Essay Odyssey

Odysseus is an epic hero, he is a natural leader and at some points in the book smarter than everyone else. After stabbing the cyclopes in the eye and the cyclopes moving the boulder Odysseus had to think of a way to get his men out safely and this quote shows his intelligence and leadership skills "I tied them silently together, twining cords of willow from the cyclops's bed; then slung a man under each middle one to ride there safely,

Odysseus uses intelligence to guide him on his tricky journey home to Ithaca establishing that he is a hero. When Odysseus and his crew land on the land of the Cyclops, they get trapped in a cave with a human-eating Cyclops named Polyphemus. Polyphemus turns hostile and becomes a serious threat to Odysseus and his crews’ chance of returning home. Odysseus uses his intelligence to get out of the disastrous situation by getting the Cyclops drunk and then blinding Polyphemus by using a “stake with its fiery tip” (Homer 9.443) and thrusting it into the single eye on the Cyclops. Odysseus’ keen sense of intelligence allows him to predict that Polyphemus would try to get help from his Cyclops neighbors so he plans ahead telling Polyphemus, “Nobody--that’s my name. Nobody so my mother and father call me, all my friends” (Homer 9.410-411). Odysseus, although physically strong, understands that outthinking an opponent often leads to victory and in the incident with the cyclops this theory held true. Odysseus predicted that once he burned the eye, Polyphemus would scream out in pain notifying his neighbors that something was wrong.

Odysseus displays many examples of fatal flaws throughout The Odyssey, however, his most prominent is his hubris. Odysseus is favored by the gods, and he appears to have a strength and intelligence that are larger than life. As one may guess, he can be a bit proud. But Odysseus’ confidence can lead to trouble at times, especially when he gets trapped in Polyphemus’ cave. During this trial of his 20 year journey, Odysseus gets trapped with some of his men in a Cyclopes’ cave. Crafty as he is, Odysseus manages to escape at the cost of a few nights and some of his crew. By escaping on the Cyclopes’ sheep, Odysseus and his men make a hasty retreat to their ship; but Odysseus, proud of defeating the Cyclopes by blinding him and claiming that his name is Nohbody, shouts back at the Cyclopes instead of making a silent escape. In his ranting, Odysseus shouts at the Cyclopes, “if ever a mortal man

The Cyclops is obviously pleased with the spoken words and gestures, and as a result, he gives in to his greed as he takes the wine. Odysseus's confidence in his own ability was the first step towards his success with the Cyclops. However, he has to take it a step further in order to make a successful get-away. Once again, a demonstration of his sharp intellect shows how Odysseus is smarter and more cunning than the average human. A quote that demonstrates his intelligence is,

Odysseus ' strongest character trait is his cleverness. When he and his men are stuck on the Cyclops’ island, they find themselves trapped in the cave of Poseidon 's son, Polyphemus. In order to close the entrance to the cave, a huge boulder must be moved to seal the doorway. No man or army of men could move the rock even in their wildest dreams. Odysseus knew that the one-eyed giant is their only way out. On the spot, Odysseus devised a plan in which he and his men stab Polyphemus in the eye. In pain and seeking help, the giant moved the boulder and opened the cave. Polyphemus cried for help from the other cyclops on the island. The Cyclopes called back to him and asked who or what was harming him. Odysseus told Polyphemus that his name was Nohbdy, so Polyphemus answered, “Nohbdy, Nohbdy’s tricked me, Nohbdy’s ruined me!” (Book IX l. 444) In order to escape, Odysseus told his men to hold on to the

A characteristic that defines Odysseus as an epic hero is his intelligence. Odysseus and his men were trapped in a cave so Odysseus came up with a plan to injure Polyphemus, the cyclops, in order to escape as Polyphemus furiously stood in front of the entrance. Odysseus managed to escape by his cleverness. An example is, “I took the wooliest ram, the choicest of the flock, and hung myself under his kinky belly”. This explains the way Odysseus had escape by wrapping himself under a sheep’s belly and waited until morning for the flocks of sheep to leave the cave and enter their pastor. It turned out to be a successful escape because he managed to come out alive. Overall Odysseus did not only stab the cyclops in the eye for it to lose his vision but he manages to come up with a clever plan to escape. This shows Odysseus using his intelligence to defeat cyclops which is why he is

He has loyalty, bravery, and courage. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is very loyal toward his men and will protect or rescue them if necessary. He’s brave and courageous when it comes to fighting and won’t hesitate to act. He’s also very clever. For example, Odysseus outwitted the Cyclops, Polyphemus, by giving a false name to disguise his identity. Amid all these qualities, there are still kinks in Odysseus’s character. His pride becomes evident after his confrontation with the Cyclops, where, after a narrow escape, he wished to bother Polyphemus again. His men had to plead to him, saying, “Godsake, Captain! Why bait the beast again? Let him alone!” Odysseus also struggles with selfish actions. For example, he feasts with Circe instead of rescuing his men first. The temptations got the better of him and in turn led him down the wrong

Like every great leader they each have their good qualities and they also have their flaws. Odysseus is a great leader, but from time to time his flaws shine above his other qualities. Such as his arrogance and his pride on his journey to get back to his family in Ithaca. A great example of one of Odysseus’ arrogance is “Cyclops, in the end it was no weak man’s companions you were to eat by violence and force in your hollow cave, and your evil deeds were to catch up with you, and be too strong for you, hard one, who dared to eat your own guests in your own house, so Zeus and the rest of the gods have punished you.’ (475-479).

