Odysseus Speech Rhetorical Analysis

Odysseus often acts intelligently to fulfill intentions of self-provided survival. Using his gift of persuasion, he manipulates others to get help when he is in difficult situations. One such instance occurs when he arrives at Crete, an unfamiliar island where he knows nothing of the people and their customs, and needs to get home. Upon being washed up into the store, he comes across the princess Nausicaa, and immediately concocts a strategy to persuade her to give him help. In his speech to nausicaa he uses many clever tactics to get her to help him (79-80). Because he is naked, before he begins his speech, he “covers his manhood” with a branch as to not scare her. Then, he begins his speech with flattery, saying “it is of Artemis… that your

Through this elaborate, well thought out-plan, Odysseus manages to convince her to help him (81); his ability to persuade her to help him, being naked, a man and a stranger, further proves his use of intelligence to get what he needs.. His use of intelligence is further another example of this when he is trying to get the king to give him a ride home. Upon first entering, eve before giving a speech, he sits in ashes (89) To this a man says to the king t is unlike royal ways to let him do that

He often receives compassion as a result of his helpless behaviour which indicates his incompetence. An early example of this is is on Calypso’s island, where Calypso is holding him against his will, so he chooses to cry and loathes in self-pity rather than seek out a solution (65) The gods, seeing him so pathetic and helpless, make Calypso release Odysseus. Hermes delivers her the message “‘He says you have here a man who has been dogged by misfortune, more so indeed than any of those with whom he shared the nine years of fighting…” (65). The gods, pitying ODysseus, are using their power to aid the seemingly helpless Odysseus. Odysseus, rather than using his intelligence to come up with a solution, allows the gods to do his bidding for him. Later in the story, he again relies on the gods when he has escaped. When Poseidon makes the winds and seas difficult for him,AThena helps him by calming them down (72) He again e depends on someone else to help him;he is too lazy to do it himself The fact that others are constantly feeling the need to help him speaks to Odysseus’ incompetence that is the result of his unwillingness to utilize his own intelligence to come up with solutions. EVen later in the book, when he begins to use his intelligence to is con others, he is at times relies too much on pity. WHen trying to