Patience In The Odyssey

In the epic poem, The Odyssey, from Homer, Odysseus sets his goal of going on a long journey to get back to Ithaka. During his long journey home, Odysseus faces many problems like facing Poseidon, his sons, singing women, and many more. He learns in after he visited the underworld that he needs to stop being prideful and selfish. The author states “Conquer your rage, your blazing, headstrong pride!”(11.642). While some might argue that the goal is more important, I maintain thst the journey is more important than the goal because, throughout The Odyssey, it is clear through Odysseus’s actions that pride has swallowed him up and taught him a few lessons.

Odysseus must now face the other suitors in order to win Penelope. He must rely on physical strength to get past this task then to face Penelope and convince her it is really Odysseus. After defeating the other suitors Odysseus was cleaned up and made to

Odysseus, through the tremendous physical journey that he has embarked on, goes on many mental journeys that greatly develop him as a character: he starts out hotheaded and single-minded, yet grows to be a lot more rational by the end of the book, which ultimately saves his own life and the lives of many others. For example, because of the inadvertent trip he and his crew take to the island of the Cyclops, and their subsequent escape from the Cyclops Polyphemus (which causes the ire of Poseidon, Polyphemus’ father, to be incited), Odysseus learns to not invite the wrath of the gods. He also learns, after taunting Polyphemus multiple times and consequently, almost getting everyone killed because of it, to not act in such a rash manner and to

His bragging almost results in the death of his entire crew. Odysseus doesn't think highly of his men, and this is apparent throughout the entire story.

One of the major themes of Homer’s Odyssey is the importance of cunning over strength. This also happens to be the case with Odysseus and his long ten year journey home from fighting in Troy. Odysseus uses his intelligence over strength to ‘fight’ through tough times and bring himself home to Ithaca. Odysseus uses his intelligence when he has his men tie him down while passing the Sirens, so he himself will be able to hear their beautiful song, but not be entranced by their singing. He also uses cunning to escape from the Cyclops’ cave without being harmed. He then uses his cunning by storing away all of the armory, shields, and knives from the suitors so he is able to kill them easily.

Odysseus returns from a great victory of the Trojan War and the enormous amount of pride he gains gets him into a lot of trouble. As he returns home, he lands on the island of the Kyklopes. He insists that they meet with the unknown host, with the prospect of receiving gifts. His pride and craving for more treasure leads him and his men into trouble.

Odysseus and I have both shown self-restraint. In The Odyssey, Odysseus ends up being trapped in a cave with a cyclops and his men. His men are afraid of Polyphemus and are determined to kill him so they can´t be eaten. Right when Odysseus is about to kill the cyclops, he shows restraint and realzies, ¨If I killed him we perished there as well, for we could never move his ponderous doorway slab aside¨ (903). If Odysseus had killed the cyclops him and his men would have

All Poseidon along with Polyphemus wishes is revenge. The number one rule is to never anger a god. Thankfully for Odysseus the other gods are on his side. Odysseus is human, so he too was battling pride. This pride Odysseus is battling is when you have the urge to be in people's faces and be superior. Odysseus and his men knew they were going to be in Siren territory. His men put wax in their ear. Odysseus on the other hand was tied up with no wax in his ear so he could hear the sirens. He wanted to be the only person that has heard them and not died. “ The San Andreas is considered “the ‘master’ fault of an intricate fault network,” the Geological Survey said”(Yan and Berlinger 3). Odysseus is seen as an amazing fighter. People have very high expectations. You could call him a master just like the San Andreas which is considered the “master fault”. Although Odysseus is a master of many strengths, his pride gets the best of him. No matter how strong and powerful you are, pride will always be there. You may think this wouldn’t be a problem for him, but it is. Odysseus is still human and has weaknesses as well. Just like us Odysseus struggles with

Shown with him and his crew, Odysseus seemingly has all interests in mind. One specific example of prudent action is his quick and clear reasoning skills that allow him and his men to escape the cave of the Cyclops safely. One example is after the death of his crewmen in Book 9, Odysseus speaks “...draw my sharp sword from beside my thigh and smite him in the breast, where the midriff hold the liver,...(Page 5)” Although he was initially vengeful and bloodthirsty after the murder of his men by the Cyclops, he reasonably put those thoughts aside, shown as he says “...But a second thought checked me, for right there should we, too, have perished in utter ruin. For we should have not been able to thrust back with our hands from the high door the mighty stone which he had set there. So then, with wailing, we waited for the bright Dawn”(Page 5). If Odysseus and his crew were to ever rationally escape the cave, they would have to disregard their thoughts and wait for morning-when the cyclops would remove the large door. Odysseus’s clear thinking and prudent nature on behalf of his shipmates, to wait for morning and to keep the Cyclops alive, enabled him to plan reasonably even in a time of murder and

Odysseus shows excessive pride when he achieves a goal. For example, Odysseus is proud and shouts his name in celebration at Polyphemus when he escaped. He also never acted in the best interests of his men. For example, he only thought of himself when he goes past Scylla and Charybdis, when he decided to have six of his men killed instead of himself Belarde 2 and his ship. Everett, too, shows excessive pride in himself by trying to look his best with a comb and the hair gel.

During his journeys Odysseus often makes the mistake of bragging to his enemies but learns that doing this gives his enemies a chance to seek revenge against him. After leaving Troy, Odysseus attacks the

502-505). In bragging about himself and what he has done, Odysseus, falls into the evil thought of boasting and by doing this focuses on himself and not the task at hand. Similarly to boasting, Odysseus is at fault for his pride in himself. After breaking free from Polyphemus’s hold on his group of men, Odysseus flaunts achievement, “‘How do you like the beating that we gave you, you damned

This shows us that Odysseus must notify people when he has succeeded and that he will boast about how clever he is and what he achieves. Odysseus is not humble with his victories or smart enough to know when he has said enough and his hubris most certainly get him into trouble. Any leader deserving of your assistance will be humble with their victories and thankful for help. Odysseus is just not worthy enough of our assistance because he is

In the Odyssey, when Odysseus is escaping unscathed from the Cyclops Polyphemus, Odysseus remarks, “They tried, but didn’t persuade my hero’s heart— I was really angry—and I called back to him.” (The Odyssey, Book 9, Lines 498 - 499) This is towards the beginning of the story when Odysseus is a rash, prideful person. He causes the death of a lot of his men by saying this, and he refers to his pride as his “hero’s heart”, showing that since so many people regard him as a hero, his ego is rather large and he cannot resist one last jab at his enemy. If he had practiced humility in this situation, he would not have angered Poseidon and he would have made it home much easier.

Odysseus’s crew hurried to hush him because they had not escaped yet. But Odysseus continued to gloat. Polyphemus then prays to his father Poseidon to curse Odysseus and never let him go back to see his family again. Then Polyphemus picks off another mountain cliff throwing towards Odysseus’s ships, but this time the peak lands behind them pushing them away from the Cyclops Island. So that is one reason I think Odysseus shows he has a cocky trait.