given up even trying to get home. He is resigned to his fate until Athena comes to him and gives him back his courage, after which he is able to sail for home once more.
He will be the last of the Greeks to reach home. His failure to reach home before is attributable in part to his offending of Poseidon, the god of the sea, which occurs when he and his men are trapped in a cave by the Cyclops, Polyphemus, also the son of Poseidon. Odysseus blinds the Cyclops, and as a consequence Poseidon prevents his ships from completing their journey. There is other evidence that Odysseus has been abandoned by the gods. Aeolus gives the warrior a bag containing all the winds except the beneficent west wind, the intention being to help the Greeks reach home. All they have to do is keep the bag closed, but before Odysseus's ships can reach land, the bag is opened and the ships are blown back where they started. Aeolus casts them out this time: "O least of living creatures, out of this island! Hurry! I have no right to see on his way, none to give passage/ to any man whom the blessed gods hate with such bitterness./ Out. This arrival means you are hateful to the immortals" (The Odyssey, Book X, lines 72-75).
Odysseus is not an entirely admirable character. He is opportunistic and self-serving when necessary, willing to abandon his men to the Laestrygonians because he is convinced he cannot help them anyway. Odysseus can be violent and show great anger as well, and he certainly demonstrates this when he kills all of the suitors and then hangs the unfaithful maidservants. He is viewed as a savior by Penelope and Telemachus as they wait for him to return and save t
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