It is arguable whether or not Odysseus is a strong leader. Many people believe Odysseus is a strong leader, others believe he is a selfish leader. Throughout his journey in The Odyssey, Odysseus makes countless mistakes. Odysseus is a leader but several times he can be very selfish and greedy. He is a selfish leader because he constantly puts his men in danger and kept secrets.
Odysseus is a selfish leader because throughout his journey he constantly puts his men's life in danger. Odysseus never really listened to his men. A strong leader should be able to communicate with others and take suggestions. One mistake that Odysseus made was when he arrived at the cave of the cyclops. In the Odyssey it states,"My men urged me to take some cheeses, lead the animal into our ships, and be off. I didn't listen to them. If only I had ! I wanted to meet the cyclops and receive the strangers gift from him"(Page 38). This quote not only shows how Odysseus put his men in danger but how he was greedy. He wanted even more than he could've had and he ignored his men. Odysseus then proceeded to brag about defeating the cyclops. Odysseus states "O Cyclops, if anybody asks you about
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that unsightly eye you have there, just say that Odysseus, destroyer of cities, son of Laertes, blinded you!" (Page 47). At this point Odysseus had come up with a clever plan to escape the cyclops yet he made this huge mistake which made his journey harder and longer. Another reason why Odysseus is a selfish leader is because he kept secrets from his men. Odysseus did not tell his men what was inside the bag of wind . On page 47 Odysseus mentions, "While I slept, the men spoke to each other, declaring that I was taking home gold and silver, presents from Aeolus. They did not know that it was a bag of wind". There seemed to be a lack of trust between Odysseus and his men . A strong leader should have his men's trust. From this quote, one can tell that Odysseus' men thought he would do such a thing as to keep gold, silver and presents all for himself. Another time in which Odysseus kept a secret from his men was before they encountered Scylla.
On page 87 Odysseus says, " My men obeyed my word. But I did not mention Scylla and the danger we could not avoid. For I feared that my comrades would stop rowing from terror...while we were so concerned, Scylla reached forth and snatched six of my best men". This shows that Odysseus was not going to let anything get in the way of him returning to Ithaca. If his men made it back with him it was all good but if they didn't Odysseus wouldn't really care that much. He didn't warn his men of the danger ahead. He just let it happen. In the end all of Odysseus' men died. A strong leader would try not to just save him or herself but others as well. Odysseus clearly failed to accomplish
that. Some people may say that Odysseus is in fact a strong leader. They may say this because Odysseus committed several acts of bravery. For example he went to rescue his men from Circê. Odysseus states,"(after my men were turned into swine ) I put on my sword, picked up my bow, and asked him to show me the way to the house". Even though Odysseus could've forgotten about his men and let them be imprisoned by Circê, he voluntarily went to rescue them. Another time in which Odysseus was a strong leader was when he came up with the plan to escape the cyclops. He is wise and cunning which are characteristics of a strong leader. Although Odysseus sometimes does some heroic things overall he is still a selfish leader. Odysseus’ cons outweigh his pro’s as a leader. Odysseus repeatedly committed mistakes and because he kept on making them it comes to show that he didn’t necessarily learn from them. He only reflected upon them. A strong leader should guide others and get them safely to their destination. Yet odysseus’s men all ended up dead. In a way Odysseus only used his men as “shields” to help himself get to Ithaca. In conclusion Odysseus holds aspects of both a strong and selfish leader. Although he is without a doubt a leader, throughout his journey Odysseus is shown to be more selfish. Several of the events that occurred and obstacles that he encountered showed how Odysseus is indeed a leader, but a selfish and weak one at times overall.
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
Odysseus was within arms reach of home but because of how naive he was he was forced to keep going on his journey. After all of Aeolus’ hospitality and such a powerful gift Odysseus is still mindless at what this meant and because of him not being cautious, he could not complete his adventure. It’s surprising knowing that after being on a powerful god’s bad side and being forced back to sea, that Odysseus can be even more of a fool.
