Leo Buscaglia, a motivational speaker and American author, once stated, “Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time” (thinkexist.com). The quotation reveals that anyone can have an adventure because life is an adventure. Homer’s the Odyssey and Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote tell the stories of Odysseus and Don Quixote. The two men’s lives are full of adventure, but they are two completely different adventures. Odysseus continually fights for his life, whereas Don Quixote simply fights for chivalry. Odysseus and Don Quixote are different adventure heroes because of the reasons for their adventures, their accomplishments, and their bravery. First, Odysseus and Don Quixote differ because of the different reasons …show more content…
Odysseus defeats great monsters with the help of his men and the gods. Homer added Greek mythology to the epic poem because that is the main belief of the people at the time. The people believed that the gods and the fates controlled what happened in their lives. Odysseus’s story reflects this belief. His accomplishments are based on the help of the gods, or what the fates wrote into his life. He defeated the monsters and overcame the struggle because that is what was supposed to happen in his life. Odysseus could make his own choices, but his journey is made easier when he listens to the gods and their …show more content…
Both men are brave in their own way. Odysseus has to develop his bravery during his travel. He did not want to fight in the Trojan War, but was tricked into going. If he had not gone, then Poseidon would not be mad at him. Odysseus gets braver as his journey continues throughout the epic. Odysseus shows his bravery through the example that he sets for his men. When he and his men are getting the Cyclops drunk so that they can defeat him, he says, “So, you ask me the name I’m known by Cyclops? I will tell you. But you must give me a guest-gift as you’ve promised. Nobody- that’s my name. Nobody- so my mother and father call me, all my friends.” (Homer 9.408-411). Odysseus showed his bravery and wisdom by thinking ahead to what the Cyclops might do when they attack him. This proved to be helpful because the other monsters come to help the Cyclops, but left when he screams that nobody is killing him. Odysseus’s bravery is built into his character and is shown through his
In The Odyssey, Odysseus portrays an important trait to the story, perseverance. His perseverance really stands out as something that he has and always will have. On his long journey home, he never gives up and just stays where he is, no matter how tempting. He always manages to push through and keep getting closer to his goal of returning home. An example of when he does this is when he is faced with the challenge of getting past Skylla and Kharybdis. He knows that either path will kill at least some of his men and possibly him, but he knows he has to keep going. "And all this time,/ in travail, sobbing, gaining on the current,/ we rowed into the strait---Skylla to port/ and on our starboard beam Kharybdis, dire/ gorge of the salt sea tide." (Homer, 12. 301-305). In O Brother, Where Art Thou, Everett also showed his perseverance. While trying to get back to his wife, he also faces many obstacles that he must get through. There were many people and things keeping him from where he was going, but he pushed through and got there anyway. His greatest obstacle to get through was when he came upon the sirens. He went down to the river and the sirens got the men drunk enough to fall asleep. While asleep, Pete was turned in by the sirens, but the other men hadn't been turned in yet. They woke up and were forced to get out of there as fast as they could with a frog they thought was Pete. Delmar wanted to stay and try to change Pete back but Everett told him they needed to persevere and keep going, and they did. Another trait that both of these men show in their stories is their cleverness. Odysseus show...
Courage and bravery are two things that Odysseus has a lot of. This is evident when he defies the god Poseidon, telling him that he is unstoppable. Odysseus then gets back on his ship on starts to sail on Poseidon's waters back to Ithaca. Pride is good to have, but in Odysseus’s case, it’s a little too much. On the other hand, he does things that make him a great hero. When Circeturned his crew into animals, he climbed straight up a mountain, risking his life just to save his crew. He will do anything to get back to Ithaca and see his wife and son, no matter how crazy it is. He even goes into the underworld to speak to a prophet about how to get back to Ithaca. Being brave and courageous is all about being willing and able to go to the extremes to help or possibly save people or even a place in need.
Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus shows us a vast amount of bravery and courage; the primary thing a hero needs. In book 9, when Odysseus battled Polyphemus (the Cyclops) to try and save the lives of all the crew members held captive in the cave, he was demonstrating bravery the entire time because, the true meaning of bravery is when you have the ability to challenge fear, or danger which is exactly what he did in this situation. Even though Odysseus was afraid to confront the Cyclops, he did it anyway in order to get him and his crew members out of the Cyclops cave alive; despite the 2 men the Cyclops ate. Another way Odysseus demonstrates courage and bravery was when he didn’t give us on his crew even when things got rough for example, when he faced Scylla knowing he would lose se...
