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Odysseus' Characteristics.

Odysseus' qualities and flaws.





Odysseus is one of the first Greek mythic heroes renowned for his brain as well as his muscle. He is a legendary figure with more than the usual amount of brains and muscle. Sometimes he is almost superhuman. He is a fascinating character with various dimensions.

Odysseus is prudent. In hard situation, he does not reveal his real identity but he prefers to disguise. In this epic, we find him disguised in order to test Eumaios? loyalty. Later, we find him also disguised as a beggar so he can enter his house and kill the suitors. He is a man of reason as well as action, but he often hesitates before taking action. He doesn?t reveal himself immediately but he waits for the right moment to do so. His patience is one of the most important attributes. He is also an inquiring man with noticeable bravery. He is extremely cautious that he uses his reason to valuate things.

Odysseus is nimble witted. This is very obvious in his experience at the land of the Cyclops, which are giants with a single eye. They have no culture, i.e. they don?t know how to show hospitality. Thus, they devoured some of Odysseus? men and imprisoned the rest. Odysseus found that respect is useless with such kind of beings, so he decided to lull the monster to sleep in order to stick a sharpened stake into his eye. Polyphemus called out for help and cried that ?No man? blinded him for Odysseus told him before that No man was his name. Then Odysseus and his crew escaped by tying themselves to the underside of Polyphemus? sheep.

As an epic hero, he is the most versatile in Greek literature, if not in all Western literature. Cleverness is the most prominent characteristic; he is the one who proposed the stratagem of the Wooden Horse, the means that ended the Trojan War. Thus, he is a resourceful man with extraordinary imaginative skills.
We find him also as a cunning man; he uses his gift of storyteller many times in this epic in order to serve his own purposes. When the master storyteller, Odysseus finishes the flashback of his adventures, the court is spellbound by his fascinated way: ?no one stirred or sighed.? It is of course a great compliment; it is his tool as well as his story; he can talk more than 100 pages.

On the whole, as a human being he has defects. One of his flaws is pride, which is one of the seven deadly sins. Pride is good to have but in Odysseus? case it approached a high level. This is clear in the passage that took place in Cyclops? island; when Odysseus succeeds to flee from this island, he begins to brag about his exploit. Polyphemus hears that and hurls giant rocks in the direction of the ship. At that moment, driven by his pride, Odysseus reveals his real identity to Polyphemus. So, he calls upon his father Poseidon to punish the man who caused him harm. This hurt Odysseus very much because this mighty god made his journey to home so longer and arduous.
Another flaw of our hero is his sensuality; he enjoys women. He stayed with nymph Calypso for seven years and also he stayed with Circe for one year before his men reminded him of home.

Nonetheless, Odysseus has flaws, but they are overshadowed by his virtues: his shrewdness; his mind was always active; his courage and his endurance which enabled him to conquer every obstacle that faced him and arrive home safely.
Thus, he embodies the idealistic values, which are manly valor, loyalty, piety and intelligence that every Greek aspired to.
In a word, he is a well- rounded and a full-blooded character.





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