There's Something About Odysseus

I want to start by saying how awesome I think Odysseus is. Yes, he’s reckless and has a tendency to be quite devious but there’s something more genuine about him that I don’t get from some other heroes (and by other heroes I clearly mean Achilles). He openly admits that he makes mistakes and that’s refreshing from an epic hero. His cleverness is what makes him so intriguing to me, I like that you never really know what is true with him. It makes him so interesting. If my epic hero is going to have a flaw I’d much prefer him to be crafty to a fault than have Achilles’ pride. I know that I gave Achilles a hard time about letting men die and Odysseus in similar to him in that but it’s his recklessness that causes death not his pride but I don’t look at Odysseus as being prideful or even fully to blame. Maybe I seem like I’m reaching on this justification but I feel like the men who followed Odysseus had to know what they were getting into. This is Greek culture, a man’s reputation and glory is their life so they had to know what he was all about. I think that potentially his men were just as adventurous and curious as he was and maybe they even figured that if they were going to go down it might as well be on an epic adventure. It sounds strange to refer to the most cunning and conniving characters as being genuine but apparently he is a hero of many layers and does have a genuine quality about him. Athena’s interest in Achilles is also something that I noticed. He’s very similar to him in that she is very manipulative and has that cunning nature. I think she might see a little of herself in him and that’s where that draw to him is. What it comes down to for me is that there’s just something about Odysseus that makes me want to root for him. 

commented on Lauren Tidwell's