Odysseus Character Analysis Essay

Odysseus is the legendary king of Ithaca in ancient Greek myth, son of Laertes and Anticleia. He appears in Homer’s epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey , serving as the protagonist for the latter. He is often portrayed as being extremely smart and clever, and in The Iliad he is credited with creating the Trojan Horse, which famously allows the Greeks to get inside the city of Troy and ultimately win the war. He actually tries to avoid serving in the war, attempting to pose as a mad farmer and not be known as the king of Ithaca, but the crew sees through this, and place his then infant son Telemachus in front of his plow. After this, he is forced to join the warmongering Greeks. His journey home from the war is the main plot for The Odyssey. …show more content…
However, the main conflict of the epic is his favor, or lack thereof, with the god of the sea, Poseidon. Poseidon takes the Trojan’s side during the war, so he is angry with the Greek victory. And during the course of his voyage home, Odysseus blinds his son Polyphemus the Cyclops, and his men eat the sacred sheep of Helios, further fueling Poseidon’s fury. The misfortune and eventual shipwreck of Odysseus’ crew is attributed to this. But even through this, he finally returns to his kingdom. His return is bittersweet, however, as he discovers his wife, surrounded by suitors. Still, he reclaims his throne, wife, and son after twenty years away from his kingdom. Odysseus today has several cultural impacts, including a “Trojan Horse” becoming a term for anything innocent used as a guise that then turns out to be malicious, and an “Odyssey” being a term for a long journey. Odysseus is a powerful figure who still has literary impacts today, and he long will in the