Odysseus is a hero because he acts courageously while facing the many challenges he encounters. Odysseus’s shows great bravery when he engages in physical challenges. Odysseus daringly fights against the suitors, while significantly outnumbered: “For I must tell you this is no affair / of ten or even twice ten men, but scores, throngs of them” (XVI, 291 – 293). Even though Odysseus is facing hundreds of men, his bravery keeps him confident that he can win the battle. Odysseus must use his physical strength when Poseidon punishes him with turbulent waves: “Odysseus’s knees grew slack, his heart / sickened, and he said within himself / Rag of man that I am, is this the end of me?” (V, 307 – 309). Odysseus is exhausted from the torrential sea, yet refuses to give up because of enormous courage and his unwillingness to surrender. Odysseus must also cope with emotional challenges throughout his journey. His emotions are tested when he ventures to the underworld, Hades, and must confront his greatest fear, death: “From every side they came and sought the pit / with rustling cries; and I grew sick with fear. / But presently I gave command to my officers” (XI, 45 -47). Although Odysseus is deeply fearful when he comes face to face with the dead, his mental f...
Odysseus was an epic hero depicted in the Homer's The Odyssey. He responded to the call to travel to Troy to help Agamemnon get Helen. He encountered great confrontation along the way. He fought the Cicones, the Lotus Eaters, the Cyclops, Polyphemus, the Laestrygonians, the witch goddess Circe, the lonely Sirens, Scylla, Charybdis, the Sun, and Calypso. He and his men traveled great distances under severe circumstances. Odysseus answers a second call to return home to his family. He returns a more mature warrior and a wiser man. Because of this he is able to conquer the suitors and reclaim his palace and his family. As in all Greek literature, the epic hero Odysseus answers a call to action, suffers through great confrontation, and returns with a better understanding of life.
In fact Odysseus is a all together a very different kind of hero. Odysseus is not known for his strength in battle such as Achilles or Ajax, but for his wit. Instead of simply attacking or overpowering his enemies like Achilles would, Odysseus out smarts him. This ability to rely on wit instead of might is particular important in the Odysseys. In the Odyssey all of Odysseus enemies are supernatural in natural whether god, witch, nymph or Cyclops, none of his enemies can be conquered by brute force. A specific example is the Cyclops. Odysseus could not physically over power...
To be an epic hero one must portray qualities of bravery, strength, and intelligence. In addition, one must be able to lead others to victory. Odysseus portrays all of these qualities. He is brave and intelligent, this is proven when he tricked the Cyclops Polyphemus by telling Polyphemus his name was “Nohbdy”. This is said when Odysseus says “My name is Nohbdy: mother, father, and friends,/everyone calls me Nohbdy.’” (Homer 9. 274-275) In addition, later that night he disguised his men as sheep thus allowing them to escape because, Polyphemus accidentally unwittingly let the men out of his cave. The greatest example of Odysseus's physical strength came with the test of the suitors, crafted by Penelope. Odysseus was the only man strong enough to string the bow. After his identity was revealed, Odysseus slayed every man in the room. He is inarguably the strongest of all the men who want Penelope, not simply the
First of all, Odysseus is brave and courageous, giving him the initiative to fulfill his goals. One example is when Odysseus confronts Skylla. Odysseus purposely “made [his] way along to the foredeck—thinking to see her first from there” (Homer 217). If he was scared, he would have hidden underneath the deck. But instead, Odysseus goes out to face the beast. Odysseus knows that Skylla is immortal and cannot die, yet he is brave enough to confront her. Next, Odysseus fights the suitors, who are courting Penelope in his palace. The suitors greatly outnumber Odysseus, but Odysseus still chooses to fight even though the odds are against him and he is able to win. He stands up against those who do wrong. Having the courage to fight, Odysseus defeats the suitors and fulfills his goal of regaining his palace. If Odysseus was a coward and did not fight, then the suitors would have eventually won Penelope, resulting in Odysseus losing his palace and his wife. Many people have bravery and courage, but not many use it, as Odysseus does, to achieve their purpose.
“Men hold me / formidable for guile in peace and war (Homer 488).” The quote in the beginning of Book 9 perfectly sums up Odysseus because he does indeed fulfill what he states. Odysseus is a hero that would be known for his effectiveness in war and, generally, his great ability to overcome other troubles. He cleverly maneuvers his crew eventually back to their homeland surmounting many perils that any other person could not. He never loses hope and he never lets it get in his way. In the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is a hero because Odysseus is loyal to his crew, he is a clever and intelligent man, and he is a courageous soldier and leader on the voyage back to Ithaca.
