In The Odyssey the main character, Odysseus, must overcome numerous obstacles to find his way back home to Ithaca, but to do this he uses his cunning and wits to get through strained situations. Another character uses her cunning and sharp thinking to also survive while Odysseus makes his trip home, his wife Penelope, who some say is as uniformly clever as The Great Odysseus himself. In the Odyssey, Odysseus faces a Cyclops, an overprotective lover, and even a witch who can turn men to pigs as easy as we feast on a holiday. Many would find ambiguity that a man could survive all of this and more, but when your mental toughness and quick thinking is stronger than your opponents, much of anything is possible. Both Odysseus and his wife Penelope use their own form of cunning to outsmart their enemies, whether it be the suitors or a two …show more content…
In turn Odysseus uses an even greater power, the power of mind over matter. He uses the his wisdom and cunning to survive because, “human physical strength alone is not sufficient for survival.” Because Odysseus has the mental toughness to withstand the pain of watching his men die at the hands of Polyphemus, Odysseus is able to stay within himself and come up with a brilliant plan to kill the beast. If Odysseus had more physical strength and less mental toughness he would have not been able to create such a plan nor be able to go through with it. He would have instead acted on impulse and attacked Polyphemus once the Cyclops swooped his men off the ground. This ultimately would have resulted in his death along with his entire crew because none of his men have the cunning or wisdom that Odysseus possess’. Even though Odysseus does in fact hold such a great amount of discipline and self-control he still has these impulses in which he is able to contain himself,