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Essay on the characteristics of odysseus
What is a hero
Character analysis on Odyssey
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The Mind of a Hero
The ‘American Heritage High-school’ dictionary defines a hero as a man, often of divine ancestry, who is endowed with great courage and strength. Is that what a hero truly is? Does he need only strength and courage? Does a hero not need a mind? Any man can be strong and brave, but does that mean he is a hero? Nay, a hero must have more. He must be quick-witted and always think with his head and never his fear. A man must be clever (mentally bright, superficially skillful or witty) to be considered a hero. A hero has many characteristics but one of the most important is to be able to think his way out of trouble. Not that a hero shouldn’t be physically strong, that’s always good, but sometimes you can’t fight your way out things without getting yourself killed.
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He shows that quality time and again in ‘The Odyssey’. For example, the Trojan War. The Greeks fought with the Trojans for ten years without success. They had to get over the wall around Troy. No one had any ideas. But then Odysseus and his clever mind thought of a way to trick the Trojans. He ordered the Greeks to build a huge wooden horse in which they could hide. Odysseus figured that when the Trojans wake up to the horse and no Greeks in sight that they’d take the horse as a peace offering and take it inside the city. The Trojans did as Odysseus had guessed and after ten long years the war with Troy was finally
At the beginning of the book Telemakhos is troubled with the suitors trying to marry his mother. He tries to keep them in line but they are rampant, especially when they're drunk. They kill Odysseus's herd for their own feedings and disrespect the house of Odysseus. So Telemakhos is obliged to search for his father because he is his last and only hope of keeping the suitors away. He is determined to search for his father and must find him at all costs. When Odysseus is stuck on the island of Kalypso, Athena had obliged him to leave the island in search of his home, Ithaka. She tells him of the memories he had there and he remembered how much he had longed for Ithaka. So he was determined to get home. Just like how Telemakhos was determined to find his father. They were destined by the gods to come together. In book 16, it talks about Telemakhos and his father talking to each other planning how they were going to take over the suitors. They talked and talked and were happy to see each other.
Odysseus shows how clever he is in The Odyssey more than once, but one accomplishment stands out above them all.
As well as having courage and bravery, Odysseus is also a strong warrior and leader. Living as king of Ithaca, he leads his fleet of warriors across Poseidon’s sea into a great battle against the Trojans. It is here where Odysseus and his fleet of warriors defeated the Trojans because of his great leadership. Knowing that he cannot defeat the Trojans from outside the immense walls, he comes up with a different plan. A plan that will get him through the walls with a little help from Poseidon. He makes a giant wooden horse (Trojan Horse) and has a person present it as a gift to accept a peace with them. The Trojans accept the gift and open the walls for the horse, not knowing that inside the horse was Odysseus and a small fleet of soldiers. The Trojans had a great celebration for what they thought was a victory. As the Trojans finally went to sleep, Odysseus and his fleet crept out of the horse and completely slaughtered the Trojans in a very bloody battle.
Although the heroic journey of Odysseus and Luke Skywalker resemble one another with similar heroic steps, the difference in Odysseus’s journey distinguish him as the exemplary epic hero.
Another instance that proves that Odysseus is a cunning person is when he is trapped in the Cyclops' cave. The Cyclops asks him his name and Odysseus tells him that his mane is "Nobody". This is a key part in his plan to escape, because he plans to kill the Cyclops but he knows that the Cyclops has friends nearby. Lines 454 through 455 shows why: "'Nobody, friends' --Polyphemus bellowed back from his cave-'Nobody's killing me now by fraud and not by force!'" So Odysseus escaped by blinding the Cyclops thus enabling he and his men to flee from the cave.
Odysseus?s cunning is cardinal to his survival and that of his men. He uses his cunning to get them out of several unpleasant situations. When they are captured by the Cyclops, he can not use the strength of his men to escape, so he must use his cunning to free them. He lies and tricks the Cyclops to get out, ??My name is Nohbdy: mother, father, and friends, everyone calls me Nohbdy?? (9.397-99). This clever deception stops the other Cyclops from helping Polyphemos helping them to escape. Odysseus also shows his cleverness when he returns to Ithaca.
When people think of Odysseus, they think of a great, cunning, warrior. Who wouldn’t see him that way, he fought his way through Troy and embarked on a journey back home to see his son and wife again. On the surface Odysseus seems like a genius but in Homer’s, The Odyssey, Odysseus shows many instances where he outwits his foes but his foolishness heavily outweighs his smarts; he becomes boastful after a victory which leads to more hardships, he leaves precious cargo in the open for his brutish crew to mess with, and refuses help from the gods which nearly leads to his demise.
