Odysseus strengths odysseus weaknesses extended response. Strengths and weaknesses of odysseus free essay example. Despite the warning of not taking the cattle with him to his. His greed gets him trapped in the cyclops cave, and his pride causes him to reveal his name to the cyclops, who calls down poseidons wrath. Strengths and weaknesses english 9highmoreharrold hs. Pride odysseus was also affected by his ego or pride. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Penelope, virtuous wife of odysseus the role of women in.
The antagonist, temptation this essay is about temptation in the odyssey, more specifically temptation and its role in the book. It was he who disguised himself as an old beggar and infiltrated the enemy. If you could rewrite the odyssey book 10, what new adventures would you create and introduce to the tale. I have always been a fan of the odyssey, and severins book really enlightens the geography of the voyage, as well as the character of the voyagers. Odysseus men had to remind him of home when he was. Homers classic poem features odysseuss encounters with the beautiful nymph calypso. He also finally understands the advice given by the blind prophet tiresias. Temptation in laments terms is the desire to do something you know you shouldnt do. There have been many instances where odysseus manifested courage.
When he was on the island of the cyclops, he had a plan to get take the eye of the cyclops. Showing how food displays everyday temptation and how odysseus recklessness causes his own troubled journey home. It is what costs him so much loss of time on his way home. Odysseuss quick thinking helps him out of some very tough situations, as when he escapes from the cave of the cyclops in book 9, or when he hides his. It enables the development of odysseus s true identity as a strong and heroic character and the diminishing of his disguise to occur without explicitly revealing his identity, at least not yet. As the crew climbs ashore, athena urges telemachus to put his shyness aside and question nestor about odysseus. In book 9, odysseus greatest weakness as a leader of men has to do with. The prince worries about his youth and inexperience, but athena assures him that the right words will come, with the help of the gods. Odysseus strengths and weaknesses the odyssey by homer is a metaphor for one mans spiritual quest. The events on helios island take place in book 12 of the oddyesy. However, he also relies on the help and faithfulness of others to protect him. How does book 21 of the odyssey foreshadow the events at the end. They stopped in front of the palace, and all around them echoed the sound of the lyre.
The next four books books 912 deal with the heros wanderings and are the most widely known in the epic. Odysseus is an intelligent and brave man, but in book ix he fails to. Summary and analysis book 10 the bewitching queen of aeaea. What are telemachus weaknesses in the odyssey answers. Three times and four times happy those danaans were who died then in wide troy land, bringing favor to the sons of atreus, as i wish i too had died at that time and met my destiny on the day when the greatest number of trojans threw their bronzeheaded weapons upon me, over the body of perished achilleus, and i. Odysseus weaknesses that inhibits his strengths were vengeance and prideful. Initially, he rebuffs her since he is waiting for the prophet to approach.
When telemachuss ship arrives at pylos the next morning, the crew finds 4500 of nestors people sacrificing bulls in honor of the god poseidon. Odysseus is a character in homers the odyssey, which is an epic with multiple books or chapters. What are weaknesses displayed by odysseus in the odyssey. The reason why the marriage of odysseus lasted is because penelope was a very talented wife and odysseus was a man worthy of her. Iliad and the odyssey the central pillars of ancient greek literature were written by legendary greek author homer. The sirens are synonymous with temptation, and in this moment, odysseus accepts the pull of temptation and his own weakness. When the trojans were in a drunken stupor, the greeks came out of the horse and killed the trojans, thus winning the battle of. There was no need for him to recount the stories of troy. He starts to listen to the advices of different people. Circe tells odysseus that no one has heard to the song of the sirens and lived. Penelope gets odysseus s bow out of the storeroom and announces that she will marry the suitor who can string it and then shoot an arrow through a line of twelve axes. Telemachus sets up the axes and then tries his own hand at the bow, but fails in his attempt to string it. The greeks were already well aware of his heroism and feats. In book 9, odysseus greatest weakness as a leader of men.
Odysseus learns how to use his brain instead of his hands. Odysseus exaggerated pride takes over him at times and causes him to make foolish decisions. In the underworld, he encounters many spirits, including that of his mother, anticlea. He was said to have helped ajax and diomedes to fend off trojan. Severins journey he uses the same boat that he used in his previous book on the jason voyage brings odysseus to life. Odysseus seems to be more than the average person, therefore he is an average person with a mixture of good and bad qualities. As they pass the island of the sirens the men put wax in their ears and lash odysseus to. The consequences of these flaws are the wrath of certain gods, like poseidon, who bears a grudge against odysseus since the trojan war, and the prolonging of his voyage back to ithaca. Odysseus does not discuss, at this point, why he was.
After reading book ten i think odysseus greatest strength is being very stretegic. After leaving the cyclops, the men travel to the islands of aeolus, the god of winds, who gives odysseus a bag containing all of the bad winds so that his journey will send him directly to ithaca. In the absence of odysseus, his palace in ithaca has been cluttered by suitors of odysseus wife penelope. Odysseus wants to bypass the island because of tiresias prophecy and circes warning.