Throughout the whole book he is having his men go and do crazy things that make them risk, and some even lose, their lives. After Odysseus offends Poseidon by harming the cyclops he started taunting the cyclops. One of his men scream, “God Sake Captain! Why bait the beast again? Let him alone!” (493-494). This is showing that he was “baiting the beast” again and putting his men in even more danger after he just saved his life and all of theirs. Odysseus also puts his men in danger by not telling them about Scylla. He doesn’t tell his men that six of them are going to die. Odysseus says, “Voices came down on me in distinguish, calling my name for the last time,” ((820-821). This is showing that Odysseus just put his men in even more danger plus he isn’t fighting for his men. Odysseus was such a bad leader to his
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
In Homer 's The Odyssey, Odysseus is known as “the great tactician” (7.256). With the help of the goddess Athena, Odysseus must endure a challenging journey home after winning the Trojan War. Throughout Odysseus ' journey, he has to encounter and defeat many obstacles which prohibit his desired, speedy return home. During this journey, Odysseus learns that once he gets home, he will have to conquer the suitors who have invaded his home. These suitors have attempted to court his wife, raided his food supplies, and completely disrespected Odysseus and his household. Odysseus must return to his home land, Ithaka, and become king of his home again in order to make his homecoming complete. Odysseus ' master as tactician makes his homecoming
...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 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...
In The Odyssey, book nine and ten written by Homer, Odysseus constantly embodies the principal characteristics of a hero which are : cleverness, leadership, and selflessness. Thus, this character is regarded as an idol among the other characters and greatly captures the reader’s sympathy for his choices and the fruit to his actions in life. First, Odysseus displays cleverness in Book Nine when he tricks the Cyclops Poluphemus that his name is “nobody” in order to escape the horrors of the cyclop’s cave. He states: “Nobody--so my mother and father call me, all my friends” (Homer, 18). Second, Odysseus is a brave leader of his army especially in book ten when he displays leadership by motivating his comrades in keep trying to sail despite the
Odysseus is a selfish leader who needed to stop and think about his decisions instead of acting on impulses, this could have saved the lives of many of his men.... ... middle of paper ... ... Another selfish act committed by Odysseus is when he was on the Island of the Kyklops and he risked his and his crew's life to explore the island just so he could see a kyklops.
As part of the hero profile, one would have to be determined, and Odysseus certainly was. If a hero is determined, they only have one goal in mind. To be determined, the hero goes through perils and challenges and most importantly they can never lose hope. Likewise, Odysseus has a goal: to make it home to Ithaka to see his family. Even if Odysseus faced the most life-threatening things, he wouldn't back down. "I long...trial come." (Book V, Lines 229-233). Odysseus has his mind set straight, and he won't let anyone or anything change it. Also, Odysseus never doubted himself as a leader. He had an sufficient amount of failures, yet he wouldn't put himself down and give up. For example, He neglected to take the advice from his crew member, Eurylochus. Eurylochus told Odysseus not to send men to see what was on Circe's island and because he sent them anyway, they ended up being turned into pigs. Odysseus made a mistake, but that didn't stop him from venturing on. Although Odysseus has failed as a leader, he was still determined to become better. For example, when Odysseus and his crew arrive at the land of Ismaros, he specifically tells them to not touch the sheep. Odysseus warns his crew, yet he fails to establish a connection with them. They disobey Odysseus and butcher sheep after sheep, which ...
Odysseus is known as a great war hero and leader who encounters and conquers unimaginable obstacles in his quest to return to Ithaca. This is understandable, given that Homer often uses Odysseus’ point of view in recounting his tortuous ten-year journey. However, beneath the surface is another perspective that is often overlooked, namely, that of Odysseus’ men who accompany him on this journey. Odysseus often glosses over his shortcomings as a leader and accentuates or even exaggerates his successes. If his men had been given more of a voice, it is likely that a different account of Odysseus’ leadership qualities would have been presented. For instance, Odysseus takes great pains to portray himself as an innocent victim and Homer’s readers generally accept this perspective. Odysseus’ hubris makes him careless when it comes to the safety of his men and therefore, an unreliable leader. Careful analysis of the scenes featuring Cicones, Aeolus and the Winds, and Scylla and Charybdis reveals that Odysseus often fails to transcend his own self-interest and ultimately he is the one responsible for the deaths of his men.
The Character Odysseus in Odyssey "Odyssey" is an epic story that has been a significant piece of literature since it was first composed and will remain so for ages to come. One of the reasons it has been so is because of the hero, Odysseus. Odysseus was one of the first Greek mythic heroes renowned for his brain as well as his muscles. Indeed he is a man with an inquiring mind, and he is also a man with outstanding prowess and bravery" (123helpme.com/assets/3603.html). "We also must not forget that he is a top-notch athlete which only adds more to this seemingly insuperable character.
Odysseus portrays himself as anything but a hero throughout Homer’s The Odyssey. Odysseus goes through his life believing he is the best. He has no regard for anyone’s feelings but his own, and he believes nothing and no one can harm him, not even the gods. Odysseus feels he is always the leader and no one can tell him otherwise. Odysseus should not be considered a hero because he portrays himself as a selfish man that failed his crew, and is controlled by his hubris.
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