How Does Odysseus Show Courage

In the Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus undergoes many obstacles to sail back to his homeland and takes many years until he finally reaches Ithaca again. During the trials Odysseus faces, he shows courage, cleverness, and sacrifice in order to keep his men safe as well as himself. Odysseus also expresses pride, revenge, and curiosity, which is some of the traits that got his men and himself in danger. Although Odysseus acts rashly throughout the different parts of his journey, he redeems himself as the journey goes on. Even though Odysseus went through hardship during the journey home, he never lost hope.

During the beginning of the journey, Odysseus showed great hope of going home at the beginning of his journey sailing from Troy

as well as expressing careful wisdom while approaching the land of the Lotus Eaters. As Odysseus and his men arrive at the land of the lotus flowers, “Then I sent out two picked men and a runner to learn what race of men that land sustained”(Homer lines 92-93). He was wise to send out only two men and a runner because if Odysseus would have sent out his whole crew, all of them would have been under the spell of the lotus and never would have gotten home. Once Odysseus found his shipmates he tied them up and sailed away to the land of the Cyclops. When on the land of the Cyclops, Odysseus approaches the prodigious man’s layer, but as he does “A wineskin full I brought along, and victuals in a bag, for in my bones I knew some towering brute would be upon us soon…”(Homer lines 153- 155). Liquor was brought along because Odysseus knew the Cyclops was going to see them sooner or later, and deboarded the ship prepared for danger. Although when Odysseus approached the cave up close he shows recklessness in going to explore it while the Cyclops is out and gets trapped. Fortunately, though Odysseus gets himself and his men out by stabbing the Cyclop’s eye with a burned olive tree branch.

After the Cyclop’s eye got stabbed, he swore to kill Odysseus if he tried to escape.

Fortunately, with no chance of escaping out in the open Odysseus used the herd of sheep and “Three abreast I tied them silently together, twining cords of willow from the ogre’s bed: then slung a man under each middle one to ride there safely, shielded left and right”(Homer lines 378-381). Odysseus knew since there was no way out, he thought of a tactic and showed cleverness by tying each of his men under a sheep to get away unseen, then hid under a ram to escape last. Foolishly, as soon as he and his men escaped, Odysseus, out of his own pride told the Cyclops that it was he who plundered his eye and talked poorly to him. As soon as the Cyclops knew his name he cursed Odysseus saying “...Grant that Odysseus, raider of cities, never see his home...Should destiny intend that he shall see his roof again among his family in his fatherland, far be that day, and dark the years between” (Homer lines 486-491). Since Odysseus let his pride take control of him, he acted with great impudence and treated the Cyclops disrespectfully and got himself and his men cursed to never see their home again. While quickly sailing away from the island, Odysseus and his men undergo many misfortunes, one of many losing all but his only ship from cannibals. Luckily, Odysseus and his crew escape only to arrive in the hands of Circe, who turns Odysseus’ men into swine and later tells him to journey to the land

of the dead to find a blind prophet.

As Odysseus finds the blind prophet, he tells him to not eat the sun god’s cattle and give a sacrifice to make right with Poseidon.

Once Odysseus returns to Circe’s land he is sent to the siren’s land and he alone must hear them, but as for his men he “…I carried wax along the line, and laid it thick on their ears”( Homer lines 712-713). Before Odysseus approach the sirens he orders his men to tie him up and tighten it if he wants to be untied. After Odysseus and his crew escape the sirens unharmed, they begin to approach Scylla and Charybdis. Although when they narrowly escaped Charybdis and approached Scylla “Circe’s bidding against arms had slipped my mind, so I tied on my cuirass….”(Homer lines 786-788). Odysseus made a mistake when he forgot Circe’s regard and put on armor to fight Scylla, which is how Scylla saw them and ate six of his men. Sadly, because Odysseus’ men gave their lives it gave the rest of his men enough time to escape the jaws of Scylla. When Odysseus and his crew finally reached the land of the Sun god, they were told to not eat any of the

cattle.

Unfortunately Odysseus’ men’s hunger got the best of them and Eurylochus convinced the remaining members of the crew that since they were going to die either way, they may as well die with a full stomach. Naturally, the consequences of eating the sun god’s cattle caused Zeus to kill all Odysseus’ men without mercy. As Odysseus survived, he eventually came across the Phaeacians and sailed home at last. Although, as he returned,the goddess Athena informed him of the suitors that took over his palace believing him to be dead. Finally after a long, hard journey, in the end, Odysseus takes back his kingdom by killing all the suitors with the help of his son,Telemachus and Athena and wins back Penelope’s heart.