Homer's, The Odyssey, is and epic journey rich in character and devoting exclusivity to travel, rustics and servants, to low life and dastardly villains. It centres on the hero Odysseus wining his way through various fantastical hazards by means of trickery and ingenuity, to eventuate in peace and prosperity with his wife and happy domestic inhabitancy. Homer focuses on the decision making and the way in which the character goes about his or her proceedings rather than relying on emotional content to tell the story (hospitality, eloquence, wisdom ). The character is described by title i.e. hero, wife of hero, god, and the reader simultaneously gains knowledge for the reason that the character inherited the given title.
"I am Odysseus, Laertes" son. The whole world talks of my stratagems, and my fame has reached the heavens. My home is under the clear skies of Ithaca." (9. 19-20).
Meanwhile the rest of the gods had assembled in the palace of Olympian Zeus, and the Father of men and gods opened discussion among them.
(1. 27-29).
Despite character titles in his writings, Homer makes known that even if a man is a hero he is still a mortal man who acts upon human judgement, so that all who read the epic become involved in the plot and the psychological and physical journey of each character.
The first word of The Odyssey is andra, "the man", which tells us directly that this epic journey of time, travel, and heroics is based simply upon the courage, strength, wisdom and honour of man. Odysseus left Troy a great hero. But as his travels go on he loses his treasure and his companions. To escape the Cyclopes he even toys with losing his name. As part of his plot to escape he gives his name as "Nobody" (9. 365). Once at sea Odysseus could not resist revealing his real name. Though this gives the Cyclopes a name to curse, it also salvages Odysseus" heroic identity.
