Nuttall 1
Jonathan Nuttall
Childs
English Hn. 1
14 May 2014
Odysseus’ Traits
In Homer’s epic poem
The Odyssey
, the hero Odysseus finds himself faced with challenge after challenge on his journey home to Ithaca. Throughout these difficulties, Odysseus displays traits and characteristics that define who he is. Though Odysseus has many, his curiosity, cunning, and hardness are shown distinctly in the poem.
They say curiosity killed the cat, but that did not stop Odysseus. Though Odysseus was in many situation where there were safer options, instead his curiosity compelled him to do some rash things. One such situation was on the island of the cyclops Polyphemus. When Odysseus spied the large cave in the mountain, he insisted in waiting there for the thing he thought lived there. His men protested but he gave no ground. Odysseus most likely knew the danger doing this brought but he ignored it. Odysseus’ curiosity got many of his men eaten by Polyphemus for no reason at all.
Throughout the poem, the hero Odysseus is said to be cunning. This is certainly true, as
Odysseus has used his brain, unlike some other Greek and Roman heroes, to get himself out of bad situations or to avoid them altogether. A great example of this is when Odysseus plans with his supporters to get rid of the suitors and take back his home. He dresses as a beggar then has

one of his friends hand him his bow that penelope his wife tasked the suitors with stringing.
Odysseus

Nuttall 2 then effortlessly strings his old weapon and fires it through the targets perfectly. He thus proves he is Odysseus whom they all thought was dead.
Though Odysseus was a kind and loving man he was not soft, in fact he was quite a hard man, willing to do things many would not. This was reflected when in the poem, after Odysseus proves to the suitors to be himself, he then continues to exact his vengeance upon the men. of the hundreds of suitors, none survived. He even refused to accept recompense, with interest, from
the