Impulsiveness In The Odyssey

In the beginning of the book Odysseus is impulsive and arrogant. After Odysseus blinds and defeats the Cyclops, he cannot contain himself. Out of pure impulsiveness and the inability to be humble, Odysseus yells out to the Cyclops, “If any man on the face of the earth should ask you/ who blinded you, shamed you do so–say Odysseus,/raider of cities, he gouged out your eye,/Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca!” (Homer 9.556-562). Odysseus is so impulsive he has to scream out his name to the gods and the Cyclops. Odysseus’ impulse overtakes his actions, and rather than waiting for the right time to do something, he cannot contain himself and must get it out. In the beginning of the Odyssey, Odysseus cannot control his impulses, which leads

He tells them, “I am Odysseus, son of Laertes, know to the world/ for every kind of craft–my fame has reached the skies” (9. 21-22). Odysseus shows his arrogance in this quote. Odysseus is so full of arrogance in the beginning of the book that he cannot let anyone but him get recognition for the stories. Odysseus says himself that he is “known to the world” and his “fame has reached the skies”. These statements show someone who is full of themselves and doesn’t want any point of recognition off of them. Odyssey believes that he is the great of all time, and no one will be able to bring him down. This shows that in the beginning of The Odyssey Odysseus is impulsive and

Odysseus is talking to Athena when she tells him he has arrived at Ithaca. Odysseus is shell-shocked and come back saying, “But now I beg you by your almighty Father’s name…/for I can’t believe I’ve reached my sunny Ithaca,/ I must be roaming around one more exotic land–/ you’re mocking me, I know it, telling me tales/ to make me lose my way. Tell me the truth now, have I really reached that land I love?” (13. 367-373). In the beginning of the book Odysseus tried to show no weakness and to make sure everyone knew who he was. He thought the gods looked to him and he needed no one but himself. After his long journey when Athena tells him he is at Ithaca at last he is humbled and thankful. He says nothing about how he got there, but rather thanks the gods and is overjoyed to finally be home. This shows that he is humbled. Because in the beginning he was impulsive and arrogant, he set himself up for a journey of miseries, and in this quote he asks the gods to release him from those miseries. He has never asked that before and always thought he was better than the gods themselves. After being humbled, put in rags, and put through many hardships, Odysseus finds that he is not the most important being and becomes more humble because of this. When the suitors are trying to win Penelope’s heart they are tasked to string Odysseus’s bow and shoot it through axes. Odysseus waits for most of the suitors to attempt to string