Examples Of Brawn In The Odyssey

“In the scale of the destinies, brawn will never weigh so much as brain” (Lowell). Throughout history, fights have had two major components: Strength and smarts.

The Odyssey uses both of these concepts to pose the question of which is more useful. It's a great question that doesn't have a clear answer, but I will prove once and for all that brains are more useful than brawn. There are many examples in the Odyssey of why brains are better than brawn. One example is the story of the Trojan horse. Many people know that during the Trojan War, the Greeks were losing and to win, they made a weapon disguised as a wooden horse called the Trojan horse. Odysseus is the one who thought of the horse and without his smart idea they would have most likely

As Odysseus is trapped in a cave by Polyphemus, he tricked the cyclops by saying “Cyclops, try some wine. Here’s liquor to wash down your scraps of men” (Homer 1054). Odysseus tells him that to get the Polyphemus drunk so he will pass out stopping Polyphemus from killing more of his crew. When he is asleep, Odysseus and his crew make a huge spear to stab Polyphemus in the eye. This allows Odysseus and his crew to escape. This example shows how without Odysseus quick thinking, him and his crew would have all died proving that brains are more powerful than

The text says, “but those who ate this honeyed plant, the Lotus, never cared to report, nor to return: they longed to stay forever, browsing on that native bloom, forgetful of their homeland. I drove them, all three wailing, to the ships, tied them down under their rowing benches” (Homer 1049). His crew didn't care and ate the lotuses anyway. This caused all of his crew to not want to leave the lotus eaters. Because Odysseus didn't eat the lotuses he still had the will to leave the island and carried his crew back with him. If Odysseus had not been smart and remember what the lotuses did he and his crew would have been stuck there. Proving that smarts are more