FREE ESSAY ON ODYSSEY

ODYSSEY

In Homer's The Odyssey, Ulysses tells King Alcinous about his numerous adventures since
leaving the island of Troy. First, Ulysses lands on the
island of the Cicons. There he leads his men in the scaking of one of the Cicon's cities.
Instead of following Ulysses' orders and leaving right away;
his men decide to stay for a few more days. The next day, a larger force of Cicons attack
Ulysses and his men. Even though Uylesses loses half a
dozen men off every ship, he manages to escape the island after nightfall. Ulysses and
his men the land on the isle of the Lotus-eater after saliing
for almost nine days. There, any of his men who taste of the delicious Lotus do not wish
to return home. They only wish to stay on the island and
consume more Lotus flowers. Ulysses decides to tie up his men who do not wish to leave
and again set sail. Unfortuneatly, Ulysses and his men
end up on the island of the cyclopes. There they run into Polyphemus, an evil cyclops who
wishes to eat Uylsses and his men. Using great
intelligence, Ulysses decides to first get Polyphemus drunk on wine. After Polyphemus is
drunk, Ulysses convinces him that Ulysses' name is
Noman; and blinds the cyclops . As Polyphemus yells out in agony, Noman is killing me by
fraud... by force the other cyclopes just assume that
Polyphemus has been made ill by the gods, and ignore his pleas for help. Polyphemus tries
to trap Ulysses by sealing up his cave and feeling
around the entrance when Polyphemus lets his sheep out. Ulysses decides to hide his men
and himself underneath Polyphemus' sheep. 
In The Odyssey, Ulysses exhibits most of the characteristics that the ancient Greeks
valued. Ulysses is a great war hero, a leader who cares
about all of his men, and most of all, has a very keen mind. The latter of these values
is one of the most prized in Greek society. However, like any
true hero, Ulysses has his tragic flaw; he continually angers the gods. This point was
the main reason for writing The Odyssey; Homer wanted to
show what horrible events could occur to a person who angers the gods