Cleverness in the Odyssey

A detailed Summary of Cleverness in the Odyssey


One overlooked aspect of Greek poetry, involving journeys, monsters, and epic battles, is the need for intelligence and the effects of the lack there of. Odysseus is displayed as an intelligent man, yet at times he lets his pride and search for glory overshadow his intelligence, in many senses embodying man. This is very apparent in the scene involving Polyphemus, in this scene Odysseus displays great wit while needlessly ruining it in the end.

Homer portrays Odysseus as a man of mind over muscle, although he has enormous strength, he always tries to find a way to get his enemies to make a mistake and exploit it. One such example is when he gets trapped in the cave with Polyphemus and two of his men get eaten. Instead of trying to fight out of anger and his first impulse of "drawing the sharp sword...to stab


Odysseus shows that the clever and intelligent side of man is capable of triumphant victory, while at the same time displaying how fame and too much pride can lead to downfalls either short term or long term. In analysis, Odysseus becomes an example to future heroes by showing the qualities they need to be a leader and what to watch out for in the search of fame.

him," he thought about the fact that there would be no one to move the boulder for him (Book 9, p 380, lines 312-313). As an alternative, Odysseus tricks Polyphemus into letting them free by wounding his only eye with a hot stick and drawing upon all his "wits" by sneaking out of the cave on the bellies of the sheep (Book 9, p 384-385, lines 441-455). Polyphemus' family doesn't help him because Odysseus uses the name Nobody and Polyphemus yells "Nohbody's tricked me," taking away the

Some common words found in the essay are:
Matter Odyssey, Furthermore Odysseus, Poseidon Odysseusnever, book 9, Polyphemus Odysseus', odysseus name,

Approximate Word count = 574
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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