The Qualities Of Odysseus In Homer's The Odyssey

In The Odyssey, Homer gives Odysseus qualities of cleverness and skill while he overcomes his obstacles. Odysseus and his men face these challenges when Poseidon’s son, Polyphemus, curses Odysseus and his men when Odysseus tells Polyphemus who blinded him. Polyphemus then prays to Poseidon who asks for chaos on Odysseus’ voyage home, and he would rather have him dead than return home hurt. Because of this, Odysseus faces many decisive tasks ahead of his embarkment back home. When he lands at the island of the Lotus-Eaters, he saves his men and he forces them to stay on the ship. He decides to tie himself to a pole because he wants to hear the sirens, but he doesn't want his ship to go towards them. He decides between Scylla and Charybdis, and Odysseus makes a decision because he wants his men to stay alive. When Odysseus arrives home to Ithaca, he is sneaky when learning about the suitors in his palace. Odysseus uses his
When Odysseus and his men land on this island, he sends out three of his best men, and he learns about the native people on this island, and all that they do is eat the lotus flower. The lotus symbolizes a drug, and any men who eats this flower refuses to leave the island. Odysseus ‘“...brought them back, back to the hollow ships”’ (Homer lines 110-111, pg. 214). Odysseus is seen as a hero here because he saves his men from never returning home again, and he also did not lose any men. Also, he uses his cleverness to his advantage when he passes the Sirens. Circe tells Odysseus to avoid the sirens, so he tells his men to ignore his orders to go towards the sirens, and to tie him up to a pole on his ship. He then plugs his men’s ears with beeswax, and the ship passes the tempting sirens. The crew “...left the Sirens fading in our wake” (Homer line 213, pg. 277), and the journey home continues. Odysseus uses his cleverness here to save his men, and his actions show that he is a heroic