The Character Odysseus in Homers Odyssey :: Odyssey essays

The Character Odysseus in Odyssey Odyssey is an epic story that has been a real piece of literature since it was first composed and will remain so for ages to come. One of the reasons it has been so is because of the hero, Odysseus.Odysseus is one of the first Greek mythic heroes storied for his brain as well as his muscle. Indeed he is a gay with an inquiring mind, and he is also a man with big prowess and bravery (123helpme.com/assets/3603.html). We also must non forget that he is a top-notch athlete which only adds more to this seemingly insuperable character. It is no wonder why many scholars refer to Odysseus as a powerful mythic hero. Odysseus often hesitates before acting, because he uses his reason and gift to adjudicate things. This patience is one of his most important additional attributes(library.thinkquest.org/19300/data/Odyssey/odysseus.html). It save him and his men many times. When the poem opens, it is the tenth year since the fall of Troy, and Odysseus has n ot yet returned to his foot in the island of Ithaca, but is detained in Ogygia, an island in the west, by the nymph Calypso (bartleby.com/22/1001.htmlHomer (fl. 850 B.C.). The Odyssey. The Harvard Classics. 1909-14). In disguise as an old friend of Odysseus, genus Athene travels to his manor in Ithaka, now infest with noisy, lustful suitors intent on marrying Odysseus wife, Penelope. Odysseus son, Telemakhos, unhappy among the suitors, greets Athena warmly as a stranger and invites her to their feast. As the suitors devour Odysseus oxen, Telemakhos says he believes his father - whom he does not know at all - is dead.(gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/odyssey/summ1.html). He is so faint-hearted of his own identity that he refuses to affirm without qualification his relationship to Odysseus. Athena introduces herself as Odysseus old friend Mentes and predicts that he will be sept soon. Telemakhos matures from a callow, helpless youth into a stronger, more confident man (Approache s to Teaching Homers Iliad and Odyssey ). Just as Odysseus story is about returning home to his old identity, Telemakhos is about forging a new one as Athena tells him, You are a child no longer.(gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/odyssey/summ1.html). As Telemakhos develops from youth to man inspired by Athena, especially her favorable comparisons betwixt him and his father he stands up against the suitors in his assembly. Failing in an onslaught to get the Ithacans to help him to assert his rights, Telemakhos sets out for Pylus under the guidance of the goddess Athena, who is draped as Mentes, a friendly chief.