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Brawns Vs. Brains In Homer's Odyssey

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Brawns vs. Brains Homer’s epic “The Odyssey” main character escapes out of all of his tough situations by using more mental strength than physical strength. The Trojan warrior Odysseus tries to get home from the long war. Unfortunately, he runs into many situations that delay him from arriving home to his family. Odysseus has to outsmart a Cyclops who is a lot stronger than him physically. Odysseus has to have the mental strength to face the sirens who will try to lure him and his crew to certain death. The Trojan warrior has to outsmart the suitors who have harassed his wife and son. The Cyclops who greatly outmatches Odysseus in strength does not outsmart him in brains. …show more content…

He cannot act out or attack them because the suitors will find out who he is. Odysseus knows he will get his revenge on the suitors eventually. Athena also tells the wise warrior to attack the suitors on sight so she can see him get the revenge he deserves. The goddess screams at Odysseus “Where it gone Odysseus-your power, your fighting heart?”(446:236) Athena wants Odysseus to fight against the people who are trying to marry his wife. He could have used his strength and tried to attack the suitors right away. Odysseus decides to use his head to figure out what will be the correct time to strike against the suitors. Odysseus is hero because he uses his mental strength to overcome challenges. Homer’s epic “The Odyssey” main character displays hero mentality when he uses his brain to his advantage. He overcomes the challenge of the Cyclops by thinking wisely. The Trojan warrior plots a cunning plan to sail past the manipulative sirens. To defeat the disrespectful suitors, he thinks to have patience instead of attacking right away. A normal person can have a lot strength. It takes a hero to be able to use that strength wisely so it can benefit

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Are Brains Mightier than Brawn? Although most Greek mythology shows that being strong can lead to being greater than others, what if I told you that a humongous and strong, brain-bashing cyclops was once defeated by a single wise man and his crew? The cyclops named Polyphemus who was humongous and strong according to the text "The Cyclops” because he could lift a giant stone that not even twenty-two normal sized four-wheeled waggons could shift, to close his cave. The wise man named Odysseus defeated the cyclops later in the story by creating a spear from the cyclops' green olive wood staff to get him drunk with wine and then stab him in the eye.

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Without these peculiar, but precious traits, Odysseus would never had made it home. Odysseus’s quality of craftiness and quick thinking contributes to his intelligence. When he fought the cyclopes in “Book 9,” he had to think quick on his feet to help save him and the

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If you were to think about a man with great abilities like being strong, courageous and intelligent, you could think of people you personally or like me, you could think of someone such as Odysseus. Odysseus fits the definition of an epic hero because he is quick thinking, strong and courageous. Odysseus is one quick thinking individual. He has gotten him and his crew out some some sticky situations with his clever plans. One of these plans were how to get away from Polyphemus, a cyclops who was the son of Poseidon.

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Odysseus defies the suitors and wins his wife and kingdom back. Despite Odysseus' overconfident nature, Odysseus proves he is a hero by showing bravery and intelligence. When it comes to being a hero, being brave is one of the most

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Their jealousy got in the way of what was truly right. When finally landing in Ithaca, he learns that loyalty is something that shouldn't be broken, especially when some of the suitors are from Ithaca, Odysseus' own homeland. This means that the suitors are disloyal to their King because they are courting his wife, stealing all his food, and slaughtering his animals for their feasts. Most importantly, they are plotting to kill Telemachus and Odysseus if he is ever to return to the island. He learns that the only way he can show that he is a firm leader is to reveal to all of Ithaca who he truly is.

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Personal strengths and weaknesses are magnified during the course of a journey. Some strengths that were magnified during the course of Odysseus’ journey were courage and self-discipline. There were many instances in which he proves to be a courageous man. In the Cyclops story,  Odysseus knows that whatever lives on the island he has arrived to is “a towering brute” and a “wild man ignorant of civility” and yet he decides to venture into the cave.

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In the epic story the Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is returning from the Trojan war, and on his way home he finds many obstacles ahead of him. Odysseus is the ruler of Ithaca and he is trying to return home to his land. Many creatures try and stop him from achieving his goal of returning home, but he and his crew have to push through and get home. Odysseus portrays bravery and courage leading his crew through these tough challenges. Odysseus heroically leads his crew and himself through dangerous obstacles, but also foolishly endangers them during the journey home.

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His strengths could also turn into weaknesses depending on how they could be used. According to a College Teacher, "Odysseus compassion and trust in his men are strengths as long as his men follow his instructions. These same traits, however, become weaknesses only in hindsight when his men betray his trust and the Helios island episode becomes an example of a strength that evolve into weakness. A hallmark of Odysseus leadership in both the Iliad and the Odyssey is his flexibility in thought and deed. This flexible leadership style, however, is dependent upon everyone doing his duty and, on the island of Helios, this particular strength is also a weakness.

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The ancient archetype of heroism is commonly quantified by the amount of incredible and perilous feats overcome by one individual, so it should come as no surprise that Odysseus is able to overcome many of these daunting obstacles.

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But, after angering Poseidon by blinding his one eyed cyclops son, Odysseus must go through brutal situations to get home thanks to the fuming god. The theme, the search for justice, is very prevalent in this text because of the fight between Odysseus and the suitors, the reunion of Odysseus and his wife Penelope and when Odysseus visits his father Laertes and Athena must restore peace because of the fight that breaks out there. To begin, the theme searching for justice is shown clearly when Odysseus returns home and kills the suitors. The text states, “Odysseus took aim and hit him with an arrow in the throat.

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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

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Odysseus is an epic hero because of his bravery and confidence during every obstacle throughout his journey In Part 1 whie Odysseus is about to come across cyclops cave, he says “I brought along and victuals in a bag, for in my bones I knew some towering brute would be upon so soon- all outward power, a wild man, ignorant of civility. “ Odysseus is showing his bravery of not being petrified of what he might come across, like the cyclops. Odysseus has no intention of harming them, but he is not sure what their intention is. This example is important because not only does it show confidence in himself, he also shows confidence in his men. In Part 2 Odysseus also shows his confidence in his men in part 2 where Eurylochus says, “Are you flesh and blood, Odysseus, to endure more than a man can?

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