Odysseus is a brave and cheerful hero in the oldest written monument of Greek literature — Homer’s poem The Odyssey. The ancient Greeks heard stories about a wise traveler’s adventures performed by rhapsodic singers, and they are no less popular today. From the point of view of the author of the poem, the heroism of Odysseus lies in the fact that he remains faithful to his homeland, the island of Ithaca, nothing scares him in achieving his goal of seeing “the smoke leaping up from his land” (Homer, 1919, para. 44). This paper will analyze Odysseus’s characteristics and the manhood that helped him reach home despite various temptations and enemies on his path to Ithaca.
The hero of the poem Odyssey is a courageous warrior, but often he uses tricks to win. They help him to overcome Polyphemus, Circe, and Sirens. Once on an unknown island and finding a huge cave where the Cyclops lived, Odysseus shows himself as a curious and attentive researcher. However, due to his fault, everyone gets into trouble and is captured by the fierce and ruthless Cyclops, the cave owner. In this situation, courage and self-control do not leave Odysseus. He is the first man who tries to find a common language with the ogre. Then, seeing the futility of these attempts and the real threat to the lives of his comrades and his own, the hero finds a way to make Cyclops helpless, depriving the only eye the ogre has.
For the sake of his friends, Odysseus fearlessly risks his life and manifests himself as a reliable and loyal companion, whom a person can rely on. With his help, the travelers get out to freedom and return to the ship with rich prey, namely “large herds of sheep and goats” (Homer, 1919, para. 111). Odysseus’ ingenuity, resourcefulness, and optimism evoke a sense of gratitude and respect among his companions.
If tricking is the natural trait of Odysseus, then the courage and endurance he acquired during the long journey hardened his body and soul. All those who aimed to seduce or fight Odysseus during the long years of the Trojan War and the trip back home were conquered by his intelligence, manhood, and bravery. The enchantress Cirke, whose potion did not make Odysseus feel bad, was amazed by his resilience (Homer, 1997). The goddess Athena confirms that even Gods cannot compete with Odysseus in dexterity and insidious inventions.
Odysseus in the poem is often awarded the epithet” “the man of twists and turns.” (North, 2017). The hero himself confesses to king Alcinous that he is famous for his cunning inventions: “I am Odysseus, son of Laertes, known to the world/for every kind of craft-my fame has reached the skies” (Homer, 1997, para. 21-22). Nevertheless, in archery, no one could surpass him, he was known as glorious with a spear, but most importantly, he was great in the soul. Nor any mortal compare with him in oratory, in the wisdom of words, in the goodness of advice.
On the path of an intelligent and inquisitive hero, he often overcomes thanks to his ardent love for his family and his native heart that gives him manhood. Breaking the order established by the gods, Odysseus repeatedly causes the wrath of Poseidon, Aeolus, Zeus, and Helios (Homer, 1919). This brings him considerable suffering, but in all the misadventures, the hero uses his courage and cunning. Besides, the great gods do not leave the hero, admiring his manhood, endurance, and purposefulness.
In The Odyssey, we see a new type of heroic courage: a person is mortal, but death does not overtake him in battle – before looking into the eyes of death, Odysseus has to make a journey of a lifetime, and on this path, there are many trials. The character demonstrates his manhood in the resistance to numerous temptations and the persistent concentration of his humanity on the way back home. Odysseus’ fortitude and manhood are shown during the path when he faced forms of a tempting possibility of finding sweet oblivion, which in fact would inevitably turn into the loss of his humanity. To illustrate this, two stories are mentioned in The Odyssey. The first is the story of Odysseus’ stay with the nymph Calypso, and, the second, is the story of meeting with Lotophages who eat only lotus flowers, which may not allow them to return home because of their divine taste (Homer, 1919). Odysseus continuously resists challenges coming on the way back home; this is how Homer emphasizes that manhood and courage can be expressed in different situations and not only on the battlefield.
To summarize the topic and the story of Odysseus, one might state that Odysseus’s manhood is not expressed in the form of fortitude in the face of death, embodied in the enemy on the battlefield. There will be nothing heroic in Odysseus’s death; on the contrary, Tiresias predicts that he will die peacefully in old age. Instead, his courage and manhood are shown in the form of resistance to temptations and the ability to overcome challenges that arise during being and living as a human. In the case of Odysseus, being a person and, importantly, living with the polis virtues: prudence, courage, and justice come to the forefront of the expression of manhood that everyone should possess.
References
Homer. (1919). The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray. Harvard University Press. Web.
Homer. (1997). The Odyssey. Penguin. Web.
North, A. (2017). Historically, men translated the Odyssey. Here’s what happened when a woman took the job. Vox. Web.