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The Odyssey
I'd say it's a combination of the two. Certainly, Odysseus was smart enough to tell Polyphemus that his name is "Nobody" so that the Cyclops cannot identify his attacker to his peers. He knows that...
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The Odyssey
Odysseus is very much a product of his time and place. He is a great king and noble warrior who unhesitatingly subscribes to the dominant ethos of aristocratic Greek males. Yet he does so with a...
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The Odyssey
In Book II of the Odyssey, lines 35-128, Telemachus and Antinous have a lengthy debate on the appropriateness of the actions of Penelope's many suitors. Telemachus describes the constant drain of...
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The Odyssey
Perhaps the most important female character in the Odyssey is Penelope, Odysseus's long-suffering wife and Telemachus's mother. She is often called "heedful Penelope" because she is so obedient and...
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The Odyssey
It is obvious to us that the ancient Greeks valued hospitality because of how crucial it is in The Odyssey. When Odysseus and his men land on the island where the Cyclopes live, he wants to remain...
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The Odyssey
One interesting paper topic would be Homer's portrayal of father-son relationships, concentrating on the relationship between Telemachus and Odysseus. When the epic starts, Telemachus has never met...
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The Odyssey
After Odysseus’ disappearance, men wreaked havoc on his estate due to his absence. They were interested in marrying Penelope, Odysseus’ wife and Telemachus’ mother. Penelope avoided their...
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The Odyssey
When Odysseus is disguised as an old beggar, brought to his home in Ithaca by Eumaeus, his loyal swineherd, the suitors force him into a fight with another local beggar, Irus. One way in which...
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The Odyssey
The first set of values one finds in these epics are heroic ones. In heroic culture, aristocrats are expected to demonstrate physical prowess in individual combat. Displaying certain types of...
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The Odyssey
Penelope must contend with her fear that she is being duped by someone who is not actually her husband. After all, Odysseus has been gone for twenty years, and he would likely look very different...
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The Odyssey
No, Tiresias does not warn Odysseus about the Sirens, those mysterious women/ monsters whose voices could entrance the minds of men and cause sailors to wreck their ships. The goddess Circe was the...
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The Odyssey
Certainly, Odysseus is friends with Menelaus. In fact, it was to recover and protect Menelaus's honor that Odysseus went off to fight in the Trojan War in the first place. When Paris, the prince...
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The Odyssey
There was no one specific event that made Odysseus want to return home to his wife, Penelope, after twenty years. Honestly he didn't really want to leave in the first place, but he got called away...
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The Odyssey
At Athena's insistence, Zeus sends Hermes to tell Calypso that she must release Odysseus, her seven-years prisoner and lover. Calypso is undeniably upset by this news, especially in regard to the...
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The Odyssey
In Book V, Athena attempts to influence Zeus on Odysseus's behalf because she feels sympathetic toward Odysseus and his family. Odysseus has been kept for seven years by the nymph, Calypso, and...
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The Odyssey
Honor and glory seem to be values much more paramount in the Iliad than they are in the Odyssey. The Iliad is about a war, how to fight it, and how to win it, but the Odyssey is a story about...
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The Odyssey
It seems that the suitors wish to avoid going to the house belonging to Penelope's father, Icarius, because they do not want him to be the one to choose which of them she would marry. (They assume...
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The Odyssey
Odysseus is extremely clever. When he finds himself trapped in Polyphemus's cave, he has the foresight to tell the cyclops that his name is "Nobody." The reader really has no idea why he would tell...
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The Odyssey
Odysseus displays his power in several ways. We see his power when he overpowers the three men from his crew who desperately want to remain with the lotus eaters because they ate the lotus fruit....
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The Odyssey
In The Odyssey, heroism is portrayed as something which men are capable of -- Penelope is cunning and clever, but she is never discussed as heroic -- and heroism is achievable by fighting external...
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The Odyssey
Athena's favor towards Odysseus is a major theme throughout the Odyssey. In fact, she is his "guardian goddess." As the goddess of battle and wisdom, Athena shows favor towards Odysseus because he...
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The Odyssey
Odysseus' meeting with Achilles in the Underworld is perhaps my favorite part of The Odyssey, as it's one of the most thought-provoking moments in the poem. When Odysseus meets Achilles during his...
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The Odyssey
Originally, Homer's The Odyssey was intended for oral presentation, and so those experiencing the poem would have listened to a recitation of it, rather than reading it themselves. Even so, the...
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The Odyssey
Theoclymenus is a seer who is fleeing Argos for killing a man of his own race. He tells Telemachus that the kinsmen of the murdered man seek to avenge themselves on him; this is why he lives in...
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The Odyssey
When Odysseus is preparing to leave Circe's island for the first time, she tells him that he must travel to the Underworld in order to seek the guidance of the blind prophet, Teiresias of Thebes,...
