Odysseus An Ineffective Leader Analysis

281 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Odyssey analysis

Not only was Odysseus an ineffective leader during his brawl with Polyphemos, the same qualitites begin the show up again. On Circe’s island, Odysseus’ crew is kept back from home, for he had only Circe in mind. To be specific, during the ordeals with Circe, she uttered “we two shall mingle and make love upon our bed”, as a mean to seduce Odysseus.(Homer 179 //. 64-69). Her valiant effort proves to be a success, considering Odysseus’ choice to stay with Circe for the next year. This event only lengthen the trip home;thus, justifying Odysseus ineffectiveness as a leader. Eventually Odysseus’ love affair ended;however, it was not his decision.Throughout the ordeals with Circe, he is reminded of home when his men said “captain shake off this

Show More
Related

  • Odysseus: A Flawed Leader in Homer's Odyssey

    648 Words  | 2 Pages

    Odysseus lets himself and his men get trapped in a Cyclops’ cave where a number of men die (153, 312-316) Generally a true leader never allows his men to die for foolish and or unnecessary reasons. In this part of the text Odysseus allows his men to get trapped in a cave because he wants to wait to meet the owner of the cave which he was in. Hence, Odysseus is an awful leader due to the fact that he allows his men to die due to his own irresponsibility. Another similar instance is when he expects hospitality from the Lasitrygonês without even a shred of doubt that they would treat him well - even after making the same mistake with the cyclops’ earlier, both leading to the loss of many lives (168, 121-128). A great leader never lets men die due to their own error. In this case, Odysseus has entire benches worth of men die due to the fact that he did not learn from his earlier encounter with the cyclops. Thus, Odysseus is not as awe inspiring a leader as some may make him out to

    Read More

  • Odysseus' Bad Decisions

    577 Words  | 2 Pages

    Every day people make decisions. Some are more important than others, but all decisions have consequences, no matter how small. The decisions that you make, and the decisions others make could affect your life. They may have positive effects, but they may also have negatives effects like in The Odyssey by Homer. In general, Odysseus and his men made some decisions that lead to some very negative effects.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Odysseus

    1071 Words  | 3 Pages

    What are the key points you will want to emphasize in your online profile for Character 1 (3-4 sentences)?

    Read More

  • Examples Of Odysseus Being A Bad Leader

    773 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Arrogance In The Odyssey

    621 Words  | 2 Pages

    In that regard, it was no wonder Odysseus’s is such an atrocious leader. A great example of Odysseus being disloyal is on Calypso’s Island. “…He lay with her each night, for she compelled him.” (892) This quote shows how Odysseus is disloyal to his grieving wife, and sleeps with a goddess daily. A leader cannot expect loyalty when the leader is notorious for being unloyal. “Now Circe, ‘loveliest of all immortals,’ persuades Odysseus to stay with her.” (903) This is another quote that shows Odysseus cheating on his wife, while his wife is at home is at home distraught over her missing husband. A great leader leads by example. By that philosophy, it should not be expected of Odysseus’s men to be loyal to him, when Odysseus cannot stay faithful to his own wife. Consequently, Odysseus is also extremely selfish, on top of being incredibly

    Read More

  • Odysseus Bad Leader

    552 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Selfishness In The Odyssey

    757 Words  | 2 Pages

    Before letting him leave the island, Circe tells Odysseus that he must face Scylla, a sea monster, and Charybdis, a whirlpool. Circe says, “Better by far to lose six men and keep you ship” (274). Odysseus is told beforehand that no ship could pass unscathed, but he chooses to not to tell his crew. He knowingly sacrifices his crewmembers’ lives and has no qualms about it, which shows his inner selfishness. He makes sure to protect his own life, but he sees his crew as disposable. Homer characterizes Odysseus this way in order to convey his views about humanity: humans are instinctively selfish. Odysseus also carelessley kills his remaining crew when he taunts the Cyclops. After hearing Odysseus’s name, Polyphemus prays to Poseidon and asks that Odysseus “never reaches home” but if he is destined to return, make sure he returns “a broken man—all shipmates lost, alone in a strangers ship” (228). If Odysseus had never told Polyphemus his name, he and his crew might have made it home more quickly and safely. Instead, his hubris causes an inescapable curse. Odysseus cannot bear the thought of forfeiting his fame, which leads to even more hardship on his quest to return home. Homer uses Odysseus to demonstrate the danger of egotistical

    Read More

  • Self Discipline In The Odyssey

    475 Words  | 1 Pages

    Again Odysseus shows a lack of self discipline while with the witch Circe. Odysseus chooses to stay with Circe instead of trying to make it back to his wife, Penelope, and his kingdom of Ithaca. In the Odyssey it says "he enjoyed the many pleasures of Circe." (Page 913). This proves that Odysseus, once again has no control over himself when he is tempted. He choose the beautiful witch over his very own wife who has been waiting for years for him to return.

    Read More

  • Odysseus: The Flawed Hero

    1318 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Oh for shame, how the mortals put the blame on us gods, for they say evils come from us, but it is they, rather, who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given,” (1.32-34) is a simple quote reminding us the entities in charge of all characters in the poem The Odyssey – the gods. Hubris, or excessive human pride, is most detested by the gods and likewise is most punishable by them. The Odyssey is a story about Odysseus and Telemachus, two heroes who throughout their adventures meet new people and face death many times. Telemachus goes to find his father after he learns from Athena that he is still alive. The two meet, and Odysseus attempts to go back to Ithaca after he was lost at sea, and on his way there becomes one of the most heroic characters in literature as we know it. Like all heroic characters, Odysseus began to display hubris as he learned how true of a hero he was. James Wyatt Cook, a historian and an expert on The Odyssey, wrote about how hubris can affect the characters that display it. He says, “Because Homer’s Odyssey is essentially comic, that episode [opened wind bag destroys ship] is only one of a series of setbacks Odysseus experiences before reaching his home in Ithaca and recovering his former kingdom and his family. Such, however, is not the case for those who display hubris with tragic outcomes.” (Cook 1) Initially, Odysseus learns about Aias who died as a cause of the excessive pride he portrays. Proteus warns Odysseus when he says, “…and Aias would have escaped doom, though Athena hated him, had he not gone widely mad and tossed outa word of defiance; for he said that in despite of the gods he escaped the great gulf of the sea, and Poseidon heard him…...

