Odysseus Not A Leader, Why?
What exactly is a leader? The definition of a leader is; someone who leads, a guiding or direction head. The Odyssey is an interesting book, the main character is Odysseus, who is a strange leader. He is a leader of men and sails with these men for about 15 years. In The Odyssey, By Homer; Odysseus is indeed a smart man and will solve situations for himself, although he is not aware of others opinions and the consequences of his decisions that will impact others. Why might Odysseus keep secrets? He feels as though it is not necessary to tell his men about what might happen. Odysseus is untrustworthy, his men go against him in certain parts of the movie and the book, The Odyssey. If he is already keeping secrets, why should they trust him.
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Lastly, Odysseus can and will put his men up for bait if that means he can still get home in one piece. His soul is always set on Itchica, his home. In The Odyssey, several times Odysseus has felt the need to keep secrets from his men. In the book after the visit with Circe, it says; “Odysseus decides to tell the men only of Circe’s warnings about the sirens, whom they will soon encounter.” (Hom. Od. 12.) In this quote it shows, Circe never said to not tell them or not, it was his own decision to not tell his men about the other warnings. A good leader must always keep his men up to date, aware, and knowing of what they will face. In the film, Circe only tells Odysseus to go see the blind prophet. There is no mention of sirens, Scylla, or Charybdis from her. She tells him, “Go into the underworld, seek the blind prophet, Tiresias.” (The Odyssey.) Circe tells Odysseus warnings, again he does not tell them. Yet, he continues on this journey with blind men. This impacts the story so far because where else will Odysseus take them if he does not tell them? How will they ever know if they will get home and how will they know if their leader ever wants to get home? He has been sailing with them for 15 years, he is a leader and needs to show them the way. Around the beginning of the book, while Odysseus and his men are sailing.
They stop to get water, Odysseus is the one who gets off the boat and fetches some. In the film, he meets Aeolus behind the waterfall. Aeolus is aware of his problems and decides to help him, he gives him a bag of wind and tells him to not open it. He will reach home in 7 days. When Odysseus reaches the ship, he does not tell his men about the bag; instead, they start to become curious. One even tries to open it. Odysseus has a different plan, he shoves him and tells him, “I’ll tell you when we reach ithaca.” (The Odyssey) Although, the crew member knows he is untrustworthy and opens the bag, knowing Odysseus will never tell them and they think he will hold it all to himself. In the book, “Within sight of home, and while Odysseus is sleeping, the men open the bag, thinking it contains gold and silver.” (Hom. Od. 10) With this passage, the men do not even trust Odysseus enough to ask him. Both warrants show he is untrustworthy, because even after one man tried to open it in front of him. He did not even think that he needed to tell them, their greed and curiosity got the best of them, which in return sent them all the way
back. Nearing the end of the journey, Odysseus figures it will be good if they went through the caves of Scylla. In the book, he speaks with Crice, after her warnings he asks her; “So her advice ran; but I faced her saying; “Only instruct me Goddess, if you will how, if possible can I pass Charybdis or fight off Scylla when she raids my crew?”” (Hom. Od. 12.71-74) Odysseus says “raid,” the definition of raid is a sudden assault or attack. Odysseus knows how dangerous this beast will be, yet he goes into the cave with his men and does not warn them about Scylla. Here, they are faced with a monster they didn’t expect. Odysseus never told them, maybe they would be better prepared and willing to fight with Odysseus. In the movie, the crew starts to approach the caves of Scylla, Odysseus is replying with, “After 16 year ordeal, nothing could scare me or my warriors. But we had never seen what waited between those rocks.” (The Odysseus) He was warned. He is told in the movie, by the blind prophet, about these beasts. Did he prepare his men in any way? While they were escaping, half of them got eaten, then they fell down the waterfall which opens up into Charybdis mouth. The men fell into his mouth, being engulfed by her. Afterwards, Odysseus is the only one alive and he is drifting out into the sea. The last man alive from his crew. In conclusion, Odysseus is smart, cunning, and can fight, although he is not aware of his surroundings. He is unsure how to include other people in his plan. He thinks if he does not tell anyone, they will follow him to the ends of the earth. This shows that he is keeping secrets for his benefit and he is untrustworthy towards his crewmates. In the fight with Scylla and Charybdis, he is very unprepared, has no battle plan and half of his men end up getting eaten by both of the monsters. In The Odyssey, is smart, intelligent and has the fighting skill, although he lacks in people skills and the consequences of his decisions will affect others.
