Intellectual areté
In book nine, Odysseus demonstrated his areté intellectually in various ways, with evocation the sympathy of Cyclops and strategies of blinding the cyclops; through this, they managed to abscond from the cave of Polyphemus, but they also engaged antagonism with Poseidon, the father of Cyclops. Firstly, after the group led by Odysseus left from the Troy with victory, they embarked on Cyclops’ island; and Odysseus told the Cyclops that it wasn’t their intention to land on the island, as shown in (XI. 259,262). By telling that it wasn’t their intention, Odysseus won Cyclops’ sympathy, because he regarded no danger concerning the group led by Odysseus. As a result, Odysseus was able to perform his strategy under a controlled circumstance, because Cyclops is less cautious with their existence. This indicates his intelligence in using strategies psychologically. Thus, he was capable of running the strategies that he designed to escape afterwards. Secondly, since they were trapped by Poseidon’s son Cyclops, in order to abscond, they came up with a strategy of blinding the eyes of Cyclops as addressed in (XI. 331,335). When Cyclops sleeps, Odysseus managed to pull the straws on him, making him unable to recognize their movement. This indicates Odysseus intelligence, because he was able to come up with a strategy that allowed them to leave easily. Afterwards, however, due to the blindness of the son of Poseidon, he was aroused with anger and antagonized the group of people led by Odysseus. In all, Odysseus’ areté was illustrated intellectually, with the intelligence of the usage of strategies; but ultimately, aroused an enemy, Poseidon.
Can you help me to revise this passage on the excellence of Odysseus in book nine?
the feedback by teacher was: Remember that you need to integrate actual quotations from the text into your argument as evidence. Remember also that the warrant’s job is to explain how your evidence is reinforcing your claim. Imagine the reader just “doesn’t get it” after reading your evidence of the text, so you need to use your own words to fill in the logical gaps that might be in your reader’s head.
