What is a hero? Is he someone who acts stupid sometimes or is he someone brave and intelligent? In Homer's Odyssey, the epic hero Odysseus faces several obstacles during his 20-year journey away from home. First he had to leave his wife and newborn son to go fight in the Trojan War for 10 years. Odysseus won the war, but faced many obstacles on his way home. He met the Cyclops, Polyphemus, the six-headed monster, Scylla and finally Calypso, the beautiful sea nymph. After 20 years, Odysseus finally returns home, but finds himself facing a huge ordeal with suitors. Through all of this, Odysseus displays the characteristics and indomitable qualities of a hero, such as intelligence, loyalty, and courage. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Odysseus has shown intelligence several times, but in "The Cyclops", Odysseus displays a prominent intellect. Odysseus first creates a plan to get his crew out of Polyphemus' captivity. After Polyphemus goes to sleep on the first day, Odysseus' first thought is to kill him but he decides not to. He thought that if "he killed him, they would die too, because they could never move aside his heavy door plate." After the night passes and morning arrives, Polyphemus leaves to do his errands and Odysseus decides to create a spike to poke out Polyphemus' eye. Odysseus first gets him drunk so that when he asks him further questions, Odysseus can deceive him; this is another tactic that Odysseus uses to keep himself and his men safe. As mentioned, he is asked his name and he replies “Nohbdy”. Polyphemus does not recognize the name, as Odysseus had predicted. It was important for him to know Odysseus' name because he would know how to protect himself from Odysseus, as the prophet Telemus had warned him. After Polyphemus faints from the wine, Odysseus and several of his men gouge out his eye with the tip of the olive tree. As Polyphemus opens the slab of rock to ask the other Cyclopes for help, Odysseus tells his men to tie themselves to the bottom of the rams. He tells them to do so because he knew that Polyphemus would only be able to sense his men through touch, thus letting them escape. This shows Odysseus's intelligence and intellect because he is quick-witted to respond with a false name. Intelligence is one of Odysseus' most important qualities because he took certain actions that kept himself and the crew safe in the threatening situation with Polyphemus. In contrast, Odysseus behaved boastfully after escaping from Polyphemus' cave. He behaved this way towards Polyphemus, saying things like “do you like the beating we gave you, you damned cannibal? Devourer of guests under your roof.” This argues that Odysseus is a fool because after Odysseus taunted Polyphemus, the Cyclopes prayed to Poseidon to ensure that Odysseus "lost all his companions and returned under a strange sail to the bitter days at home" (Homer 909). This is said to be one of Odysseus's flaws as a hero. He tends to be arrogant and proud during the beginning of his journey which results in a very long road home. Loyalty is also one of the most important qualities of a hero, including Odysseus. Odysseus remains faithful to his crew until the last of them dies. When Odysseus and his men get stranded on the witch Circe's island, many of the men find Circe's cave and all but one, Eurylochus, enter. Circe makes sure that those who entered are relaxed so that when she gives them water, they would turn them into pigs, or pigs. The reason he did this is because men have not been,.