One example from the text that shows odysseus have courage is found in book 10 of the odyssey, in lines 45-47, Odyssey says, “Agents this advice however, odysseus rushes to save his man from the enchantress.”(387). odyssey wanted to show Eurylochus that he has strength in pain or grief.
Odysseus, during his long journey, exhibited many heroic qualities including bravery, strength, and determination. He was determined to return to his family after hs journey, and he bravely fought to stay alive during the cyclope situation, as well as other situations, and showed strength by being able to battle the cyclopes in self-defense. However, Odysseus was also obnoxiously arrogant about his victory and was actually very selfish throughout his entire story; he almost did not leave his town to help with the war because he did not want to leave to protect his family. Although Odysseus exemplified heroic qualities, this does not make him a true hero.
To begin with, Odysseus deserves to be called a hero because his courage is necessary for his survival. If Odysseus did not have courage, then he wouldn’t have survived the journey. Even though Odysseus is not fearless, he still has courage because he fights of the terrors. When approached with Polyphemos, the Kyklops, Odysseus was very afraid because the Kyklops was a huge man-eating monster. But Odysseus had the ability to not worry, control his men, and have the courage to fight the Kyklops using his wits. Another example is when Odysseus had the option to either go to Skylla and have only six men die or go towards Kharybdis and have either all men die or all men live. Odysseus was not very sure which one to go towards. The quote “that sight-far the worst I ever suffered” (XII, line 334) shows the reader that he was not fearless and rather frightened, but he was courageous by going with his “gut” feeling and going towards Skylla to risk six men instead all of them. Odysseus is also calm when in difficult situations, which means he doesn’t worry when things take a turn for the worst. Odysseus was calm when he was floating on the middle of the sea after the gods had destroyed his ship and his companions had died because they had eaten the cattle. It took him a lot of mental courage to stay calm and have hope that the gods would...
The word “hero” has several definitions. In Greek mythology, a hero was originally a demigod. A hero can be the principle character in a play, movie, novel, or poem. A hero can even simply mean someone who is discerned by outstanding courage, dignity, or power. Even though there a many different types of heroes, they have all been through a journey with many obstacles that they had to overcome. The journey of a hero is one huge cycle, starting at the home of the hero and ending at the same place, the home. There are two very important stages of journey cycle—the road of trials and crisis/salvation. The road of trials stage is basically the obstacles the potential hero had to overcome. The crisis/salvation stage is the disaster that occurred and how the hero was saved from it. Odysseus faced many obstacles, and there were many crises that he underwent. The journey of Odysseus was mythological. He left his homeland of Ithaca to go fight in the Tro...
The epic poem The Odyssey, written by Homer, centers around the main protagonist Odysseus and his long journey back home. Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, returns home after defeating the Trojans in a ten year war. On his way back, he angers Poseidon, god of the sea, by blinding his son, Polyphemus the Cyclops. Due to Odysseus’ actions, Poseidon refuses to let Odysseus reach home, and Odysseus and his crew are forced to go through a series of obstacles throughout the epic. Through this adversity, Odysseus must show his heroic attributions in order to survive. Homer portrays Odysseus as a hero by giving him characteristics such as: craftiness, loyalty, and bravery.
The challenges that Homer give the protagonist is all a test of character. Odysseus continues to pass the obstacles with flying colors, but his arrogance is the one flaw that is in dire need of correction. Some of the many challenges Odysseus overcomes on his voyage home is defeating the Cicones, surviving the Island of the Lotus Eaters, outsmarting the Giant Cyclops, saving his men from Circe, Traveling to Hades, passing between Scylla and Charybdis, escaping Calypsos’ Island and many more. Odysseus survives these obstacles and uses his smarts to escape near disaster. Often times he was the only one to survive these things and his crew often lost their lives due to their own stupidity. “‘We left the island and resumed our journey in a state of gloom; and the heart was taken out of my men by the wearisome rowing. But was our own stupidity that had deprived us of the wind.’”(P127 L75-79) Odysseus shows how he is an extraordinary man by being much smarter than his crew and the men that follow him. As a part of this stripping of Odysseus, Homer shows that Odysseus is a collective symbol of Everyman. On the one hand Odysseus is a great warrior, who is extremely intelligent, noble, and a great man. Although he has many god- like qualities he is still human. He shows that he is human and like every man, because of the fact that he still has major flaws. The