Theme Of Perseverance In The Odyssey

In his journey, Odysseus persevered through various hardships and trials. His success of the venture was possible because of the heroic qualities he possessed. Whether Odysseus had been shipwrecked, involved in an argument with the gods, or even on the verge of death, he endured and finally made it home, despite any odds or lack of motivation. Odysseus emulates many of the characteristics which are crucial to an epic hero and is able to survive various wearisome and unfortunate circumstances.

When the story begins, we find Odysseus just starting his adventure home from the war against Troy. However, his arrival home had been delayed due to being held captive on an island. “The poet now tells of Odysseus who is miserable after seven years on

his island prison. Calypso, the nymph who has captured him, loves her handsome captive and will not let him go, but she is forced to reconsider her position when she receives a strongly worded order from Mount Olympus.” The great Greek general had already suffered great hardship, even at the beginning of the book, considering he’s been at war for many years. Then, he gets taken captive and imprisoned on a foreign island where he is stranded miserably for a grand total of seven years. Regardless, however, once set free, Odysseus finds the strength and courage, characteristic of a hero, to press on and continue on the path home to Ithaca. Earlier, Odysseus had angered Poseidon, the god of the sea, and is not in the god’s favor. After giving in, “Calypso helps Odysseus make a raft, and he thankfully departs. But he does not have smooth sailing. Poseidon, returning from Africa, spots his old enemy at sea and shipwrecks him in an instant with a fierce storm.” Athena, the daughter of Zeus, intervenes and casts a naked and near death Odysseus on the Island of Phaeacia. Despite facing another disaster even though his journey has just begun, our hero decides to persevere, determined to make it home to his family. As if what he had endured already wasn’t enough, Odysseus continues to face trial after trial, each resulting in evidence of the characteristics which make him a true epic hero.

Other than perseverance, another quality of Odysseus which proves him to be an epic hero is his wit or cleverness.

Evidence of this can be seen when he and his men are attempting to escape the island of Cyclopes. Odysseus came up with an escape plan which they put into action one morning. “Blinded, and sick with pain from his head wound, the master stroked each ram, then let it pass, but my men riding on the pectoral fleece the giant’s blind hands blundering never found.” Thanks to the quick and clever thinking of Odysseus, he and his crew were able to make it out of the Cyclops’s cave, safe and ready to continue with their great voyage back to their beloved home. Later, the men crossed paths with sirens who were known to lure sailors to their deaths with their singing. “You are to tie me up, tight as a splint, erect along the mast, lashed to the mast, and if I shout and beg to be untied, take more turns of the rope to muffle me,” Odysseus instructed his men. He then told them to cover their ears with wax so they couldn’t hear the sirens. Success was achieved by Odysseus’s wit once again. Without his cleverness, the men would have died out at sea, with Odysseus consequently falling just short of the “epic hero” title. Quick thinking is a crucial characteristic of epic heroes. It aided Odysseus in his journey home where his son and his wife, who he’d been loyal to for the course of the twenty years during which he had been gone, were waiting for

him.

Not all of the things that make someone an epic hero require brutal battles against an enemy or disasters which nearly result in death.

Qualities such as loyalty are just as crucial in the life of an epic hero, and it is clear in the story that Odysseus possesses this. Odysseus had a constant devotion to his men and their voyage back home to Ithaca. When his men tasted the Lotus, the plant which would make one “lose your hope of home,” instead of simply leaving them behind, he “drove them, all three wailing, to the ships, tied them down under their rowing benches”. Every hero still needs their friends, or in Odysseus’s case his men, to support them along their way to achieving their ambitions, whether they like to admit it or not. Odysseus recognized this and was loyal to his men, regardless of whatever sticky situation they may have found themselves in. He could have easily left his men behind and gotten along with the trip, arriving home sooner, yet he chose to stay faithful to them. Just as he stayed loyal to his men, Odysseus also remained faithful to his wife, Penelope, and son, despite being away for nearly 20 years. While Odysseus was being held captive by Calypso, he claimed that even though “she received me and loved me excessively and cared for me, never so could she win over the heart within me”. As easy as it may have been to let temptation get the best of him, Odysseus remembered his family and wife back home and continued to remain loyal to them all the way

through. In the end, his loyalty was worth any sacrifices he would’ve had to make and the sense of faithfulness he possessed only added to the list of characteristics corresponding to those of epic heroes.
Multiple attributes are key to an epic hero and their triumph in the end. Although Odysseus is clearly not perfect, traits such as his quick wit, loyalty, perseverance, and a wide range of others prove him to be a true epic hero.