Odysseus is a weak and inadequate leader because he fails to earn the respect of his men time in and time out. Odysseus’ men attempt to steal from him and unknowingly unleash the bag of winds that was given to Odysseus by Aiolos (166, 49-550). A great leader has the respect of his men. Odysseus’ men disrespect him in this excerpt by attempting to rob Odysseus. Therefore, Odysseus is not an adequate leader since his men disrespect him by stealing from him. Also, at a later page in the book, one of his men refuse to follow Odysseus into danger and tells Odysseus, “You cannot return, I know it” (173, 293). A skillful leader has the
After the incident with the bag of winds it is reasonable for Odysseus to have trust issues, but when it is a matter of life and death, Odysseus is witless. After being punished by Zeus because some of his crew ate Helios’ cattle Odysseus drifts in the ocean until he lands on Calypso’s island. 7 years pass and Odysseus can finally leave after he crafts a ship, after he leaves and sails for a bit, Poseidon sees it as a time to get revenge for his son Polyphemus. Poseidon completely wrecks Odysseus’ ship when he is close to the land of the Phaeacians. A goddess named Ino sees this and offers Odysseus help.
Would you rather have a selfless leader who will try his best to help you and keep you alive or a selfish, ignorant leader who thinks he can get whatever he wants? You would choose the selfless leader because who would want. Someone who is selfish and that exactly what Odysseus is. In Homer’s The Odyssey, there is a very bad leader, Odysseus. Odysseus does many things to make himself a bad leader. He doesn’t tell his men many things, he isn’t respectful to the gods or his wife, and he is constantly putting his men in danger just so he can go home. Odysseus is a selfish leader and only thinks about himself. Although he may have good intentions for himself by going home to see his family and the rest of his kingdom, he is a bad leader.
Odysseus is one of the most renowned warriors of all time. However, many historians argue that he was one of the worst leaders in all of literature and humanity. Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus has shown traits unbefitting of a leader and king. Odysseus is a lousy leader because he is arrogant, disloyal, and selfish.
...at he has to say. Honestly I think that Odysseus was is a great leader because, he tried his best to keep his crew safe, he never gave up on them; even if they were in a bad situation.
Odysseus is a bad leader for the traits he upheld in the book which causes him twenty years to return home to Ithaca after the Trojan war. The three traits that makes Odysseus a bad leader are being dishonest, prideful, and careless. These traits causes his men to die, him suffering, and trouble. The trait of Odysseus being dishonest is a factor of why Odysseus is a bad leader. Odysseus is meeting with Tiresias (a blind prophet) to learn his future. In the future, Odysseus will be presented with two obstacles, going through Scylla (6 headed monster) or Charybdis (a giant whirlpool). Tiresias tells Odysseus to pick the path of Scylla, his exact words were “to have passed her without loss and grief; she takes from every ship, one man for every gullet.” Tiresias is telling Odysseus to choose the path of Scylla because that path will only result in
Odysseus not telling his crew about the bag or what it contains is Odysseus flexing his muscles, proving to himself that he’s the only one worthy of knowing what’s inside the bag because he believes he is the smartest in the crew. He sails for nine straight days, and is so close to home that the crew can see the shore of Ithaka. Odysseus goes to take a nap and falls asleep and the crew becomes suspicious of the bag, believing Odysseus was storing riches inside that he didn’t want to share. “Temptation had its way with my companions, and they untied the bag” (10. 50-52).The crew sends Odysseus and his dream of reuniting with his family thousands of miles away. I find this instance to be a little strange, because if one were to think about it, they would come to the conclusion that Odysseus had nothing to lose if he were to inform his shipmates about the bag. After his strategy fails and he realizes the great
Then the sand was thrown. If the bags of winds were to open all the winds would get out, and Odysseus would get turned back even further away from Ithaca. & nbsp ; & nbsp ; & nbsp ; & nbsp ; & nbs Odysseus learned many lessons during his journey home to Ithaca. One of his lessons was that he got some wisdom. While on his journey he learned how to get around things the hard way. Instead of going through on land and on a pathway he went through the water, and which the water gods would try to kill him.
