Essay The Odyssey

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Destiny Buccieri
Mr. Landsberg
Honors English 10 Period 5
30 November 2014

The Odyssey
After reading The Odyssey it is evident that no matter what obstacle he and his men face, big or small, Odysseus' character remains the same. In the epic poem The Odyssey
Homer explores and describes the life of a man named Odysseus. Many of Odysseus' god­like traits are evident throughout the many challenges he and his men face. Odysseus is a very clever, brave, and strong man. Throughout this epic, there are many situations where Odysseus proved his cleverness that ultimately saved him and most of the times his men too. One example of his cleverness is in book five, Odysseus tells Calypso that he does not miss his wife, but that he was simply homesick. He did this so that she would not get jealous and help him home. In book nine there are many great examples of Odysseus' cleverness. First to escape the island of the Lotus Eaters
Odysseus has to tie his men down preventing them from eating any more of the flowers. Later in book nine when he and his men are trapped in the cave with Polyphemus, Odysseus knows that he cannot kill the cyclops because Polyphemus is the only one strong enough to move the boulder from in front of the door so instead he devises a plan and sets it into motion. This is clever because even in a very stressful situation, he stays calm and thinks through the situation and devises a solution. Then Odysseus gives Polyphemus wine to make him fall asleep faster and daze his senses. “Nobody­that’s my name. Nobody­so my mother and father call me, all my

friends” (223). Odysseus tricks Polyphemus into thinking that his name is Nobody so that when he and his men attack and Polyphemus’s brothers come to help him, he yells ‘help Nobody is killing me’ therefore his brothers would think that the plague has fallen on Polyphemus. “I lashed them abreast, quietly, twisting the willow­twigs the cyclops slept on­giant, lawless brute­I took them three by three; each ram in the middle bore a man while the two rams on either would shield him well.” (225). The newly blinded Polyphemus has only one way to catch the men, by feeling around for them. The clever Odysseus disguises his men by blending them in with the cattle so when Polyphemus tries to find them he will only feel cattle. Following after during book twelve Odysseus devises another clever plan that will save his men from the sirens; he has his crew put wax in their ears so that they incapable of hearing the sirens. Odysseus' last clever plan was when he returned home to Ithica, he did not attack the suitors immediately. He waited until after he disguised himself as a beggar and works out a plan to take all of their weapons.
Then he attacks with the help of his son, Telemachus. All of these quotes and examples emphasize the great intelligence of Odysseus, a trait he would not have survived without. Bravery is one of Odysseus' many qualities that permits him to survive all of his adventures. In one adventure, Odysseus comes across the goddess Circe who has turned most of his men into pigs. Eurylochus somehow slips away from Circe and fills in Odysseus on what has happened. When Odysseus offers to rescue the men, Eurylochus says that no man can return alive. Knowing this, the brave Odysseus says, "Very well, Eurylochus, you may stay here in this place, eat and drink beside the ship. But as for me, go I must, and go I will." (117) Before he knows that he would be granted immunity by Athena he goes to rescue his men, fearless. “Men of war still wrapped in bloody armor­thousands swarming around the trench from every side­

unearthly cries­ blanching terror gripped me! I ordered the men at once to flay the sheep that lay before us, killed by my ruthless blade, and burn them both, and then say prayers to the gods, to the almighty god of death and dread Persephone.”(250­251) In the midst of book eleven
Odysseus has to visit Hades,
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