Odysseus In The Odyssey

Odysseus is the main protagonist in The Odyssey by Homer. He was the King of Ithaca and was great leader. In The Odyssey, Odysseus goes through many perilous adventures ranging from defeating a cyclops to escaping Scylla and Charybdis. Throughout them, he has shown many of his heroic traits. Examples include bravery, intelligence, and great leadership. Near the beginning of the story, Odysseus and some of his men are held captive by the cyclops Polyphemus. At this point Odysseus plots a plan on how to defeat and escape the cyclops by stabbing him in the eye and hiding under his sheep to escape (Homer). This well thought-out plan shows us how wise he is when it comes to using his resources. He uses a large branch and heated it up to impale Polyphemus’ eye, and use his sheep to make a stealthy escape. After his predicament with Polyphemus, the next dilemma he and his crew faced were the Sirens. Before they encounter them though, Odysseus visits Circe’s island and she devised a strategy on getting past them. The idea was to put beeswax in his men’s ears so they could not listen to the Sirens’ enchanting song, and Odysseus was to tie himself up on the mast of the ship (Homer).

The princess of the island found him, took him in, and told his whole story to the king (Homer). Greek values of respect have been shown in this section of the epic poem. They took in a complete stranger into their kingdom and took care of him. Nearing the end of the story, Odysseus came back home, but his house is fine with suitors. To deal with this problem Odysseus makes a plan to hide all their weapons and kill about one hundred if the suitors (Homer). His determination to kill all of the suitors shows he is a courageous man. Killing the suitors not only have him revenge, but also brought justice towards his family. Odysseus’ long journey finally ends with him back home with his