Odysseus: The Trickster

The Odyssey of Homer begins with our hero Odysseus trapped on an island. His exploits have landed him there trapped by Calypso, a goddess who wishes to keep him there against his will. Odysseus has endured much, ranging from great battles to the emotion strain of not seeing his family back on Ithaca. His journeys have taken him across many lands and numerous cities have fallen to his army. Although greedy at times his feasting and pillaging have gotten him into trouble in the past. It is this aspect that makes him human, and not a god. He still possess

Odysseus’s trickery doesn’t just involve goddesses. There is the infamous Trojan Horse incident and also the story of Polyphemus, the Cyclops whom Odysseus befriends by offering him wine and introduces himself as “No-body”. While Polyphemus sleeps Odysseus takes a spear and puts it through the Cyclops’s eye. When Polyphemus cries out the other Cyclops ask what is the matter and he responds that “No-body” is attacking him.

Athena, falling for his trap, speaks: “Such thoughts as these are even in your breast, therefore I cannot leave you even in misfortune, because you are discreet, wary, and steadfast. For any other man on coming back from wanderings would eagerly have hastened home to see his wife and children; but you have no desire to know or hear of them till you have proved your wife, who as of old sits in you hall and wearily the nights and days are wasted with her tears.”

Many traits go into being a trickster. One could describe a trickster as being a lying, deceiving backstabber. All of those are true. However, those are also key elements to survival, especially in a land of the gods. Many could argue that there is no honor in those traits, and in fact, they are correct. The false premise of a hero is given in far too many movies and books. How many times has the hero set out to avenge a loved one or friend, encountering countless enemies and prevailing with all honors intact? All in all that is the classic storyline, however did they encounter gods or goddesses? Did one eyed monsters fight against them, or perhaps they were forced to journey island to island, only to be gone for years at a time? Not likely. Odysseus puts a new definition on the word “hero”, even though this story was believed to have bee written hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. One must learn to adapt to his/her surroundings, and use the resources at hand to their advanta

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