What do you admire and criticise about Odysseus behaviour as a hero?

“What do you admire, and what do you find to criticise, in Odysseus’ behaviour as a hero?”

What I admire about Odysseus’ behaviour as a hero is his confidence. Rather than being self-doubting of his abilities he is proud of them. We see this in Book 9 when he deals with the Cyclops Polyphemus. Firstly, he tells the Cyclops his name is ‘Nobody’. This idea helps him to escape at the end when Polyphemus screams “O my friends, it’s Nobody’s treachery, not violence that is doing me to death”, and the other Cyclopes believe that nobody is hurting him.

He escapes the cave using a sharpened, burning stick to blind the son of Poseidon, and then laughs to himself about how the ‘cunning notion of a false name’ fooled the Cyclops. He shows a lot of pride in what he has done when he says this. A hero should be smart and have confidence in his own abilities, and Odysseus certainly shows both of these traits in this book.

In Book Ten Odysseus shows his loyalty to his men. He kills a huge stag on Circe's island for his men. Later, when Eurylochus comes back alone from Circe's house, Odysseus says he has “absolutely no choice” but to save his men. He could have easily left his men behind, but he insists on saving his men. After befriending the goddess, Odysseus refuses to eat until he sees his companions safe and sound. The scene of their reunion is a compassionate one, and even the goddess Circe herself is moved.

In book 21 we see Odysseus’ great strength, a very admirable quality in a ...