Thomas Hobbes in his Leviathan states that, "in the state of nature mans life is nasty, brutish and short". In depression era America, no greater truth could be said. There were millions unemployed, largely unskilled and living on the margins of society. The lowest of the low were the migrant labourers travelling from place to place trying to scratch a living. They often had to travel illegally by freight car with all its consequent dangers. Their life expectancy was low, crime was rampant and despair was a fellow traveller. This is the setting of John Steinbeck's, 'Of Mice and Men'.
In situations where brute force has failed, Odysseus uses his craftiness to create a plan and escape a difficult situation. Without his cleverness, Odysseus would not be able to survive. An example of Odysseus’ inventiveness is demonstrated in the following quote:
Two migrant workers, George and Lennie, attempt to reach their version of the American Dream or “the ability of all Americans to attain a better standard of living, including owning a home” (“American Dream” 96). The two men are most concerned with owning “a little house and a couple of acres” and their ability to “live off the fatta the lan’” (Steinbeck 14). Their journey, however, is presented as more challenging than most as Lennie struggles with a mental deficiency and relies heavily on George for both structure and guidance. Each time George and Lennie begin to settle into a job, Lennie makes a mistake causing George to uproot his life and yell at Lennie for how he “Jus’ keep[s] [him] shovin’ all over the country all the time” (Steinbeck 11). Although their quest for happiness and success along with Lennie’s difficulties appear to be the main conflicts of the novel, there is much more below the surface as the two big relocations discussed in the novella come about because of a woman’s
John Steinbeck was inspired by the line "The best schemes o' mice an' men [often go awry]" by Robert Burns in one of his poems. This line refers to ambitions that went off track during the process. There are multiple examples in the novel that refers to the line in the poem, that inspired John Steinbeck. Those examples are Curley's boxing career coming to an end, Curley's wife not becoming a actress, and Lennie's plans of tending the rabbits, but messed everything up.
Odysseus has shown his ability to think many times in his life. One of his greatest achievements was when he devised a plan to end the ten year war against the Trojans. His plan was to build a large wooden horse and present it as a gift to the Trojans. The Trojans, as followers of Poseidon, gladly accepted this gift as a peace offering and a sign that they had won. When the Trojans brought it into the city they began partying. When most of the Trojans were drunk or asleep, a group of Greeks hiding in the horse jumped out and began slaughtering them. These Greeks opened the gates and they won the war. ”Then, when night was darkest, the Greeks inside were to leave their wooden prison and open the city gates to the Army, which by that time would have sailed back, and be waiting before the wall.” This shows Odysseus’ plan to take Troy with the fake offering to Poseidon. The plan succeeded as shown in this quote, “A night came when the plan was carried out. Then, the last day of Troy dawned. On the wall the Trojan watchers saw with astonishment two sights, each as startling as the other. In front of the Scaean gates stood an enormous figure...
To begin with, Odysseus is an intelligent and clever man. He is a hero because he has the capacity to understand the situations and think through the struggles they are going to face. Odysseus is put against all the odds possible, and at times it seems like the gods are against him. Odysseus tricks the Cyclops, Polyphemus, in a very strategic way and handled the situation effectively. “My name is Nohbdy: mother, father, and friends, / everyone calls me Nohbdy (Homer 498). Odysseus’ cleverness is brought out because he conceived an idea that would be adequate enough to trick a Cyclops. Later when Polyphemus is stabbed, he screams, “Nohbdy, Nohbdy’s tricked
Homer’s The Odyssey is a Greek story that follows the journey of its primary character, Odysseus, back to his home in Ithaca after the Trojan War. Odysseus encounters many challenges in his journey home, from encounters with Polyphemus the Cyclops, the witch Circe and even the ghosts of dead Greeks. Meanwhile, his household in Ithaca is being threatened by suitors of his wife, Penelope, all wanting to inherit Odysseus’ possessions in the belief that he was already dead. Like many epic heroes, Odysseus possesses many admirable qualities. Three good characteristics of Odysseus are—cleverness, bravery and strength—here are some supporting instances from the epic that demonstrates Odysseus possession of such characteristics.
John Steinbeck’s ‘Of Mice and Men’ is a social commentary on the reality of life in the 1930s. During the Great Depression many people were left unemployed and homeless. Due to this, the concept of the American Dream became even more idealized. Steinbeck uses characters and events that take place in the novella to display his views not only towards the American Dream but also the social ills of the era.