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The Trickster In Homer's The Odyssey

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The Trickster is an archetype. This means that many characters, across many different myths, display traits that would make them fall into this category. The Trickster is not one specific character. Rather, it is a character type. As one would expect, the main goal of the Trickster is to trick or deceive someone. They can achieve this goal in a variety of ways. The simplest tool they may employ is lying. They often do this to cover up their misdeeds and avoid getting caught. The Trickster may also disguise themselves. In fact, they often possess the ability to shapeshift. The Trickster may engage in bribery, offering something to someone to get what they want. There also many other hallmarks of a Trickster. In the end, they are not afraid to get creative to ensure the accomplishment of their goals. Odysseus is an example of the Trickster archetype in the myths we have studied thus far. Odysseus is most definitely a Trickster, but he stands apart from the other members of this group. More times than not, a Trickster is a male god. Odysseus, of course, is only a human being. In The Odyssey, however, his status as a Trickster becomes clear. Homer …show more content…

He fits the mold of a Trickster who is a male god. He gets an early start training in the art of deception and, while he is still a mere infant, decides he wants to steal Apollo’s cattle. He succeeds, needing to bribe an elderly man with wine to avoid detection. Hermes takes another step to conceal his heist by turning the tracks of tracks of the stolen cattle and making them hard to follow. Hermes then proves that he has no guilt on conscience, boldly telling Zeus and Apollo that he is not the responsible party in the theft of the cattle. Hermes also once again displays his capacity to make a deal when trades the lyre he fashioned to Apollo in exchange for Apollo’s whip and forgiveness. Hermes is certainly proof that you do not have to grow up to be a

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In Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, some might argue that Odysseus’s dishonesty and deceit cause loss of trust and negative consequences. However, Odysseus’s dishonesty and deceit do not always have bad intentions, it can be seen when Odysseus and his men escaped out of Polyphemus’s cave to get out of trouble and when Odysseus received help from his men to get closer to their objective. While lying is looked down upon, people

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Homer, was a great bard who travels from villages telling many villagers his famous epic. The Odyssey of Homer, Homer’s epic creates a theme around Dolos:Trickery. Trickery can be used to escape from life threatening situations. He uses irony, when Odysseus, is trying to escape the one-eyed cyclops Polyphemus by using “the trick of nobody”. He then foreshadows how Odysseus’s homecoming will be, using the sirens voices as a symbolic message.

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He says that he had killed a man, “Orsilokhos, the courier, son of Idomeneus,”(XIII, 332) which gives the undertone of nobility and wealth. He says that this young man “could beat the best cross country runners,”(XIII,

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TS1 (Thesis): In The Odyssey, Homer depicts Odysseus’ real foe as the theme of temptation with displays of hubris and lustrous goddesses, which portrays the importance of being vigilant to not submit to temptation. ST1: Homer depicts that Odysseus is determined to get home, but Odysseus succumbs to temptation when he leads his crew into the cyclops lair, eats the cyclops’ food, and demands for a gift, resulting in a protracted journey home. 1: Homer displays Odysseus as recklessly brave when he requests, “we’re at your knees, in hopes of… a guest-gift”(9.300) from the cyclops. 2: It is apparent that Odysseus has given into the temptation to be arrogant when he declares for the cyclops to give them, “a guest-gift,” after Odysseus and his men have broken into the cyclops lair, showing even further Odysseus’ isn’t vigilant to

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The Odyssey is often cited as an epitome of the hero’s journey and the monomyth. The hero of the story, Odysseus is on a 10 year battle homeward from the Trojan War to see his wife and son again. With the help divine intervention, Odysseus is able to return home and save his wife from the evil suitors who have continuously tried to win her. One could easily argued that Odysseus is an exemplar of the hero, but there is another story: Odysseus is the opposite of a hero and is not worthy to be called such. He is the villain where the gods are the hero.

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In The Odyssey, the Cyclops is a monster because of his key differences from mere human beings, specifically his lack of wit and of morals. Depicting these qualities as monstrous support that cleverness and a general regard for human life were heavily valued in Greek culture. Odysseus easily trick the Cyclops bragging, “I poured him another fiery bowl - three bowls I brimmed and three he drank to the last drop, the fool”(9.404-406). To describe the bowls of wine as fiery foreshadows the demise of the Cyclops. Odysseus was able to use his brain, not strength, to make the Cyclops drink himself into a stupor.

