This just in Penelope announces that she will marry the suitor that can string Odysseus’s bow and shoot an arrow through twelve axe handles. Many suitors try but fail at the simple yet impossible task. Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, asks to give it a try but is denied quickly due to his appearance. Telemachus forces the suitors to give Odysseus a try. Odysseus easily strings the bow and shoots the arrow through the axe handles as expected.
As the Webster Dictionary says a hero is a person admired for great deeds, courage or fine qualities. Odysseus was a hero modeling all three of those examples. The King showed many qualities of a hero when Odysseus volunteered to fight in the battle of Troy, when Odysseus helps the men escape the cyclops, and when Odysseus keeps all emotions together after watching some of the sailors get eaten by the monster Scylla. Odysseus shows qualities of a hero when the king of Ithaca offers to go fight in the battle of Troy. Odysseus fights for Ithaca in the battle of Troy voluntarily.
Under the threat of death or injury, a clear head and quick thinking is essential in how successful a plan will be. When facing Polyphemus the Cyclops, he is forced to save himself and 12 of his men from death. Before attacking the Cyclops, Odysseus is smart enough to respond with, “My name is Nobhdy… / everyone calls me Nobhdy” (274-275), when asked his name. This later tricks the Cyclops to call out for help, claiming “Nobhdy’s tricked [him}” (317), without releasing he sounds crazy, and Odysseus remains unidentified. This shows how cunning he is and how he thinks on his feet to benefit himself and his crew.
Odysseus’s cleverness and courage helped him to overcome his inhibiting characteristics. Odysseus has shown that he has many strong traits, but one that shows in all of the parts of the epic tale is his cleverness. When Odysseus is trying to get his home back, he demonstrates this trait when the tale says “Odysseus held his temper when the stool hit his shoulder he knew not to lose his temper because it would lead to a fight”(line 23). Even when he faces abuse from the suitors, he understands that he needs to be patient and be clever to beat the suitors. By being clever or witty, he is able to get his home back from the suitors and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus back.
Odysseus uses his intellectual prowess over his might multiple times in The Odyssey. One example is when Odysseus puts beeswax in his men's ears so they don’t get tempted by the sirens. Strategically, Odysseus says “Coming forward, I carried wax along the line, and laid it thick on their ears (548).” Odysseus is very strategic in doing this because he knows that the siren's songs are irresistible.
Leadership can be established in how a hero guides his men and directs them. Numerous warriors from Greek Mythology are lauded for their control and management over their companions in times of difficulty and danger; furthermore, they are a model and an inspiration towards their comrades. Among several brave men, many people considered Odysseus to be incapable of being in charge, but some indications have also shown that his actions for the crew are sufficient. Even though both the controversies of the debate about the topic has information from The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is evidently an effective leader. Odysseus demonstrates as an efficient leader when they come across various threatening situations.
Odysseus went through a lot of adventures. And through good and bad time he almost always is getting out of the situation. Through all the adventures he showed an “Epic Hero Trait” and that is clever. He always makes a plan or decides something important. He got through the Sirens, Scylla, Charybdis, and now even his own home.
He always thought ahead and though outside the box to get through difficult situations. “Nohbdy, Nohbdy’s tricked me, Nohbdy’s ruined me!” (1119; bk. 9, line 17). Odysseus told the cyclops that his
Another great example of Odysseus’ cleverness is when Polyphemus asks for his name. Odysseus responds, “Nobody- that’s my name. Nobody- so my mother and father call me, all my friends.” Odysseus’ quick thinking pays off later when he and four of his men stab Polyphemus in his eye.
Odysseus is most definitely very clever in the way he can think through a circumstance and execute a plan or mission. An example showing Odysseus’s cleverness is when he ran into an incident with the Cyclops. In order to save his men safely from the Cyclops, Odysseus gave the Cyclops wine in order to move past it. It was key that Odysseus did this at the right time or else the plan would not have worked properly. The wine made the Cyclops drunk allowing the men to poke out the Cyclops’ eyes.
Odysseus was an effective leader in battle, an amazing fighter, and he was the person who helped defeat Troy by using the wooden horse. Although everyone thought this was a heroic action by Odysseus to obtain victory, the gods were not so happy with him, especially Zeus. The gods punished Odysseus by making his journey back home difficult for him and his men. Even though Odysseus was being challenged by gods, he had traits that were of an epic hero. Also, throughout his journey he had friends and companions to help him travel back to Ithaca safely and obtain his kingdom once again.
One way that Odysseus shows cleverness is when he is able to get his men out of dangerous situations. Two stories in which Odysseus uses his cleverness to get him and his men out of dangerous situations are in “Scylla and Charybdis”, and “The Cyclops”. Another way how Odysseus shows his cleverness is he deceives others to his advantage. In “The Cyclops” he deceives Polyphemus when he tricks him into thinking his name is Nohbody, and this helps him to escape the island and not get caught. Cleverness is a trait in The Odyssey that helped Odysseus to get him and his men out of dangerous situations, and cleverness also helped deceive others to Odysseus’
Odysseus’s Traits Throughout the Odyssey, the main character Odysseus goes on an epic adventure with his focus being to get home to his wife Penelope, and his son Telemachus. He faces many obstacles dealing with characters such as the Cyclopes, Poseidon, Aeolus, Athena, Helios, Calypso, Zeus, Hermes, Scylla, and Circe. Odysseus’s men are some of the most valuable people to him throughout the Odyssey. He always puts himself in front of danger for them to protect them even though they all died from an unexpected turn of events soon before he returns home. When Odysseus comes home he greets his twenty year old son and straightens things out on his homeland, Ithaca.
Odysseus was a man of great stature and strength; however, Odysseus was not only physically strong, but mentally strong as well (Olson). We can see Odysseus’ mental strength, or cunning, and bravery when he is in the den of Polyphemus and devises the plan to save him and his crew by calling himself nobody and stabbing out the cyclops’ eye. He also recognizes that he
