What makes a character feel real? A character’s traits truly show the character’s personality which makes them more relatable allowing you to connect with the character. The Odyssey has one of the most intricate main characters I've seen in writing. Odysseus, the main character of The Odyssey, has many character traits that really influence how the story moves along. A lot of Odysseus’s traits help him succeed while others make him have more problems than he should. Some of these traits include his courage, his thirst for kleos, and his intellect.
Odysseus shows great courage throughout The Odyssey which makes him one of the warriors in the story. In book 1, it says that Odysseus went to fight in the war between the kingdom of Troy and
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Many Greek heroes gained glory from their adventures and the bravery they showed like Achilles. One of Odysseus’s character traits that got him into many problems is his quest for kleos. One way this is shown in the book was right after he escaped the cyclops in book 9. He called out to Polyphemus and told him to tell people that Odysseus was the one who blinded him and Odysseus was the one who overcame him but this caused Poseidon to be angry with him making his journey even harder than it already was. He also waited for Polyphemus to return because he wanted gifts to obtain glory instead of just raiding the cave like his men told him to. When the festival is held in Odysseus’s honor, in book 8, Brodsea calls him out and tells him to play in the games of strength and skill. Odysseus wanting the praise if he wins joins the games even though it might compromise who he actually is. A big way kleos is obtained is by defeating a challenging enemy like Perseus when he defeated the gorgon medusa. In book 12, Odysseus wanted to obtain glory by fighting Scylla but his responsibility for his crew stopped him, showing growth in his character from book 9 but, you can still tell that his thirst for kleos runs deep in his body. Even though Odysseus makes some bad decisions while wanting glory he is still a very smart and cunning
Odysseus had shown a significant amount of traits, but there were two that were most frequently shown. One of the traits he had as a hero, is his strength. When he reached King Anolouses island, everyone was very confused about his identity. Until he got invited to play a frisbee competition.
The traits that Odysseus portrays is being clever, determined, and brave. To begin, one of the qualities that I admired most about Odysseus was the fact that he was clever. For example, one way Odysseus was clever was when he decided to not tell the men that rowed the ship about Scylla and Charybdis. In the story it says, “Odysseus decides to tell the men only of Circe’s warnings about the Sirens,” (Narrator 1234). The reason I think Odysseus did this was because he knew the men was going to back out and not want to continue their journey.
The physical journey, filled with malicious obstacles, Odysseus endures on his journey home to Ithaca is symbolic of a much greater development, both mentally and emotionally, which reinforces his identity. In the Odyssey, Homer has a knack to describe each character with profound detail. Odysseus especially has innumerable characteristics that describe his personality. However, his endeavor and struggle miraculously helps him to discover a new identity. Odysseus’s true identity, Dimock, too, undoubtedly believes that Odysseus’s journey back is a road to establish his identity.
In the epic poem The Odyssey the main character Odysseus shows many qualities of an epic hero. Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, has a wife, Penelope, and his only son, Telemachus all struggle as Odysseus goes to war in Troy the day of Telemachus’ birth. Odysseus struggles and fights through obstacles that no mortal on earth has ever conquered. Odysseus demonstrates the qualities of a leader, speaker, and superhuman strength that every epic hero should have. Odysseus shows the characteristic of leadership many times throughout The Odyssey.
In the epic tale The Odyssey by Homer, we are introduced to Odysseus, King of Ithaca. Odysseus is on a journey to get back to his wife and son. Throughout his journey, he runs into many challenges that attempt to stop him from getting reaching his destination. We learn about many of his traits as we travel with him on his journey. When he finally reaches home all of his traits become clear: his strength, arrogance, wit, charm, and courage.
He is very quick to make irrational, dangerous, opposite of what he was told decisions. When Kirke tells him to choose a path, on his way there would be a terrible sea monster Scylla. Kirke warned Odysseus that the monster would take his best men, and that if they would start fighting her they would lose more men if not all. But in the moment of rage which Odysseus was unable to control he took the arms and started fighting the beast. This action is unbelievingly selfish of him because he put his men into more danger than needed by not following Kirke’s directions.
