Odysseus Is A Trickster

Improved Essays
The Odyssey, written by Homer, is an adventurous journey Odysseus experiences on the way back home to Ithaca and Penelope. Odysseus comes across many situations where decisions need to be made in order to find safety. Odysseus has many roles in the Odyssey. Odysseus is known as a soldier and a king, as well as many more things. However, Odysseus was also acknowledged as a trickster, which defines Odysseus as a person and has been an aid in many situations, for when Odysseus encountered the Cyclops, Circe, and the suitors back in Ithaca.

Odysseus first encountered the Cyclops when the ship arrived on the land, where there is a boulder in the way. Odysseus believes the Cyclops is strong enough to move the boulder out the way. When the Cyclops first arrives, Odysseus and the men feel threatened, but Odysseus soon calms the Cyclops down and offers wine after eating down a few men. This is showed through the statement, “Cyclops, try some wine/ Here’s liquor to wash down your scraps of men/ I meant it for an offering/ if you would help us home” (ix, 256-259). Polyphemus, the Cyclops, then asks for a name, and Odysseus responds with “ 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” (ix, 272-275). Odysseus does this to keep the identity a secret, so Polyphemus wouldn’t punish Odysseus since the Cyclops is Poseidon’s son. The Cyclops falls asleep, drunk with wine, when Odysseus hardens a wooden stick in the fire, and blinds
…show more content…
Odysseus fooled many for the sake of moving on, and returning to Ithaca. Odysseus tricked Polyphemus and blinded his eye, as well as tricking the suitors in believing Odysseus was an old beggar who had no chance marrying Penelope. In the end, Odysseus still returned home, and has now lived his life

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Odysseus Character Traits

    • 1047 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The adventures of Odysseus are a major part of Odyssey. Some people think that the adventures have simply transformed a man primarily concerned about his family into a mass murderer. But I think his adventures have decimated his excessive pride and intensified his patience, and intensified his love for his family. Moreover, he also has a constructive influence on his son.…

    • 1047 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Odysseus Hero Quotes

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Odysseus is shown to be very cunning and sly. During his encounter with the Cyclops, Polyphemus, Odysseus and his men are trapped in his cave. He comes up with a plan to get the Cyclops drunk so he could blind him. Odysseus also tells the Cyclops that his name was Nohbody. “Cyclops, you ask my honorable name?…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Odysseus says, “’I wanted to see [the Cyclops] and claim the stranger’s gift… So we lit a fire and made our thank-offering, and helped ourselves to as many cheeses as we wanted to eat; then we sat inside till he should come back with his flocks’” (111). Odysseus is impulsive and does not think before he acts. He is very selfish and only wants to see what glory the Cyclops gives him. He expects everyone to bow down to him, let alone know who he is, contrasting Odysseus when he fights the suitors at the end of the story and receives glory from his city. When Polyphemus, the Cyclops who happens to be Poseidon’s son, returns home, he traps Odysseus and his crew in his cave.…

    • 1566 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Greek epic, The Odyssey, is a story of Odysseus, a war hero whom, after the Trojan War, had to find his way home to Ithaca. On his journey, he comes upon many perils, afflicting his crew and himself. His journey lasts twenty years, and the story consists of many different islands. The Odyssey can be interpreted as an allegory for the curiosity and temptations people face in life, as Odysseus must keep himself and his men from the Lotus Eaters, and Sirens, who lure them away from their voyage, and the Cyclops, who Odysseus meets out of curiosity.…

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How Is Odysseus Selfish

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Odysseus is a self-centered leader who allows his own personal desires to cloud his judgement as a leader which puts not only himself, but his men in danger. When Odysseus and his men come upon a cave full of sheeps and crates full of cheese, Odysseus decides to enter the cave. Even when his men advise him to take some cheese and drive the lambs to the ship and set sail, odysseus lets his curiosity get the best of him and decides to wait for the giant to return. “...We looked around at everything inside…. My men came pleading, take these cheese, come back, throw open all the pens, and make a run for it. ….…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Characters are similar to people in real life in that we all have good and bad qualities. A character without any real personality traits is boring and will not keep an audience hooked. Throughout literature there has been a focus on finding and exposing flaws of characters. A good character is one that has many flaws but many good traits to balance it out. However, how bad should a character be?…

