As Alexander the Great once said, “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion,” meaning that it does not matter who the army is made up of, just who they are under the direction of. Odysseus is the lion of this epic, and his men are the sheep, and if the sheep do not obey the lion, they are unbeneficial and misguided. And of course, if the group disobeys the orders from the leader, things will not go well for them. An army is only as good as its leader, when it follows the instructions of said leader, and this is made obvious by the actions of Odysseus and his squadron in Homer’s The Odyssey.
Some of Odysseus’s smartest thoughts were completely disregarded by his soldiers, causing them
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It is not the crew’s place to determine whether or not the leader is making a good decision, they are supposed to follow their superiors without question; most likely they will always be right because they are often stronger and wiser than their soldiers. It is not Odysseu’s charge to make his men follow him, he did not do anything wrong there, his squadron should do what they are expected to do: follow his orders and leave. Furthermore, in book ten, Odysseus tells all of his men to not open the bag of winds, which finishes his responsibilities. By telling his crew what to do he shows great leadership. When he falls asleep, however, a curious and rebellious shipmate tells the men to “break it open - now!” (10.50) and of course chaos ensues, but this is not the reflection of Odysseus’s leadership, but the man who instructed the squadron. When a sheep leads the rest …show more content…
On the island of Polyphemus, Odysseus’ squadron works well together following the orders of their leader. He gives them encouragement, telling them “Courage - no panic, no one hang back now! (9.422), and they quickly and efficiently accomplish their goal. When Odysseus gives good orders and supports his shipmates, they are successful. Additionally, the same applies when the leader is frantic and not able to calmly give directions. Homer uses strong words like “rapid” and “terror” (10.140-42) to describe the situation at the Laestrygonians, emphasizing how crazed everything is. With the current state, Odysseus is not able to be a great leader, and that is reflected when most of his squadron dies. Whether or not he could have had control over the situation, it was not handled well and they all suffered for it. Lastly, there are times when his instructions are good and followed, but it is nobody’s fault that the plan goes wrong. In book nine when they visit the Lotus Eaters, Odysseus “sent/ a detail ahead” (9.99-100), which shows how he is good at taking authority. When the men get distracted, it is out of Odysseus’s hands, so therefore not a reflection of his leadership. Only his crew obeying the orders he gives can give an accurate representation of his leadership, which is a positive circumstance. Even the greatest leaders can have their downfalls, but
I disagree with Anthony. While the captain can not always control his men, there are things that he did to create the distrust. Man, from a religious view, is a fallen species, thus sin, like greed, taunts him. Because Odysseus holds back knowledge from his men, specifically when he gives the wine of Maron to Polyphemus, he creates the distrust which cause them to open the bag of winds. Continuing from that, Odysseus does not inform his men of the sacrifice that must be made in the pass between Charybdis and Skylla; therefore, when Skylla engulfs 6 men, the trust is destroyed. Odysseus causes his own suffering because he dismantles the unity that is necessary when on a journey.
A very obvious example of loyalty is, Penelope. She is faithful to Odysseus for over 20 years and does not give up for long time. Even when the suitors came to her house and ate her food and overstayed their welcome she did not budge and still stayed faithful to Odysseus for the whole time he was gone. She told the suitors that when she finished her tapestry she would choose who she wants to marry, but every night she would undo a piece of the tapestry just so it would take longer and it would give Odysseus more time to come back just so she would not have to choose one of the suitors.
Of all the heroic traits such as honor and glory, given to the reader through Homer’s epic poems loyalty seems to be the strongest, as with Patroclus in the Iliad, so it is with Penelope, Telemachus, and Eumaeus in the Odyssey. Through the use of these characters loyalty is demonstrated to Odysseus, the hero if the poem. Their undying loyalty and devotion to the warring hero gives perfect examples of how humans should act to those they claim to be faithful too.