In there travels, Odysseus and his men land on the island of Aeolia. Here Odysseus is given a gift from the wind god Aeolus. Aeolus gathers all the stormy and evil winds and places them into a bag for Odysseus voyage. Odysseus heads back to the boat and gives specific instructions to his men not to open the bag, but he doesn't tell them what is in it. His men are curious go against their kings order. "But during the voyage, the suspicious and curious sailor's open the bag, thinking it contains treasure, and the evil winds roar up into hurricanes that threaten the luckless Odysseus again."(Page 911). If his men used self discipline they would not have been delayed even more and arrive at Ithaca earlier.
Many think being a hero is having super powers, but on the contrary it's more than that. A hero is one who is distinguished for their courage and bravery, and looked upon for their great deeds. A hero like this is not just found in modern society today, but in mythology as well. In the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus earns the title of a true hero by conveying many qualities such as: determination, courage and leadership.
Throughout the epic, Odysseus is portrayed by his friends and peers as a magnificent man, a godlike figure. But, throughout the journeys of The Odyssey, Odysseus’ true character shows. Heroes are no exception to human nature; all people tend to act differently in public than in private. A commonly accepted definition of a hero is, “a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.” Odysseus has not shown the noble characteristics of a hero by acting cowardly, barbaric, selfish and greedy in certain situations; such qualities do not deserve such a title. To be a hero, you must have a noble and courageous purpose. As The Odyssey moves along, Odysseus is revealed not to be a hero through his ignoble acts. Homer uses the character of Odysseus to depict false morality which undermines the concept of his heroism.
In Book X of The Odyssey, Odysseus is still telling the Phaeacians about his long journey. There he is picking up the part where he stayed on the island where, “Aeolus hosted [him] one entire month” (Fagles 231). While leaving this island, Aeolus gifted Odysseus with a sack of wind, to make his way back home. While on the ship for nine days and nights, one the tenth night, Odysseus became sleepy, so he slept. While sleeping, his crew mates became aware of the sack that Aeolus gave him thinking it was a treasure, Odysseus was holding out on them. So with all the crewmates curiosity, “they loosed the sack and all the winds burst out” (Fagles 232). Odysseus suddenly woke up, while the winds blew the ship back to Aeolus’s island. Aeolus justifies that the immortals hate Odysseus because of this bad misfortune.
Is there such a thing as a true hero? Or are those that are considered "heroes" just regular people who made the right choice at the right time and became idolized for it? To be a true hero, the person would have to be totally good. It is impossible for a human being to be totally good because weaknesses, character faults, and the tendency to make mistakes are all rooted deeply into human nature. Therefore, no human being can ever truly be a hero, though we may do heroic deeds. A well known example of such a person is Odysseus from Homer's "Odyssey". Odysseus is idolized for his few heroic deeds during the Trojan War and his journey home to Ithaca. He is often thought of as a hero, but, as he is human and therefore subject to human weakness and fault, is not a true hero athough some of his deeds were heroic.
Picture this: a hero of great legends who travels to the underworld and back to get directions to his home from a blind prophet. It sounds like quite an impossible journey, but that is exactly what makes Odysseus all the more fascinating. The Odyssey, an epic poem orally transmitted by Homer, a Greek poet who wrote The Iliad, had to contain some variety of attributes that Greeks valued in a person. That one embodiment of what the Greeks found intriguing in a character is Odysseus. Odysseus is known as what is called an epic hero. An epic hero is a protagonist of a story that represents the most important attributes of a civilization. Odysseus, being based in ancient Greece, is the embodiment of intelligence, loyalty, and strength.
Odysseus’ men are loyal men to Odysseus. But throughout the epic the characters are faced with curiosity and disobedience. This curiosity may not be apparent in the beginning of the epic but once the men feel their odyssey to Ithica comes to an end they lose sight of their ultimate goal, to return home. When the crew gains sight of their homeland the soon drop their guard and become curious of the bag Odysseus received from Aeolus. The men become envious of the gift and devise a plan to open the bag to reveal the treasures but rather release the three winds.