Odysseus Weaknesses In The Odyssey

In 'The Odyssey' an epic poem written by Homer, a Greek poet, tells the tale of how the King of Ithaca, Odysseus, goes on an eventful adventure that costs him 20 years and all of his men. In this epic poem, Odysseus demonstrates many strengths and weaknesses. Odysseus' strengths are put to use and show how smart he can be. However, his weaknesses put him through many hardships and show what he needs to work on.

Odysseus has many strengths. Such as being crafty, smart, cunning, and even quick thinking. In 'The Odyssey' Odysseus shows quick thinking in the episode 'The Cyclops' where Odysseus tells the Cyclops, Polyphemus, that his name is Nohbdy. When Odysseus introduces himself as 'Nohbdy' the Cyclops believes it. So, whenever Odysseus and his men stab Polyphemus in the eye, he screams that someone by the name of Nohbdy is hurting him. The other Cyclops thinks he is saying nobody is hurting him so they leave him. Odysseus also demonstrates being crafty in the same episode. He shows craftiness by taking a tree trunk and sharpening it. He then puts the tip in the fire and uses it to stab the Cyclops in the eye to escape.

Some of his weaknesses are being prideful, stubborn, unloyal, and having a quick temper. Odysseus makes pride one of his weaknesses because after killing the Cyclops, they escape onto their ship where Odysseus yells back at the Cyclops to reveal his real name and shames him for letting him escape. This does not work out in Odysseus' favor because the Cyclops' father, Poseidon, curses Odysseus. His other weakness is being unloyal. Odysseus proved to be unloyal when he lived with Circe for a year and they had three children. This is unloyal because back in Ithaca his wife Penelope, who stayed loyal and had hope he was alive, and his son, Telemachus, a wait his