Recurring theme in The Odyssey

Throughout the Odyssey there was one reoccurring

theme that I noticed and that theme was the power of cunningness.

Odysseus who is very strong but uses his mind to conquer all problems that he encounters. When the Cyclops captures him he knows that he cannot overpower the Cyclops and that even if he were able to do so, he wouldn’t be able to move the boulder from the door. So he thinks around his disadvantage in strength by exploiting the Cyclops’s stupidity. Though he does use violence to put out the Cyclops’s eye, this display of strength is part of a larger plan to deceive the Cyclops and sneak out with the sheep. [225,489-491]

Similarly, Odysseus knows that he is no match for the host of strong young suitors in his palace, so he makes the most of his other strength, his wits. Step by step, through disguise and trickery, he arranges a situation in which he is with his son and armed and the suitors are locked in a room with him. With this setup, Odysseus' superb talents as a warrior would enable him to accomplish what he wanted to do, which is to kill all of the suitors. [438,480-485]

Odysseus’s encounter with Achilles in the underworld is a reminder. Achilles won great glory during his life but that life was brief and ended violently [265,547-558]. Odysseus, on the other hand, by virtue of his wits, will live to an old age and to die in peace.