Odysseus as an epic hero essay

The Odyssey, written by Homer, describes an epic hero to be a mortal male, someone who goes on along, dangerous expedition, also who is very brave, intelligent, and responsible.

He will face many conflicts yet always manages to prevail. Odysseus possesses all these traits and demonstrates it throughout the entire Odyssey, such as when Odysseus and his men become trapped in a Cyclops’ cave and he needs to figure out a way to escape using his intelligence as well as when he must think up how he is too make it passed a deathly part of the ocean that lures you to your death with divine, angelic songs, and also having to decide between the death of six men, or the death of everyone when Odysseus must choose to go through a six headed beast or an immense, gargantuan whirlpool. Odysseus has the trait of intelligence which is most shown in “ The Cyclops. He starts off by exhibiting the trait when Odysseus and his men are trapped in a cave and meet a Cyclops named Polyphemus. They notice that the Cyclops has no manners. Polyphemus starts asking them questions; Odysseus doesn’t want to tell him anything that can be used to track home back home if he escapes, so Odysseus tells Polyphemus, “ Cyclops, you ask my honorable name? Remember the gift you promised me, and I shall tell you.

My name is Nohbdy: mother, father, and friends, everyone calls me Nohbdy. ”(Line 313-316) This shows how quick Odysseus can think up plans to keep him from getting killed. Another time Odysseus shows his quick wits is the plan he formulates to escape the Cyclops’ home. Odysseus and his men get Polyphemus drunk and waited for him to fall asleep. Once asleep, they made a large spike which they then used to stab Polyphemus in the eye while he was asleep.

Polyphemus got up and opened the exit to call out to other fellow Cyclopes to come and help him. While Polyphemus did this, it granted Odysseus and his men time to get out of the cave. They covered themselves with sheep so Polyphemus would not recognize them as the fled away from the cave and back to their ship. This plan shows how Odysseus can think very quickly in tough situations. Odysseus exposes his bravery in “ The Sirens. ” Here, Odysseus must figure out a way to keep his men from hearing the sirens song. So he quickly presumes putting beeswax into his men’s ears. As described by Homer, “ I carved a massive cake of beeswax into bits and rolled them in my hands until they softened – no long task, for burning heat came down from the Helios, lord of high noon.

Going forward I carried wax along the line, and laid it thick on their ears. (Line 708-713) This shows how Odysseus continues to show his intelligence throughout The Odyssey. Odysseus’ bravery comes in when his punishment for staying in the Cyclops’ cave is too listening to the sirens song. He doesn’t get startled or chickens out so he commands his men too tie his up so there’s no possible way of Odysseus making the shop go towards the singing.

Odysseus’ advises to his men what Circe had ordered him to do by saying, “ Sirens weaving a haunting song over the sea we are to shun, she said and their green shore all sweet with clover’ yet urged that I alone should listen to their song. Therefore you are to tie me up, tight as a splint, erect along the mast, lashed to the mast, and if I shout and beg to be untied, take more turns of the rope to muffle me. ”(Line 690-698) This displays how brave Odysseus is to listen to a song that tortures you because of how heavenly it sounds to a person. Odysseus finally proves he has what it takes to be an epic hero in “ Scylla and Charybdis. ” Odysseus must choose between losing six men or having himself and everyone die. Odysseus hastily chooses to loose six men which meant he was to go through Scylla, a six headed monstrosity. Odysseus knew none of the men wanted to die or sacrifice themselves so he didn’t inform them about what he was planning to do.

Suddenly, Scylla came out of its cave and snatched six of Odysseus’ best men. Odysseus then ordered his remaining men to row for their lives so that Scylla wouldn’t eat any more of them. This commotion shows how Odysseus takes responsibility for his men’s lives and he wants them to make it home safely. He himself also wants to make it home to see his beautiful wife Penelope, as well as his son Telemachus. It’s now become very obvious that Odysseus is an epic hero.

Since he tricked the Cyclops, Polyphemus, and escaped his horrific cave, to where he must listen to a song that torments his with excruciating pain from how lovely it sounds to his ears. He finally proves his epic heroism when he sacrifices six of his men to save as many as he can. Although Odysseus made mistakes he always managed to conquer crucial and troublesome situations no matter what position he was in.