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Persistence: The Character Of Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey

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Persistence is an adjective that describes Odysseus. In The Odyssey Homer describes Odysseus as a type of person that never gives up and it is almost like as if he is very admirable. He goes through a journey that is full of many difficulties in which he is shown as a very strong person. Homer shows this when Odysseus is trying to get back home to Ithaca. The way Homer describes Odysseus is by explaining him with a lot of persistence. Homer shows that all that Odysseus wants is to return back home to Ithaca with his family. Odysseus has fought in the Trojan war and he fought because he wanted his land to be calm and not have to worry about the trogas. Homer also portrays Odysseus as being one of the best in everything, the main reason that pop out to me was that he …show more content…

The earthquake god was one of the people that did not want Odysseus to be happy and with his family. Homer seems to put Poseidon as one of the bad guys that are always against Odysseus. The Cyclops is Poseidon's son and Odysseus had just stabbed his son’s eye (Cyclops) Poseidon always thought Odysseus as an enemy. Then Poseidon said “Odysseus would suffer long and hard, before he made it home”(149-150) the only thing that Poseidon wanted was for Odysseus to suffer and feel the same way Cyclops felt when Odysseus and his men stabbed his eye. Poseidon purposely sabotage Odysseus’ ships, which killed many of his men. Every time Odysseus would be near Ithaca Poseidon would do something so that he would get far away from Ithaca and his family. The Odyssey explains how gods are important and how they help or sabotage Odysseus journey home to Ithaca. Homer explains how Athina was one of the main god that helped Odysseus get to Ithaca. He also showed how Circe helped Odysseus.Overall the gods played an important role in which most of them give Odysseus strength and help him to never give up on his journey back to his home

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345 Words | 2 Pages

The Cyclops then cursed Odysseus and the men to Poseidon, making their journey home even more difficult. Another example was when the ship was about to go through the Sirens and Odysseus convinced them to leave his ears uncovered. Everyone,

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196 Words | 1 Pages

In part one of Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus uses his epic hero qualities to help him out on his quest to get back home to Ithaca. He’s shows superb intelligence when fighting the cyclopes in “Book 9.” That’s a quality of superhuman intelligence that Odysseus possessed all throughout his entire journey. Another epic hero quality that helped Odysseus was help from Greek gods and goddesses. In part two of Homer’s Odyssey, Athena helped out Odysseus when he got back to his home land.

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Poseidon is one God against him. Poseidon does everything he can to keep him away from home till Odysseus learns a lesson that Poseidon was trying to get to him. Many Gods also try to help Odysseus, one very helpful one being the god of the wind, Aeolus. Aeolus gives him a sack of wind which helps Odysseus get home but the problem with that. You only get one use out of it so if you open it when you don’t have good timing.

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1013 Words | 5 Pages

The Odyssey is a book by Homer about a character Odysseus who was stuck at sea for many years trying to return home. Odysseus is a warrior who conquered Troy with a wooden trojan horse and prevailed from the wrath of the gods. Odysseus shows many character traits in this stunning story, but the ones that describe him the most are brave, clever and determined. He is brave enough to lead an army into war, clever enough to trick a cyclopes, and determined enough to keep trying to return home.

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The god’s relationship with Odysseus symbolizes loyalty and disloyalty. For instance, Poseidon’s relationship with Odysseus. Odysseus mocks the gods and states that “the gods could not stop the Trojan War'' (Iliad, near the end). This is disloyalty to the gods, specifically Poseidon, as the gods help

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A hero is someone who is revered for his or her exceptional achievements and bravery. Anyone who puts themselves before others not for recognition or an award, but because it is the right thing to do, is a true hero. In "The Odyssey," written by Homer is an epic poem about a man named Odysseus and his crewmates competing against the power of the gods to return to their homeland, Ithaca. Throughout his journey, he loses almost all of his men, but Odysseus finally arrives home, concluding his prolonged twenty-year voyage. Odysseus must battle the suitors that have taken his wife Penelope, and may soon kill his son Telemachus.

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The main character Odysseus in the Odyssey written by Homer is generally thought to be a great hero; however, he shows more traits of a quite flawed character on closer inspection. Around the beginning of Odysseus’ journey home after the war, Odysseus decides to take a detour to the home of a cyclops deciding to not listen to his men’s suggestions to leave while they still could; consequently, it does not end well: “Ah, how sound that was, Yet I refused. I wished to see the caveman, what he had to offer no pretty sight it turned out, for my friend” (9.130-132). This thought by Odysseus shows that he realized his decision to go to the mysterious island wasn’t the most rational one and that his men’s pleas to leave were the better option, but he decides to be stubborn and place his curiosity before his men’s safety resulting in a non-heroic

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This pride of his is what got him and his men into their situation in the first place. It is obvious in the book and the movie that everything that happened could have been prevented if Odysseus would not have tried to take all the credit for the defeat of the Trojans. During the movie and the book Odysseus’s arrogance, ego, and pride get in the way of him and his men getting home. If it weren't for him they could have all made it home to Ithaca instead of just Odysseus by himself twenty years after he first left

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In the epic story the Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is returning from the Trojan war, and on his way home he finds many obstacles ahead of him. Odysseus is the ruler of Ithaca and he is trying to return home to his land. Many creatures try and stop him from achieving his goal of returning home, but he and his crew have to push through and get home. Odysseus portrays bravery and courage leading his crew through these tough challenges. Odysseus heroically leads his crew and himself through dangerous obstacles, but also foolishly endangers them during the journey home.

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These experiences are caused by God Poseidon. Odysseus’s troops had severe causality and only he of the army that sailed to Troy survives. Eventually, the King of the Phaeacians offers Odysseus an aid that allows him to return to Ithaca. Later, with the aid of Goddess Athene, Odysseus punishes the suitors. He re-establishes himself as the ruler of Ithaca and the story ends with the reunion of his family.

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443 Words | 2 Pages

Many will claim that Odysseus is truly the hero of this story after all. He is the main center of focus throughout the entire poem, and he helped win the Trojan War with his wooden horse idea. He cleverly tricked the Cyclops, which got him and several other men out of the cyclops’ grasp. He also tried to warn his men of the dangers that would overcome if they killed the cattle on the island.

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He also reflects true suffering and struggle. Homer compares feasting and suffering very closely to show that struggle results in something deeper than the result of feasting. The significance of struggle is that you take everything head on despite the fact you could fail. The foremost reason Odysseus is unmatched is because he has no need for nice things, only need for destiny/ things of relevance. Not only does he commit countless heroic acts in situations of high pressure where he could die, he also never loses faith.

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These all help state the fact that Odysseus in The Odyssey is an epic hero. There were a few Gods that were against Odysseus, such as Poseidon, but other gods, such as Athena, followed him and acted

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1314 Words | 6 Pages

However, Zeus saw the two sides of the gods’ feelings towards Odysseus. “‘Great Odysseus/ who excels all men in wisdom... it’s the Earth-Shaker, Poseidon, unappeased,/ forever fuming against him..’” (1.78-83). Zeus created an equilibrium so that Poseidon could take out his anger on Odysseus through punishment, and Athena receives the duty of making sure Odysseus gets home to Ithaca.

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1013 Words | 5 Pages

In The Odyssey, Odysseus’ journey is created by a cycle of self-created obstacles that are solved by quick witted thinking and ultimately reflect no real desire to learn from his errors or create any character development. Throughout the story, Odysseus expresses a strong desire to return home to Ithaca, however he is constantly thwarted by his own curious and boastful nature. For example, when

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