Greed In The Odyssey

“Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.” Odysseus and Achilles are so tempted by greed to reach the fame they desire that don't realize they are never reaching satisfaction. Achilles is a hero from the movie “Troy” and Odysseus is a hero from the poem “The Odyssey”, both heroes are greedy for fame. Achilles is sent on a quest to go with the rest of the Greek army to take over Troy but is only interested in his own fame and success. Odysseus is on a quest to get back home to see his family and faces many consequences throughout his journey. Achilles is sent to Troy to seek fame and conquer holy city along with the Greek army. Many times Achilles is overcome with greed in order for him to reach fame such as when he stormed the beach of Troy alone. Odysseus goes through similar challenges of being overcome with greed such as when he was witty to the cyclops and risked the lives of his whole crew. The authors use conflict to convey that people embark upon quests to gain fame and they learn that being too greedy for fame comes with consequences.

Achilles, along with the rest of the greek fleet is traveling to Troy by sea and plans to storm the beach and take over the city. Achilles then decides to abandon the rest of the fleet and storm the beach along with just

his crew. Achilles does this so he can be known as single handedly taking over the beach of Troy and gain fame for himself. Greed is shown for fame in Achilles’s actions when he risked messing up the entire mission in order to attack the beaches of Troy by himself so he could in time gain fame upon himself.
Homer shows the idea presented through the character of Odysseus when he causes the cyclops to call the gods upon him and his crew and puts all of their lives at risk. “Cyclops, if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye” (Homer pg 384). Odysseus is blinded by his ego and gets caught up in his own selfish actions which results in the cyclops summoning the gods to go against him. Odysseus ends up putting his crews lives at risk at fault of his own mistake. This shows his greed for fame as he wants to be known as unstoppable and tries to spread his name whenever given the opportunity without thinking about the consequences of his actions beforehand.
Troy shows fame through Achilles once again when Achilles is confronted by his mother about going to fight in the war against Troy.

Achilles is talking to his mother when she tells him that if he goes to fight in the war he wil not survive. Achilles then acknowledges this and realises that she is right but is battled between the decision to go in order to gain fame. He ultimately makes the decision to go to war to pursue his desire of gaining fame. This also shows greed as he decides to go because of his wants and doesn't think about others who care about him. Such as his mother who will be in distraught after his

death.
In The Odyssey greed for fame is shown again when Odysseus talks to Circe and asks if there is an way to fight Scylla instead of doing what he was told. “Only instruct me, goddess, if you will, how, if possible, can I pass Charybdis, or fight off Scylla when she rides my crew?”(Homer pg 384). Odysseus shows greed for fame by wanting to somehow fight Scylla. He once again is risking the lives of his crew now that he wants to fight Scylla which would mean that if he was to lose, his entire crew would be killed by her as well. Odysseus also wants to be known as killing Scylla in order to gain fame for killing the monster that seemed impossible to defeat. Odysseus wants to have gained fame so he could then be known as an amazing fighter. While doing so he never thinks about the results of his actions and how they could impact others around him such as his crew.
The authors used conflict to convey that people embark upon quests in order to gain fame and they learn that being too greedy for fame comes with consequences. Greed is present everywhere and it's a matter of how selfless people are. When people are greedy they tend to keep pushing for what they need and don't take anybody else's needs into consideration. This causes them to damage relationships with people, and after their actions they then realize the hole they dug themselves.

Homer. "The Odyssey." Translated by Fitzgerald. Collections, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017, pp. 369-98.
Troy. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, screenplay by David Benioff, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2004.