    • 813 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Virtue In Homer's Odyssey

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Then he shares his wine with the Cyclops. Once the Cyclops was drunk, Odysseus decided to execute his plan. He ordered his crew to pick up a pointy log and use it a battering ram. Then they ram the…

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Wild with arrogance and a desire for recognition, Odysseus becomes uncontrollable. Exclamation points, following each of Odysseus’ jeers, illustrate the great extent of his unruliness. “They begged,” recalls Odysseus, describing how his men implored him to stop provoking the cyclops. The use of the word begged reinforces the existence of Odysseus’ monomania. Not even his pleading men could stop Odysseus from seeking his own glory.…

    • 1296 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Have you ever spent nearly 20 years trying to reach one goal? Have you’ve heard the great story of The Odyssey by Homer? This is a heroic story of a man and his determination to return to his homeland and to his family. Odysseus, the heroic man, that endures different obstacles that are in his way in order to return home to the life he once had. Throughout his journey, Odysseus loses friends and encounters Greek gods.…

    • 1104 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Odyssey, an epic poem by Homer later adapted into a play by Simon Armitage, is a narrative depicting the journey of the greek hero Odysseus back to Ithaca after fighting in the Trojan War. His voyage spans twenty years, and throughout the course of his trip back home, Odysseus and his men encounter various obstacles that they need to overcome. Since Odysseus is essentially the leader of his crew, it is most often his responsibility to defeat the enemy and solve the problem at hand. At times, his actions could be classified as violent and unjust, such as him causing unnecessary conflicts with enemies and resorting to killing them. Nonetheless, Odysseus is still a war veteran, and has been exposed to this brutal style of solving issues for…

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Odysseus Hero Analysis

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages

    When reading The Odyssey, most think of the main character, Odysseus, as a true and epic hero on his adventures. In reality, Odysseus is not as much of a hero as his made out to be. His decisions are cowardly and unwise of him to make. The Greek gods do most of the work during his venture to Ithaca. Plus, Odysseus’ motives are almost entirely for his own self gain.…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Alex Drolet Mrs. Rabe English 7A 8 December 2017 Odysseus demonstrated self-control In this essay I will be answering the question does Odysseus have self-control. I think that Odysseus does have self-control from what I know already. He was a great war commander who lead the Greeks to their victory in the Trojan War. It was a very long war which took self-control to fight without leaving his team.…

    • 1040 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    2.3.2 Mythological creatures in literary works Cannibals appear in different forms in literary works. Appointed in classics like Homers The Odyssey 9 and the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel, the human cannibalistic element is concealed skillfully by the authors with exchanging the human figure for a mythological creature. Frequently the literary executor of cannibalism resembles real issues that the authors faced during their lifetimes in their society. The Odyssey tells the story of the king of Ithaca Odysseus and his decennial journey back home after the Trojan War.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Odysseus custom makes the identity of the beggar to use the Suitors’ hubris against them by making himself appear non-threatening to their pursuit of his wife. By underestimating the beggar, they have doomed themselves by allowing Odysseus to plan how he can take the Suitors by storm and take back his home. In another adventure, Odysseus uses a similar tactic to dupe Polyphemus the Cyclops into underestimating him by showing himself as a helpless shipwrecked sailor, allowing him the time to plan his escape (14.251). Odysseus benefits himself by tricking those he meets into thinking he is weak and using their false sense of security to his advantage. By fooling others, Odysseus is able to create the best situation to have a safe…

    • 1203 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The epic poem, The Odyssey, is written by Homer in 800 B.C.E., and is full of adventure, including ships lost at sea, terrible monsters and gods who take out their revenge on mortals, and even a hero named Odysseus who after twenty long years eventually makes it back home to Ithaca. But really, Odysseus’ homecoming is what The Odyssey is all about. Time and time again, Odysseus desires to return to Ithaca, the land of his heritage, and he longs to return to his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus. Everything that happens in The Odyssey revolves around this desire, including his mistakes. His cunning, strength, and even divine intervention eventually bring Odysseus home again.…

    • 1244 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays

Related Topics