy” (Holt …show more content…

When Aeolus, the God of the Wind, provides support by giving Odysseus a sack of wind to help him sail towards Ithaca, Odysseus ends up leaving the sack unattended. This allows his crew to open “the sack, and the winds [flow] howling out.[carrying them] far away from [their] country” (Nextext 88). Even though it’s understandable for Odysseus to go to sleep as he has been extremely tired from his journey, however, getting near to his home to the point where Ithaca can almost be seen and leaving the bag aside, shows his personality of not being alert. Due to this, Odysseus regrets his decision of going to sleep and therefore, loses another opportunity of returning to Ithaca. However, he understands that he should be gentle and have some patience as anger cannot resolve the issue at this point. Additionally, when Odysseus falls asleep while praying to Zeus at Thrinacia, his crew kills the cattle. This gets Helios mad and causes him to pray to Zeus for a “penalty they shall pay.or [Helios goes] down forever to light the dead men in the underworld” (Holt 924-928).

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