Odysseus has grown from the man he was before, as now he finds comfort and safety in obeying the gods when in the past he did not consider their wishes. Odysseus has only returned due to Athena and he has recognized that and his compliance is founded in his appreciation and respect for her. Odysseus is now a hero due to the obedience he now has to the gods, founded in a sense of humility. Through Odysseus’ experiences on his journey, he learns the value of obedience and dangers of arrogance and ultimately, become a hero through the lessons learned.
To start, Odysseus shows traits of being an epic hero because he is a vast traveler, a great warrior, a national hero, faces supernatural foes, receives supernatural help, and lastly is capable of deeds of great strength and courage. To add on, Odysseus is a vast traveler because he has traveled to lots of different islands such as, Troy for the Trojan war, Kalypso’s island, Cyclops island, the Lotus Eater island, Circe’s home, the underworld, and many more. He shows bravery and courage when going to the underworld to help is crew turn back from pigs into humans. “The Odyssey” points out that, “Odysseus rushes to save his men from the enchantress” (Homer 15). Moreover, it was said that Odysseus went to Circe’s home to rescue his crew but Circe wouldn’t give his crew back unless he went to the underworld for a prophecy, which Odysseus did because he did not want to leave his crew behind if he could save them.
In the quote, we can see him laugh in confidence at his success. He also plans to kill the suitors with no hesitation. This shows us that he is very prideful and confident. As you can see, Odysseus’s pride proved to make him a hero because his confidence was also raised. This confidence helps him be sure of his ability to defeat monsters such as the Cyclops, the dead, Scylla and Charybdis, and
The Odyssey by Homer revolves around the character, Odysseus, and his ten-year struggle to return home after the Trojan War. As the epic’s idol, he displays the combination of a clever, handsome, and courageous man popular among the mortals as well as the gods. Essentially, he embodies the ideals of the ancient Greek culture, being adorned with many favored characteristics of the era. However, an intriguing aspect of Odysseus lies in his personality. As the protagonist, he does not manifest the entirety of a stereotypical hero because Odysseus has a fatal flaw—his arrogance.
Just as Achilles is confronted in the Iliad with the problem of balancing his honor with his pride, Odysseus repeatedly faces situations in which self-restraint and humility must check bravado and glory-seeking. In his early adventures, he fails these tests, as when he taunts Polyphemus, inflaming Poseidon. As the epic progresses, Odysseus becomes increasingly capable of judging when it is wise to reveal himself and when it is appropriate to rejoice in his
Odysseus’s traits help him achieve his goal of returning to his home. Odysseus and his men have a lot of willpower to continue traveling after some dangerous and life risking experiences with cannibals, lotus-eaters, cyclops and many more creatures that could of killed Odysseus and his whole crew. Odysseus's confidence and epic hero traits only increase as the story goes on, his confidence in his men increase as he starts noticing how strong and powerful his men can be, and also shows confidence in
In ancient Greece, “kleos” was an important cultural value of glory. Typically, kleos is achieved through a glorious death. Throughout his journey, Odysseus is constantly striving to gain kleos while still alive.
In the book The Odyssey, the main character, Odysseus, is a man who is loved and respected by many. In the beginning of the book, we learn that Odysseus has left on a journey and, since it has been many years since his departure, many people assume that he has passed. On his journey, he portrays his many traits, not all of them being good ones either. Some of his good traits include his cunning, bravery, and hard work ethic. On the other hand, his negative traits are his excessive pride, immense curiosity, and rather large temper.
In The Odyssey, Odysseus was a major hero of the novel. He had both heroic traits and human weaknesses. Odysseus defeated the Cyclops, defeated the suitors that were courting his wife, and overcome other challenges throughout the novel. A special trait that made Odysseus a hero was that he was a courageous