Odyssey Odysseus and Athena as Liars

The world of the Odyssey is full of legendary heroes, exploitive gods, crude monsters, and devious men. Homer weaves three separate tales, those of Penelope, Athena, and Odysseus, into an epic tale, suitable for the aftermath of the Iliad, his previous book. Homer moves his characters through difficult situations, usually by leveraging a particular strength or weakness at hand, and these characteristics often include, on the part of the characters, personal traits such as cunningness or the ability to lie in order to achieve a wanted result. In the Odyssey, Homer delves into many different aspects of lies and cunning in particular. For instance, Odysseus the hero uses his cunning mind to defeat his enemies and exact revenge, whereas Athena uses lies to push Odysseus along on his journey, as the attributes he exhibits are favored by the goddess. This paper will examine these two characters presented by Homer, and will expand below upon both Odysseus and Athena's abilities to lie. The essay will further establish that whereas Odysseus uses lies and disguises to achieve his ultimate goal to return home triumphant, Athena does so in order to play with and test Odysseus, and ultimately determine whether he is worthy of her help.

As seen from the brief mentions above, both characters utilize some form of deceit in order to achieve respective...

These goals are not necessarily negative, harmful, or ill-meaning; they simply correspond to each character's wants and desires. As a first example, one can examine the relationship between Odysseus and Polyphemos. When Odysseus is captured by Polyphemos, the Cyclops, he realizes that he cannot get through this ordeal with brute strength alone. Thus, Odysseus seeks to trick the Cyclops by giving him wine, and getting him drunk. Odysseus continues to do this until he is certain the Polyphemos is unable to function and keep him captive. When the Cyclops finally collapses to the floor, having fallen prey to Odysseus' deceit, he drives a heated stake through Polyphemos' eye, blinding him (9.345). In this case, Odysseus lies in order to save himself and his two remaining men. This lie, in Homer's opinion, is seen as noble.
Another example that relates to Odysseus' cunning ways, exemplifying how the man attains his objectives, is what is known as his "Cretan" lies. Odysseus denies declaring his truthful identity in three separate occasions. With Athena, Odysseus is always disguised, as is Athena. This is something that the goddess can see through, in Odysseus' case, but when this concerns Athena, Odysseus cannot see through her deceit. With Eumaeus, Odysseus pretends to be an old man, and warns Eumaeus that Odysseus is coming. Eumaeus…