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The Odyssey
Calypso is a powerful nymph living on the island of Ogygia in The Odyssey. After the last of his companions die, Odysseus washes ashore on Calypso's island. The main conflict of this portion of the...
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The Odyssey
After Nestor, the King of Pylos, invites Telemachus to stay in his palace in Book Three, Athena, disguised as Mentor, tells Nestor and Telemachus that she will go back to the ship. Then, "With that...
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The Odyssey
This quote is taken from Book IX, lines 7-9; Odysseus acknowledges that he is widely known by mortals and gods both, and he is admired and respected for his intelligence and many skills. At this...
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The Odyssey
One realization Odysseus comes to at the end of Homer's epic is to appreciate the limited nature of human beings. Throughout the epic, it is as if Odysseus has no limits. He uses his guilt, wit,...
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The Odyssey
When you're analyzing a character, you end up having to use your own words to summarize and explain a lot about who this character is, what traits he or she has, how he or she changes, and so on....
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The Odyssey
Even though his men want him to take some food and leave as soon as possible, Odysseus wants to stay in Polyphemus's cave because he hopes "[he] might see [the cave's owner] and [this owner] might...
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The Odyssey
In the ninth book of Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus tells the Cyclops that his name is Noman. ‘Cyclops, you ask my name and I will tell it you; give me, therefore, the present you promised me; my...
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The Odyssey
Odysseus spent two decades away from his wife, Penelope. The first ten were spent fighting in the Trojan War—against his will, according to legend. The latter ten were spent trying to return...
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The Odyssey
In book IX, Odysseus shows how clever he is. He realizes that if he kills Polyphemus, the Cyclops, he and his men will perish inside the cave because they will have no way to move the stone from...
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The Odyssey
Odysseus is described as "storm-tossed" because Poseidon throws him around in the ocean so violently, trying to kill him for blinding his son, Polyphemus, the Cyclops. Zeus also sent a storm that...
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The Odyssey
Antinous is angry and feels that Telemachus has scored against him and the other suitors for Penelope's hand because Telemachus has taken a ship and crew and departed Ithaca to go in search of...
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The Odyssey
The episode discussed above in which Odysseus is a suitor for Helen is not found in Homer and belongs to later accounts of Odysseus (see Apollodorus). This later tradition recounts how Tyndareos,...
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The Odyssey
Teiresias, the dead prophet who Odysseus goes to seek in the Underworld, foretells a difficult journey home for him because a god, Poseidon, will make it hard. Poseidon is angry with Odysseus for...
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The Odyssey
The Odyssey begins with an invocation of the Muse, one of the nine daughters of Zeus, who are associated with artistic inspiration. It's sort of like a prayer in which the poet asks the Muse to...
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The Odyssey
In the first few lines of this epic poem, readers learn that Odysseus could not save his men, and they perished through their own fault and not because of him. Most of them died as a result of...
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The Odyssey
Like all good epics, The Odyssey begins in media res, or "in the middle." The narrative of the poem begins in Ithaca, where Odysseus' son and wife, Telemachus and Penelope, respectively, are...
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Literature
The simple answer is that Odysseus is a prideful guy, so when he out smarts the simple-minded cyclops, he thinks a few insults and taunts are icing on the cake. The hard answer is as a plot device...
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The Odyssey
The first issue of your not having a copy to read can easily be remedied. There are several free versions of the text available on the web. Some links to free versions of the text are:...
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The Odyssey
From the beginning of his story (just after winning the Trojan War) to the end (coming home to Ithaca and avenging the suitors for their mistreatment of his family and household), Odysseus becomes...
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The Odyssey
In this book, the Phaeacians return Odysseus to Ithaca. He's fallen asleep on board, and so they pick him up and place him on shore, surrounded by all the treasure he's been given by the Phaeacian...
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The Odyssey
Odysseus shows patience when he needs to find a way to escape from Polyphemus, the Cyclops, in book IX of The Odyssey. At first, he plans to "[draw] [his] sharp sword from [his] thigh, and [stab]...
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The Odyssey
Athena is constantly stepping in to help Odysseus and Telemachus, often disguising Odysseus or wrapping him in mist so that he cannot be seen or identified. Further, she appears often to...
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The Odyssey
Odysseus reveals his real identity to Eumaeus and Philoetius, his faithful servants, so that they will accept instruction from him about how he wants to exact his revenge on the suitors. He...
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The Odyssey
Absolutely, Odysseus's actions in dealing with the suitors are consistent with his earlier behavior in the poem. He deals with them cleverly and definitively, refusing to feel guilty for the...
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The Odyssey
Odysseus is often recognized for his ego, as he is prone to bouts of pride and arrogance. The mortal's lack of humility usually gets him into trouble with the gods, especially Poseidon, who spends...
