Odysseus Reliability

Odysseus is easily one of the first and most notorious, unreliable narrators in literature. His cunning, arrogant personality leads him to most likely embellish the events in his life. Nonetheless, readers do not have accounts from any other characters to compare with Odysseus’ stories of his journey, so readers will never truly know whether Odysseus is the grand liar that people perceive him to be. Upon observing Odysseus’ character through his storytelling, it is evident that he does have an extremely conceited aspect of his personally. Ergo, this leads readers to suspect that Odysseus’ stories may not be 100% true.

The Trojan War is a defining event in Odysseus' life, and his actions there allow readers to better discern the reliability of Odysseus as a narrator. His master plan to defeat the Trojans was purely based on deception. Luckily, the Greeks were successful in their efforts using the Trojan Horse, a hollow horse bearing Greek warriors that allowed them to sneakily attack and defeat the Trojans. Odysseus was the master behind this clever, elaborate plan. Thus, this shows that his nature is perhaps a bit skeptical, therefore readers should be cognizant of this when reading the personal accounts of Odysseus.

From the get-go, Odysseus lies about his name, stating that his name is really Nobody. After coming up with a plan to escape the Cyclopes’ land and succeeding, Odysseus egotistical personality will not let him just leave the island peacefully; he has to boast to the Cyclops and give himself credit. Unfortunately, this is not Odysseus’ best moment, as this leads to Poseidon’s eventually revenge on Odysseus for interfering with his son, the Cyclops. Ultimately, this events shows Odysseus’ true colors as the unreliable, overconfident person he