    Read More

  • Odysseus: Leadership and Heroism in the Odyssey

    817 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Odyssey is an ancient Greek epic poem written by Homer. The epic revolves around the King of Ithaca, Odysseus, who has just finished fighting in the Trojan War and makes his way back home. Odysseus faces many obstacles and struggles throughout his journey. Both Telemachus and Penelope also face multiple obstacles while they wait for the return of Odysseus. Telemachus, Odysseus’s son ventures off to find his beloved father without informing his mother. Penelope, Odysseus’s wife was alone with the suitors who are all dying to marry her. Odysseus displays leadership through his journey similar to Tupac Amura Shakur and shows intelligence like Steve Jobs. Heros are seen as more than just warriors but as someone who society

    Read More

  • A Tale Of Two Lovers In Homer's Odyssey

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    No doubt, Odysseus encountered a myriad of obstacles that tested his faith and loyalty during his journey home from the Battle of Troy, yet one of the utmost important encounters was the one in which Odysseus met a woman named Circe. After Circe turned all of Odysseus’ men into pigs and Odysseus restored all of them to humans again, Odysseus realized that he liked this woman enough to not only break the sacred vows of marriage, but also to delay his getting home to Ithaca by about a year. Odysseus became so infatuated that his men had no option but to say, “Captain, shake off this trance, and think of home – if home indeed awaits us,” hoping that those words would embed in Odysseus’s heart and remind him of his love, Penelope, waiting for him at home. No doubt, married people experience a wide range of good and bad times with their

    Read More

  • What Are The Obstacles In The Odyssey

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    She complimented him on his decisiveness and ability to act to get things done in order to lure Odysseus into her palace and use her powers to turn him into a pig. Just before he had arrived at the Halls of Circe, “hotheaded Odysseus”(10.481) was just about to decapitated Eurylochus, his second in command, after Eurylochus returned as the only crewman to not be turned to swine by Circe. Eurylochus “tried to hold [the] shipmates back”(10.473) from going with Odysseus to Circe’s halls because he felt that Odysseus’s “rashness” (10.482) was the reason they had been through so many troubles and why they had lost so many crewmembers. After getting the urge to murder Eurylochus for not listening to his commands, Odysseus confessed that he was calmed by the crew and remembered Eurylochus was “close kin” to him. Though Circe sees Odysseus as a “man of action”, Odysseus is impulsive and makes rash decisions with “half a mind” (10.483). Odysseus is decisive, but he is inclined to act without thinking. In his “hotheaded” rage he almost killed his most important crewmember and a

    Read More

  • Odysseus Leadership In Homer's Odyssey

    1027 Words  | 3 Pages

    If Odysseus would have listened to his men and left, it would have avoided many unnecessary deaths of his men, and a curse of Poseidon. Not only does a good leader listen to his gut, he also lets the comments and concerns of his men affect his decision and in this case they would have proven to be very helpful. But, his stubborn ego and pridefulness led him to a trial of grief. Not only does this prove that Odysseus doesn’t take the ideas of his men to heart, it also proves that Odysseus is somewhat selfish which is most definitely not a true sign of a good leader. In addition to not listening to his leaders, Odysseus shows a sign of poor communication which ultimately leads to the death of more of his men, and some deep trials of grief. For example, Odysseus claims “Sweet sleep took over me, I was tired:...That’s what they urged, and their disastrous plan prevailed...They opened up the sack, the hurricane was quick to sweep my men away from their own land” (192). In this passage, Odysseus falls asleep, and fails to explain to his men that the bags of “goods”

    Read More

  • Odysseus Character Analysis

    937 Words  | 2 Pages

    Homer’s The Odyssey is a Greek story that follows the journey of its primary character, Odysseus, back to his home in Ithaca after the Trojan War. Odysseus encounters many challenges in his journey home, from encounters with Polyphemus the Cyclops, the witch Circe and even the ghosts of dead Greeks. Meanwhile, his household in Ithaca is being threatened by suitors of his wife, Penelope, all wanting to inherit Odysseus’ possessions in the belief that he was already dead. Like many epic heroes, Odysseus possesses many admirable qualities. Three good characteristics of Odysseus are—cleverness, bravery and strength—here are some supporting instances from the epic that demonstrates Odysseus possession of such characteristics.

    Read More

  • Odysseus As A Good Leader In The Odyssey By Homer

    679 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the Odyssey, Odysseus is shown to be a good leader. There are evidence and details to support Odysseus as a good leader. Odysseus values intelligence which was part of what the Greeks valued at the time. He is strong willed meaning he is determined to do as one wants even if others advise against it. He also possessed great physical strength which for the Greeks, it was essential meaning it was absolutely necessary. Odysseus called himself “Nohbdy” to trick Polyphemus, the Cyclops. This evidence from the epic poem proves of Odysseus’s intelligence. Odysseus takes Circe’s advice when she tells him to order his men to tie him down

    Read More

More about Odysseus An Ineffective Leader Analysis

Open Document