Character Analysis of Odyssey by Homer

Have you ever wanted something so much, that you weren't going to let anything come between you and that goal, even though you know it will take everything you have? Have you ever had a moment where you feel like giving up, but you keep going? King Odysseus is a man who had everything taken away from him on his journey home after the great battle of Troy, and he had many of these moments in the epic, "The Odyssey", by Homer. Odysseus shows his extreme amounts of determination all throughout this exciting story.

Odysseus is a man separated from his wife, his son, and his home. All he wishes for is to return home, and he won't stop until he uses every ounce of his wisdom to get home and be with the ones he loves in the land he loves. He will not lay his eyes on the beauty of his homeland for twenty years, but he never quits. Even the loveliest goddess, Calypso, could not seduce him to stay with her when he had the choice to stay or go. Not even the enchantress, Circe, could convince him to stay with her. His eyes were always looking ahead to his homeland.

Once Odysseus and his men made it to the Cyclopes land, he did not bring all of his crew with him. He only brought with him his best fighters, showing how wise he was in strategy. And again, to prove his wisdom further, when Polyphemus, the Cyclops who has trapped Odysseus and his men, asked Odysseus where his ship was, and Odysseus, using wisdom, convinced the Cyclops that their ship was destroyed and that they were the only survivors. This kept the Cyclops from going and looking for the crew's ship and finding it, killing everyone on board.

Odysseus continued proving his wisdom in the Cyclops’s den while he worked to get out of the cave. While Polyphemus was tendin...

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...he beggar Odysseus was disguised as be brought to her so she could question him and ask him if he knew of her husband’s fate. Odysseus wished to reveal himself to Penelope then and there, but he had to restrain, for if Penelope knew Odysseus was the beggar, it could ruin everything and get them killed. This is another example of Odysseus’s wisdom and also his determination to kill all the suitors without anyone else dying.

As you can see, Odysseus is an extremely wise and determined man. Can you even imagine going through everything Odysseus did without messing up along the way? No matter what happened in the epic, Odysseus would not stop and always used his brain in every situation until he returned home. Odysseus used every tiny bit of wisdom and determination he had in his body, and he succeeded, showing everyone how much of a wise and determined man he was.