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The concept of hero has been interpreted in many ways throughout the ages. Hero have gone from knights slaying dragons and rescuing the princess, to heroes who save the world with their supernatural-like powers, to a modern day hero who is someone who has noble qualities and is regarded as a role model. In the epic, The Odyssey, by Robert Fagles, the heroic Odysseus is a well known in Greek mythology. However, although Odysseus is the most respected, honorable hero of Greek mythology he is not a modern hero. A modern day hero is someone who puts their life on the line to save the lives of other innocent people.

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One way that Odysseus shows cleverness is when he is able to get his men out of dangerous situations. Two stories in which Odysseus uses his cleverness to get him and his men out of dangerous situations are in “Scylla and Charybdis”, and “The Cyclops”. Another way how Odysseus shows his cleverness is he deceives others to his advantage. In “The Cyclops” he deceives Polyphemus when he tricks him into thinking his name is Nohbody, and this helps him to escape the island and not get caught. Cleverness is a trait in The Odyssey that helped Odysseus to get him and his men out of dangerous situations, and cleverness also helped deceive others to Odysseus’

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For instance, Dionysus, a god of fervent inspiration, insanity, and ecstasy. In Heracles and Dionysus, it states, “After traveling through Thrace and the whole of India, where he set up pillars, he arrived in Thebes, where he forced the women to desert their houses and abandon themselves to Bacchic frenzy on Mount Cithairon (604). Like other tricksters, he is an outsider but also serves as an outlet to express the desires that are in opposition with the ethical code upheld in society. In modern American culture, an example of a trickster is, The Joker an anarchic counterpart to Batman’s struggle for order exhibits more than a few features of the trickster model. He is mysterious, unpredictable and has a significant fixation with gags and pranks that are sometimes innocuous, sometimes lethal.

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Finally, trickery is shown as a cultural value in the Odyssey because Penelope, Odysseus’s wife, tricks the suitors into thinking she will marry them, when she won’t. Penelope ensnares them by, “Building each man’s hopes, - dangling promises, dropping hints to each - but all the while with something else in mind.” (2. 97-100) Penelope’s trick is to lead the men on to think she will marry them, but she never does. This is an example of trickery because she does something to fool the men into giving her what she wants without being bothered. In conclusion,

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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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The Odyssey, gods like Athena and Poseidon interfere with humans to satisfy their own desires, showing that they are just as imperfect and flawed as the mortals that they rule over. Athena favors Odysseus since he reminds her of herself. He portrays the same cunning, guile, and intelligence as she does; Athena had confided to him that “two of a kind, we are, contrivers, both,” comparing how similar they are. “Of all men now alive,” she says, “you are the best in plots and story telling.

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Ironically, Zeus is said to punish liars, while he is the most deceptive god in Greece. Zeus was known for his numerous affairs and mistresses, and the problem was so pervasive that Greek women used to worry that their baby was Zeus’s. The most devious trick Zeus played was on Alcmene. He came to her as her husband and slept with her, all the while making her think she was loyal to her husband. This trick bore Hercules, but not all of Zeus’s romantic trips were so clever.

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No matter what is thrown at him he never stops trying to get home, getting past a Cyclopes, the Lady Circe, and sirens. He even gets through the Underworld and lives. Despite this, Odysseus does have faults about him, though not as many as there are qualities. He is a worldwide symbol, an archetype, of both nobility and bravery. Odysseus, the epic hero of the Odyssey, a great leader with many attributes as well as flaws, is no ordinary man.

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A standard of trickster theory is the figure’s easy use of deception to obtain basic pleasures such as sex and food. In the Winnebago tales specifically, Trickster tends to use disguise and manipulation to fulfill his needs and, in the two stories with which I am concerned, mainly his desire for food. In one scholars’ definition of the common trickster characteristics it is said that “as his name explicitly states, the trickster is a consummate and continuous trick-player and deceiver” (Mapping Mythic Tricksters 35). So clearly deception tends to come along with the trickster figure, but the lies told in these two tales also expand to include the role of shape-shifter which is considered by this source to be a separate trait. Shape-shifting does seem to extend beyond a simple deception but remains within the realm of manipulation.

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