Comparing Odysseus And Telemachus In Homer's Odyssey

The story of Homer’s Odyssey tells the tales of Odysseus, king of Ithaka. He loses his way on his way back from the Trojan war. Odysseus confronts extremely difficult ordeals to come home and routinely wins. Homer uses the differences in the Strength, courage, cunning, and mercy of Odysseus and Telemachus in order to show that Odysseus is more of an hero than Telemachus.
One way Odysseus and telemachus can be compared is their courage. Both Telemachus and Odysseus are very courageous. They have to be courageous to be the heroes that they are. However, Odysseus is the main character of the poem and only earned that status by proving himself through many harrowing encounters. Homer lets the reader know that Odysseus is greater, and specifically more courageous, than Telemachus when they both react differently to the problem of the
suitors.
When Odysseus says, “I’d rather have my head cut from my shoulders by some slashing adversary, if I brought no hurt upon that crew!” (121-123), Homer is showing the readers that Odysseus will not avoid any fight that he thinks is a noble fight. No matter how unevenly matched the battle is, if it is a battle that should be fought, Odysseus has the courage to go forward. In fact, he would rather die in a noble fight, than have the guilt of not participating in that noble fight. Telemachus, on the other hand, regards his own safety as a valuable asset and is incredulous when Odysseus suggests such a miss-matched encounter. Telemachus shows this when he questions Odysseus’s suggestion to fight; “How can two men do battle with a household in their prime?”(289-290). When Telemachus says this he shows that he does not have Odysseus’s immense courage and
does not trust his combat ability enough to take on sixty men by himself, as the odds suggest he must. Odysseus proves his courage and confidence to the reader by defiantly suggesting to fight such odds, and confidently suggesting that his victory is quite possible. Therefore, Odysseus is more of an epic hero than Telemachus because the obvious differences in their courage.
Another important quality of Odysseus that separates him in heroic status is his strength. Although Telemachus is obviously a very strong man, Odysseus is undoubtedly the strongest human being in the poem. Homer contrasts the strength of Telemachus to the god-like strength of Odysseus when they both attempt to string the great bow of Odysseus, with quite different results. Telemachus is the first one to step up to the challenge and even after mustering all of his strength, he could not get the loop of the bowstring over the bow staff. “Three times he put his back into it and sprang it, three times he had to slack off "(143-144). When Telemachus almost succeeds the reader realizes that he is incredibly strong, but clearly not on Odysseus level. Odysseus obliterates all ideas that anyone could even try to get on his level, and reveals himself as the formidable Odysseus, when he strings the bow easily in front of an awed audience of suitors. “So effortlessly Odysseus in one motion strung the bow” (465-466). If a forty-year-old can undisputedly triumph over a group of athletic twenty-year-olds, than the forty-year-old is clearly superior. When Telemachus gets very close to stringing the bow it says a lot about him, but when Odysseus, in his forties, shows he still has his defining strength, it says more. Odysseus’s most distinctive quality, which separates him from Telemachus as a hero is his incredible strength.