Odysseus doesn't seem to have many heroic qualities showcased in the first half of the story. He is unfaithful, shows off his power and strength, which ends up hurting him and his troops, and doesn't work that much to get what he wants, in the case of him sleeping during the whole trip from Scheria to Ithaca. One classic heroic trait that he does seem to have is ability to strategize and win battles.
We first see this in the fact that Odysseus basically won the Trojan War for the Greeks. His strategy that entailed acting like the Greeks had left and sending a giant horse into the city, which was designed to look like an offering to Poseidon, and then sack the city from the inside was pretty ingenious. Odysseus also is one of the more respected people during the war, further complimenting his strategic talent.
We can also see Odysseus' strategies taking effect when he has to escape from the cyclops' cave. Although being caught in the cave was his own fault and overconfidence at work, Odysseus is able to get out of the cave successfully by basically drugging the cyclops and then disguising him and his men as sheep.
Odysseus also is fairly strategic in his speech and what he says to people. One example of this is when he convinces Nausicaa to help him while convincing her with words and staying far away instead of trying to beg at her knees. He also is able to convince many others to help him, and this diplomatic skill can also be seen as heroic as he doesn't need to rely on force to get what he wants. His diplomatic skill can also be seen in how Telemachus has similar abilities, in addition to the other ways that he resembles Odysseus.
Overall, Odysseus is not heroic in many of his traits, but he is able to lead people to victory very successfully even with limited options, as with the cyclops. The scale of victories he is able to pull can be seen with his contribution to the Trojan War. His diplomatic skill can also be seen as heroic and thus Odysseus has at least a few heroic qualities to him.
We first see this in the fact that Odysseus basically won the Trojan War for the Greeks. His strategy that entailed acting like the Greeks had left and sending a giant horse into the city, which was designed to look like an offering to Poseidon, and then sack the city from the inside was pretty ingenious. Odysseus also is one of the more respected people during the war, further complimenting his strategic talent.
We can also see Odysseus' strategies taking effect when he has to escape from the cyclops' cave. Although being caught in the cave was his own fault and overconfidence at work, Odysseus is able to get out of the cave successfully by basically drugging the cyclops and then disguising him and his men as sheep.
Odysseus also is fairly strategic in his speech and what he says to people. One example of this is when he convinces Nausicaa to help him while convincing her with words and staying far away instead of trying to beg at her knees. He also is able to convince many others to help him, and this diplomatic skill can also be seen as heroic as he doesn't need to rely on force to get what he wants. His diplomatic skill can also be seen in how Telemachus has similar abilities, in addition to the other ways that he resembles Odysseus.
Overall, Odysseus is not heroic in many of his traits, but he is able to lead people to victory very successfully even with limited options, as with the cyclops. The scale of victories he is able to pull can be seen with his contribution to the Trojan War. His diplomatic skill can also be seen as heroic and thus Odysseus has at least a few heroic qualities to him.
In your post, you cite Odysseus's ability to talk strategically and diplomatically as a heroic trait, but Odysseus also uses this way with words to form intricate lies such as the ones he says to Telemachus at first, to Athena on the beach of Ithaca, and to Eumaeus. Personally, I do not know if I would necessarily call this a heroic use of Odysseus's talents, but in some cases this guile is necessary to the plot of the story.
ReplyDeleteDoes his intelligent strategy inherently make him a hero though? Adolf Hitler had some extremely effective strategies, but I'm not sure I would classify him as a hero. Odysseus certainly isn't quite that extreme, but it's worth asking if his hubris, unfaithfulness, laziness, etc. are all overshadowed by his cunning tactics. Are there degrees of heroism, or is it just all or nothing?
ReplyDeleteBut there's always two sides to each aspect. Odysseus's hubris gets the best of him occasionally, but that pride and nobility also contributes to his power as a leader and the determination to carry out his goals.
DeleteAnother example, I think another example of Odysseus' heroism and strategic speech was when he told the Cyclops that his name was "nobody" so that none of the other cyclopses would come to help. I also find that the fact that there are so many examples of "immoral" behavior by Odysseus make him more of hero. This is because through the many failures in his character, we see that he is really human, and we see him achieve great things even though he is just human.
ReplyDelete