Examples Of Odysseus Being A Bad Leader

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.

In part one of The Odyssey, the last few stories it states, “Odysseus makes them swear not to touch the god’s cattle,” (p 684). This is one of the many secrets he keeps from his men. He doesn’t tell them why they can’t touch the cattle and he is not completely truthful with them. Another secret he keeps from his men is when he doesn’t tell them about Scylla, Odysseus says, “but as I sent them on towards Scylla, I told them nothing, as they could do nothing…” (790-791). This is another secret Odysseus kept from them even if it was going to have them killed. This is another reason why Odysseus was a horrible

He doesn’t respect his wife by cheating. Odysseus cheated on his wife, Penelope, with two different women. The book says, “Odysseus shares her meat and wine, and she restores his heart. After many seasons of feasting, and other pleasures…” (p. 675). This shows that Odysseus was cheating on his wife when the person talking says “other pleasures”. This isn’t respectful to his wife because he is having sex with another person nor is it respectful to his men because he is being a bad influence, which makes him a bad leader. Another disrespectful thing Odysseus did was offend the gods. He offended the gods multiple times but the worst time was when he hurt the cyclops. Odysseus says, “I drew it from the coals and my four fellows game me a hand, lugging it near the cyclops as more than natural force nerved them; straight towards they sprinted, lifted it, and rammed it straight in his crater eye,” (374-378). In his part of the story Odysseus is trying to get him and his men free of the cyclops so they can go home. The cyclops is Poseidon's son and Odysseus offended Poseidon when he harms the cyclops, which is very disrespectful. These are two huge examples that show why Odysseus is a bad