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Odysseus Challenges Faced In Homer's The Odyssey

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Temptation is like a trap, it tries to make you do bad deeds that will affect you. The story The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus was forced to fight in the Trojan War. After the battle Odysseus sailed back to Ithaca, his homeland facing many temptations they could not resist in doing. Odysseus and his men faced many challenges, but most of the challenges were due to their temptations. For example, Aeolus the god of wind, gave Odysseus a bag filled with wind. Odysseus told his men not to touch it but they did not obey. As they sail closely to Ithaca, one of Odysseus’s men could not resist and opened the bag. The powerful wind started swishing out of the bag and blew the entire ship further away from Ithaca island. When Odysseus finally made it home …show more content…

But as each year has passed by at sea for 20 years, Odysseus overcame his weakness and became stronger. Odysseus came back to Ithaca and the first person he saw was goddess of Athena. She helps disguise Odysseus as a beggar so he would find out what was happening at his house while he was away. He found out what was happening and wanted to punish the suitors since they have been feasting all his food and sleeping with his wife. Later on he revealed himself to Eumaeus the swineherd and his son Telemachus, they helped plot the revenge. As he revealed himself to the suitors he said, “You dogs, you never thought I would any more come back from the land of Troy, and because of that you despoiled my household, and forcibly took my serving women to sleep beside you, and sought to win my wife while I was still alive, fearing neither the immortal gods who hold the wide heaven, nor any resentment sprung from men to be yours in the future. Now upon you all the terms of destruction are fastened.” (Homer 181) He is a hero to his homeland by killing the betrayers. Odysseus has transformed into a strong and heroic man.
All in all, Odysseus is a brave man who never backs down from challenges. Even though he was afraid to go to war, he overcame the challenges and temptations. As he went on the journey he developed into a mature man and was able to handle the challenges given. Odysseus was able to overcome Poseidon’s punishment with the gods and goddesses by his side. He became a hero to Ithaca because he killed the suitors and people who has betrayed him while he was

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"Blinding tears welled in his eyes; foreboding filled his heart. When we were frantic questioning him, at last we heard the tale: our friends were gone…."(674, 580-583). Odysseus frantically leaves the ship determined to save his men as he began to climb the huge mountain to reach Circe's hall. Finally he reached the top anxious to take his men back with him once he had convinced Circe to turn them back to men. Eventually she did, indeed and they were on their way again at

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They begin by checking out the island to see if there is any danger, but they are caught. Odysseus then has to lie about the ship saying it had been destroyed. Then after his friends meet a terrible fate, he tells Polyphemus, the giant, his name is Nohbdy. After he stabs the cyclops in the eye, this leads him to say that nobody hurt him. After this Odysseus makes his escape, and is almost caught as they leave, so Odysseus taunts them, telling them his name and story.

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The first instance that a grand event affects Odysseus includes Calypso holding him hostage on her island for seven years. Starting on page 187, Calypso holds Odysseus captive as a slave for seven years. This affects Odysseus because after Zeus convinces her to let him go, he has to build his own ship and swim for two days and two nights. Last of all, Odysseus’ whole journey back to Ithaca affects him. Most of his struggles come from when he says that no one helped him in the Trojan War and that he did everything himself.

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For instance, when on the island Aeaea, the island belonging to a goddess named Circe, she lures Odysseus’s men into her house and proceeds to turn them into pigs. One man alone escapes her trap and heads back and reports to Odysseus. Odysseus, instead of worrying about himself and his own well-being, heads into Circe’s house to avenge his crewmates. Odysseus explains his actions: “At that report, I slung my hefty bronze blade of my silver-studded sword around my shoulder.. And told our comrade, ‘lead me back the same way that you came’... necessity drives me on” (Odyssey, 238).

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Odysseus shows characteristics of bravery, kindness, and intelligence throughout his adventure. Odysseus’ representation of bravery allows him to put other safety and well being before his own, and he doesn’t let fear hold him back from accomplishing great deeds. At one point in his adventures, he passes

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As a leader, Odysseus has to be resilient and firm but he is falling into too many traps. Nonetheless, he is a tenacious man who is focused to arrive in Ithaca. When King Aeolus captured the winds and gave it to him so it could blow them straight on their course for home, he stays up for nine days, determined that nothing will get in his way of arriving back home. Although they sight Ithaca in the distance, Odysseus' men open the bag while he sleeps because they speculate that King Aeolus gave him gold and riches. Once the bag opens, the gust of wind throws them off course and pushes them back to Aeolia.

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In the book called The Odyssey by Homer, it mainly follows the story of a king of a village called Ithaca, hundreds of years ago-This man, is named Odysseus. Odysseus goes through many adventures after the victory of the Trojan War. However, this is where Odysseus, is not being as strong as a great war hero and a king as he should be. Although Odysseus was seen as a very strong person, physically and mentally, he lacks the appreciation and the care of his crew throughout the trials and didn’t think through many of his actions thoroughly and how they would affect not only his crew but people around him.

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Pride can often come with a cost, as it did for Odysseus. In addition, Odysseus didn’t tell his crew what was in the bag that he received from Aeolios, the god of the winds. “He brought along so many presents, plunder out of Troy, that’s it… I say we ought to crack that bag, there is gold and silver, plenty, in that bag!” (10. 45-50).

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Odysseus has grown from the man he was before, as now he finds comfort and safety in obeying the gods when in the past he did not consider their wishes. Odysseus has only returned due to Athena and he has recognized that and his compliance is founded in his appreciation and respect for her. Odysseus is now a hero due to the obedience he now has to the gods, founded in a sense of humility. Through Odysseus’ experiences on his journey, he learns the value of obedience and dangers of arrogance and ultimately, become a hero through the lessons learned.

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