This leader shows loyalty to his men. When his crew eats the lotus flowers causing them to lose the desire to return home, he does not leave his men behind. Odysseus forces his men to get on the ship and refuses to leave without them. Also when Circe turns his men into swine, he persuades her to change them back to their normal form. Odysseus is also very wise, in the Trojan War it was his idea to use the Trojan horse. He knew not to tell his men about Scylla and Charybdis, for they would be extremely fearful and not want to pursue the mission. Odysseus is also very crafty and strategic. In the spur of the moment he came up with plan to get out of the Cyclops’s cave. Odysseus tricked the Cyclops into thinking his name was “Nobody,” and then figured out a way to escape. Another occurrence was when his ship wrecked, he crafted a raft out of the broken pieces of his ship and

This shows that Odysseus was clever because he told the Cyclops that his name was “Nohbdy” so that when Odysseus and his men stabbed him in the eye and his Cyclops’s friend came to ask ‘who has tricked you?’ the Cyclops would answer ‘Nohbdy did it.’ This shows how Odysseus was a hero because without his cleverness they probably would have been stuck in the cave forever. Another way Odysseus showed his cleverness is when he gave up six of his men to the Scylla instead of going into the Charybdis and risking the lives of his whole crew. “Then Scylla made her strike, whisking six of my best men from the ship.

His intelligence is beyond those of average men and uses this to help him get through trouble in the story. An example of how he does this is when the cyclops asks him his name. He states “You ask my honorable name? Remember the gift you promised me, and I shall tell you. My name is Nohbdy: Mother, Father and friends everyone calls me Nohbdy”(265-268) This demonstrates his intelligence because he follows through with a plan that later when all the cyclops's come to try and help polyphemus he states Nohbdy. Nobody's tricked me. Nobody's ruined me!(310). This implies that no one is harming him and so the other cyclops's left. It also shows how he outsmarted the giant one eyed beast. A theme from the poem that connects to this is loyalty. Odysseus is very loyal to his crew and using his intelligence found a way to escape the cyclops and trick him into saying that it was “nohbdy” that attacked him. This is how Odysseus uses his intelligence to trick the cyclops into thinking that his name is nohbdy 6and how Odysseus’s loyalty to his crew made him make a plan and use it escape from the

As he continues with his journey, he encounters many challenges and dangers to prove his intelligence. One challenge he comes across is when he and his men needed to escape Polyphemus’ cave. Odysseus used his intelligence by strapping himself and his men to the bellies of the cyclops’ sheep. As quoted from the book, Odysseus describes the situation, “I took the woolliest ram, the choicest of the flock, and hung myself under his kinky belly, pulled up right, with fingers twisted deep in sheepskin, ringlets for an iron grip. So, breathing hard, we waiting until morning” (Beers and Odell 767). Another example of his intelligence is when he introduces himself as “Nohbody” to the cyclops Polyphemus. This is so the other cyclopes do not come running when he blinds him. As quoted from the book, “My name is Nohbody: mother, father, and friends, everyone calls me Nohbody” (Beers and Odell 765). Odysseus and his men escaped

Odysseus must be confident because if the plan doesn’t work, he and his crew will be killed. As Odysseus leaves the island of the Cyclopes, Odysseus says, ‘“Cyclops, if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes’ son, whose home’s on Ithaca!”’ (Homer 384). Odysseus yells out to the wounded Cyclops, telling him his name, family, and home. Odysseus is confident by saying this as he is sure the Cyclops will not seek revenge as he is already

He does not optate his men to forget their ultimate goal: to get home to Ithaka. However, because the three men were not in their right minds, Odysseus had to go and retrieve them. Odysseus's allegiance to his men is additionally shown through this quote, "She victualed them as they shrieked there, in her den, / in the dire grapple, reaching still for me- / and deathly pity ran me through / at that optical discernment- / far the worst I ever suffered, / questing the passes of the outlandish sea" (Homer 218). As a result of the adhesion and commiseration Odysseus feels for his men, he describes losing his men as one of the worst things he had ever had to suffer through. He had been coerced to visually examine his comrades die, kenning that there was nothing he could do to preserve them. Odysseus's allegiance and devotion to his men would not let him forsake them in their time of need. Odysseus is faithful to his men, but ultimately, his adhesion is to his domicile and family. As Circe verbalizes to Odysseus during his peregrination, "Now give those kine a wide berth, keep your cerebrations / intent upon your course for home, / and hard seafaring brings you all to Ithaka" (Homer 213). She admonishes him that if he does not comply with her orders, then there would be eradication to come for him and his men. Kenning the consequences of killing Helios's cattle, Odysseus is fixated on evading the

Odysseus’s most known trait of an epic hero is his intelligence. He is always thinking and he is usually one step ahead of everyone else. He was also the one to come up with the idea of the wooden horse to finally end the Trojan war. On his long journey home, he encountered some obstacles that could not be overcome with just fighting and strength, like Polyphemus the cyclops. When Odysseus and his crew came upon Polyphemus’ island they helped themselves to his sheep, they then established a plan to blind the cyclops by stabbing him in the eye. Odysseus called himself Noman so that Polyphemus wouldn’t know his real name and tell his brothers who hurt him (Homer 104-108). But Odysseus didn’t show his intelligence for long. When him and his men got away from the cyclops and were on their ship, Odysseus yelled, “I say, Cyclops! if ever anyone asks you who put our your