The Role Of Odysseus In The Odyssey

In the story The Odyssey, Odysseus is seen as heroic because of his determination, and his strategic actions throughout his journey. In the beginning of the story, Odysseus is put in a position where Poseidon is angry with him and his men after they ate some of his sheep on Poseidon’s isle. Poseidon then continuously kept him adrift at sea, which kept him from going home. Throughout the rest of the story, Odysseus endured many different hardships in order to return to his beloved. Through his journeys, Odysseus faced many trials. Such trials include, facing one of Poseidon’s sons, entering the isle of the lotus eaters, and stumbled across Circe, a powerful witch. One of the many trials that Odysseus faces includes escaping the Cyclops, Polyphemus. Odysseus sails to an island, where he finds a cave where the Cyclops lives. He and his men enter the cave, where the Cyclops traps them inside with him and his sheep. The Cyclops devours a few of Odysseus’s men, and they begin to lose hope of escaping. Odysseus must come up with a plan of escape, and save his men. Odysseus blinds Polyphemus with a burning stake, and him and his men escape by clinging to the undersides of the giant sheep when they were let out to graze. Odysseus showed heroism by doing what he had to do to escape the Cyclops, and save his men. He also showed …show more content…
After stumbling across the Isle, Odysseus once again had to save his men after they were enchanted by the fruit from the lotus plant. This fruit acted like a drug and took away the desire for the men to return home, and gave them their greatest fantasies. After quick thinking, and strategizing an escape plan, Odysseus had to drag his men back to the ship, and tie them down until the affects from the fruit wore off. Odysseus showed great courage and determination by dragging his men away from the isle, and doing what he could to help them until the fruit wore