Persistence: The Character Of Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey

Being Determined The Odyssey, by Homer, is an epic poem that is about a hero's journey to come home. In The Odyssey, Odysseus has many obstacles he has to face to find his way home, like Polyphemus the cyclops or Scylla and Charybdis. He finally makes it home and has to prove to his wife that he is truly Odysseus. Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus has important traits that help him survive resulting in his successful trip back home. In fact, his character traits can connect to others in the world, like determination.

When he stabbed Polyphemus, he brought Poseidon’s hatred on himself because he could have just left without stabbing the Cyclops in the eye. Polyphemus was Odysseus son, and Polyphemus prayed to Poseidon and he cursed Odysseus. Poseidon is Polyphemus’s father, so he was mad that he hurt his child, so he was very mad at Odysseus for doing that. Also, Odysseus could have made a deal with Calypso instead of staying with her for seven years. He could have left the island somehow, but he thought there was no way out.

He fights to the best of his abilities against many monsters such as Polyphemus, Circe, and the sea monster Scylla. There has been many claims that Odysseus isn’t hero because he lets his crew die. Just because his crew didn’t survive, it certainly does not mean he isn’t a hero. He tries his very best and even test his limits in order to get him and his crew back home. An example of this is in Homer’s ‘The Odyssey” where Odysseus tries to persuade his crew to bypass Thrinacia, the island of the sun god Helios, but they were too stubborn and insisted on landing.

Those examples were only a few of the multiple other locations that Odysseus travels to. Odysseus is also recognized as a great hero as well. This is because of his great victories during the Trojan war. One time during the story where a king realizes that it is Odysseus was on Phaeacia when King Alcinous recognizes him and offers him help. Odysseus is also a humble man.

Poseidon, god of the sea constantly throws obstacles at Odysseus because Odysseus blinded his son, Polyphemus. Athena, on the other hand, tries to help him make his journey back to Ithaca. Odysseus, showcases two important characteristics of a hero in The Odyssey: grand events affecting him, and bravery. First, one characteristic that Odysseus shows throughout the story includes bravery. Odysseus shows bravery in many points throughout the poem.

I’d like to know” (Odyssey.9.274-276), not out of the goodness of his heart, but because he wants to destroy their ship. Odysseus, ever the quick thinker, realizes this, and instead of replying with the truth, which would leave him with no ship to sail back home with, he lies and says, “My ship? Poseidon smashed it to pieces / Against the rocks at the border of your land” (Oddysey.9.275-276). By not disclaiming

During the escape from the cyclops’ cave, Odysseus made all his men go first before he escaped. Odysseus sacrificed his safety for his men, which shows that heroes make sacrifices. Also, Odysseus sacrificed his way home. Odysseus teased the cyclops about how he was able to to defeat him. That angered the cyclops, so he cursed Odysseus and his men so that they wouldn’t be able to go home.

He used his perseverance to keep going on his journey despite being without his family for decades. He also used his smart and quick thinking to make good decisions on where his journey should go next. Odysseus was a hero throughout the Odyssey because of the character traits Homer has written him to have. Although the epic poem has been altered throughout the centuries since the original one was written, Odysseus has stayed a hero to the reader with his amazing skills and motivation to continue his journey. The theme of this epic poem was to keep your head high.

Even after he was able to free himself and his crew from the cyclops’ captivity, Odysseus exposes himself to Polyphemus and further jeopardizing his men, “ '"Cyclops, if any mortal man ever asks you who it was that inflicted upon your eye this shameful blinding, tell him that you were blinded by Odysseus, sacker of cities. Laertes is his father, and he makes his home on Ithaka" (9.500-505). Odysseus’ inability to control his hubris and be considerate about the lives of his crew validate the idea that he isn’t an admirable hero. His lack of selflessness and humility drives him to make flawed judgments. This deprives him of the title of an epic hero because his tendency to take unhealthy risks causes him to delay his trip back to his homeland of

“Shame corrodes the very part of us that believes we are capable of change” (415 Quotes).This quote by Brene Brown means that shame changes our way of thinking and makes us acts differently. This quotes relates to the book The Iliad by Homer, but more specifically, the character named Hector. In The Iliad, a war has broken out between the Greeks and the Trojans because Paris, brother of Hector, stole Helen from the Greeks. Hector leads the war against the Trojans on account of his brother fault. In fact, Hector is the mightiest warrior of the Trojan but he has some perceptible flaws that can be seen in Book 6: Hector Returns to Troy.