Odysseus Embodies The Greek's Ideal Hero

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Evaluate and Analyze the manner in which Odysseus embodies the Greek’s ideal hero Almost three thousand years ago, people living in Greece told stories, like epics. Epics are long narrative poems that tell of the adventures of heroes who in some way embodied the values of their civilizations. These heroes exhibit many of the same characteristics. In his epic, “The Odyssey”, Homer portrays Odysseus as a hero, because Odysseus also shares those characteristics. Odysseus embodies the Greek’s ideal hero, because he displays the traits of physical strength, mental prowess, and human flaws. Odysseus shows physical strength, along with many other heroes. Odysseus shows strength through blinding the Cyclopes. “...straight forward they sprinted, lifted it, and rammed it deep in his crater eye, and I leaned on it...we bored that great eye socket...” (377, 378, 383). The manner in which Odysseus is strong is shown through him blinding the Cyclopes, Polyphemus. Odysseus uses his physical strength to blind the …show more content…

Odysseus uses his intelligence to not get caught blinding Polyphemus by the other Cyclopes’. “My name is Nohbdy...everyone calls me Nohbdy...Polyphemus roared in answer: ‘Nohbdy, Nohbdy’s tricked me, Nohbdy’s ruined me!” (360, 361, 402, 403). Odysseus tricked Polyphemus so that he and his men could get past the Cyclopes’. His intelligence is shown through this quote by tricking the Cyclopes to think that his name was ‘Nohbdy’ which then resulted in Odysseus not to be caught. Odysseus is using his wit to find out what the Lotus is doing to his men. “... clear the beach and no one taste the Lotus, or you lose your hope of home…” (214, 215). Odysseus quickly found out that the Lotus makes you lose hope of going home. Overmore, he resolves to resist the temptations of the Lotus-Eaters. Odysseus shows mental prowess through tricking the Cyclopes, Polyphemus, and figuring out the threat the Lotus

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