Odysseus’ curiosity, leads him to the island of the Laestrygonians. “No cattle could be seen or buildings, only a trace of smoke rising inland. So I sent a party of my men to find out what sort of beings lived there. I chose two to go and a third as herald” (Book X, Ln. 169-71). Lacking that of a good leader, Odysseus and his men in for answers. Homer interprets Odysseus’ curiosity as the reason his men have to die. Odysseus lacks the ability to see the consequences of his actions. In reaction to his curiosity, Odysseus looses all but one ship full of
The reason for this is because his pride gets the best of him. Another reason is he does not listen to the advice he is given. Some may think that he is admirable because he’s saved his men, but they are wrong because he has also puts his needs before theirs constantly and this results in situations that endanger the lives of his men. All these traits go against what a hero is and prevents him from being a good leader, or person in general. A hero does not have to be perfect, but Odysseus’ enormous flaws make him far from the hero he could
Arrogance, this trait embedded in humans, affects everyone—at work, in school, with friends, with families, but to what extent? What happens when people cannot control it? When it takes over their ability to think straight? The hero in the epic poem by Homer, The Odyssey, epitomizes how dangerous uncontrolled arrogance can be. After ten years of fighting in a brutal war, how difficult can a journey across the ocean be for the mighty Odysseus? He finally has the opportunity to return to Ithaca, to his wife, to his son… to home, but it takes him another ten years due to his arrogance. Odyssey exemplifies that his inability to curb his arrogance is his greatest threat because it causes him to make irrational decisions. However, he learns to overcome
In the epic poem, The Odyssey, Odysseus’ heroic deeds are recounted through a narrative, written by Homer, that describes his arduous journey of his return from the Trojan war to his homeland of Ithaca. Loyalty, patience, and determination, are necessary traits to survive the perilous, painstaking journey that Odysseus embarks upon to return to his native land. Loyalty is exhibited when Odysseus goes to rescue his crewmen on Kirke’s Island despite the probability of jeopardizing his own life. Odysseus presents patience throughout the entirety of his journey, but most specifically when his crew opens the bag of wind, which causes much regression on the embark homeward. Determination is displayed when Odysseus is on Calypso’s island.
Odysseus is a Foolish and selfish leader, who makes rash decisions that kill his men just for his own personal gain. One of Odysseus's many foolish decisions in the epic is when he lets his men raid and pillage the Kikones. This irrational decision ends up in the death of nearly 30 of his men. If he would have stopped and though about his decisions he could have saved his fellow soldiers. Another foolish decision is when he was on the island of the Kyklops, instead of just exploring the cave he decides to explore the entire island just so he can see a kyklops this exploration ends up with the death of many of his men and a curse set on Odysseus. Odysseus makes a selfish decision when he wrongfully tells his crew Kirke, "urged that I alone should listen to their song."(XII; 58-62) when Kirke really said that he should only listen to their deadly song only if he believed it was necessary. This selfish decision could have proved to be dea...
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.
In Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, Odysseus fails as a leader by prioritizing his reputation over his crew’s safety after defeating the cyclops Polyphemus. In the story, Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, travels to Troy to fight against the Trojans. On his journey back to Ithaca, a string of damaging incidents lead him to a mysterious island, which he later discovers is inhabited by the murderous cyclops Polyphemus. His crew manages to escape the cyclops, but not before Polyphemus kills several of Odysseus’s crew. Odysseus escapes and could have sailed away peacefully, but he calls out to Polyphemus to suggest that “if anyone, any mortal man, asks you how you got your eye put out, tell him that Odysseus the marauder did it,” (IX, 500-502). This prompts Polyphemus to lob a rock, nearly destroying Odysseus's ship. It is odd that this was
Have you ever really wanted to eat the last cookie but it took every ounce of self discipline to resist the temptation? That's the way Odysseus and his men feel thought out The Odyssey. But they don't always resist and give into the temptation. Odysseus and his men do not show self discipline through the odyssey.
A hero is someone who is confident and competent. They show that they are fearless and put others before them. A hero is alert and aware of the lives he or she lives. Heroes usually have a passion for what they do and they do it and finish it, no matter the consequence. Therefore sacrifice contributes more to heroism because heroes putting themselves before others shows that they are selfless.
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
The challenges that Homer give the protagonist is all a test of character. Odysseus continues to pass the obstacles with flying colors, but his arrogance is the one flaw that is in dire need of correction. Some of the many challenges Odysseus overcomes on his voyage home is defeating the Cicones, surviving the Island of the Lotus Eaters, outsmarting the Giant Cyclops, saving his men from Circe, Traveling to Hades, passing between Scylla and Charybdis, escaping Calypsos’ Island and many more. Odysseus survives these obstacles and uses his smarts to escape near disaster. Often times he was the only one to survive these things and his crew often lost their lives due to their own stupidity. “‘We left the island and resumed our journey in a state of gloom; and the heart was taken out of my men by the wearisome rowing. But was our own stupidity that had deprived us of the wind.’”(P127 L75-79) Odysseus shows how he is an extraordinary man by being much smarter than his crew and the men that follow him. As a part of this stripping of Odysseus, Homer shows that Odysseus is a collective symbol of Everyman. On the one hand Odysseus is a great warrior, who is extremely intelligent, noble, and a great man. Although he has many god- like qualities he is still human. He shows that he is human and like every man, because of the fact that he still has major flaws. The
“An army of sheep led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a sheep.” ― Alexander the Great