The first four books of the odyssey describe telemachus travels in search of news of his missing father. Choose from 22 different sets of allusions in the odyssey flashcards on quizlet. He got th cyclops drunk and took its eye so i could no longer see. Odysseus shows his intelligence several times throughout homers epic poems, such as when he helped the greeks sneak into trojans camp via the trojan horse. The odyssey study guide books 14 flashcards quizlet. He loses the six to a writhing death, the most heartwrenching experience for odysseus in all his wanderings. The odyssey by homer is a metaphor for one mans spiritual quest. He fails to get even one of his men safely home to ithaka. He uses these strengths throughout the story as he goes on his journey. A good example of this is when he taunts the cyclops and is then cursed by poseiden.
Penelope asks odysseus thebeggar for news of her husband. His greed gets him trapped in the cyclops cave, and his pride causes him to reveal his name to the. She presents odysseus bow to the suitors and when addressing the suitors calls it king odysseus. The sun rose as circe finished, and the men prepared their ship for departure.
But we mustnt judge him here by our modern conception of a hero. Odysseus has many strengths, such as courage, intelligence, nobility, confidence and ambition. Learn allusions in the odyssey with free interactive flashcards. The test of the bowin books 1820, odysseus observes the suitors and finds that two in particular,antinous and eurymachus, are rude and demanding. In book ten odysseus is still recounting past adventures to the phaecians. Odysseus s one flaw in the odyssey is his incessant boasting. After his crew plundered ismaros, a coastal town of the kikones, they fought the army of the kikones. Weaknesses of odysseus and his crew in the odyssey essay. The first flaw of odysseus that causes several setbacks in his endeavor to get back home is hubris excessive pride. Having escaped the cyclops, odysseus and his men arrive at the home of aeolus. Packet work on final draft for the odyssey due day 4 in class and. Finally after gods coerce her to let me go, she helps me leave the island on a raft, where i almost make it to phaeacia, but poseidons vengence sends me overboard where i had to swim until i made it to land.
In spite of his being an epic hero, and as such, superior to common men, odysseus remains imperfect, with flaws and weaknesses like all other mortals. Three of odysseus strengths are two of odysseus weaknesses are odysseus is. Part 1 copy master question support literary analysis for questions 15, see page 18 of the pupil edition. How does book 21 of the odyssey foreshadow the events at. As menelaus tells telemachus in book 4, it was odysseus legendary ruse of the.
In book 9, odysseus describes his adventures with polyphemus, the cyclops. Odysseus dealt with excessive pride, hubris, throughout this story. Odysseus reveals his name and homeland to alcinous, and says calypso held him against his will prior to his arrival. When i thought about why odysseus preferred penelope to the goddess calypso and circe, for that matter it occurred to me that one difference between a goddess and a mortal is that a mortal can sin while a goddess. Why is odysseus the actual narrator in only one of four books of the odyssey.
Poseidon cursed odysseus and made his journey much harder than in had to be. If odysseus hadnt let his feeling of power and pride get to him, he wouldnt have run into as many obstacles. Throughout book 10 odysseus is very cunning, clever and wise. Thus, odysseus characterizes eumaeuss lending of a cloak as a hospitable charity but also a denial of odysseus s disguise of weakness and old age. When it comes to intellectual prowess, odysseus demonstrated. Odysseus learns how to use his brain instead of his. Odysseus s own men obstruct him often, particularly when they defy his and the gods commands not to kill the cattle of the sun. While we may not consider this a weakness, for odysseus it is. As the ship sailed away, odysseus told the men circes advice, though he told them that circe said he must hear the sirens songs, and didnt mention scylla and charybdis because he didnt want to paralyze the men with fear. Intelligence, and strength, are both great traits that describe odysseus, and his weaknesses are his pride, sensuality, lack of leadership, and temptation. However, along with odysseus heroic qualities, the odyssey also reveals three major flaws of his. The odyssey, the sequel to iliad, follows the story of odysseus who has not returned to his kingdom of ithaca after fighting the war of troy 10 years ago the plot.
As he climbs ashore, he complains about how much he suffered. While odysseus ensures that his men stop their ears with wax, he has them bind him to the ship so he can hear the sirens call. The final test of judgment in odysseus wanderings takes place at the island of thrinacia, land of the sungod helios. Odysseus complete his 10 year journey his weaknesses, vengeance. In book twenty one of the odyssey homer uses foreshadowing to hint at the events in the future. Odysseus floats for two days at sea before spotting land. In book xi of the odyssey, odysseus makes a trip to the underworld to seek the advice of the dead prophet tiresias. In the book the odyssey by homer, the hero odysseus has many humanlike flaws like excessive pride, selfishness, and lack of leadership that gets him and his crew into tough situations.
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