Odysseus from Homer’s The Odyssey is a man with many strengths, but not without faults. One of Odysseus’ biggest faults is his pride or hubris. Throughout the story, Odysseus’ pride gets him into a lot of trouble, but pride isn’t always a bad thing… Without pride, everyone would just be completely self conscious and paranoid. Odysseus’ pride in particular in The Odyssey seems to act in a way closer to the bad side. It appears to get him into a lot of trouble, but is that really pride? Odysseus’s pride could also be looked at more as a helpful quality, because helps him accomplish what needs to be done.
There are many examples in The Odyssey where Odysseus appears to get himself into trouble because of his hubris, but the most discussed of which is likely Odysseus’
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When Odysseus encounters the siren, everyone is made get away from the water and plug their ears. Odysseus, on the other hand, has himself tied to the mast of the ship with no earplugs. Though it it is never really confirmed why Odysseus does this, there are many speculations. Some could argue that this was due to Odysseus’ hubris, that he did it just to show off or because he thought he could reject the song. There are a few that suppose Odysseus did this simply out of curiosity, or perhaps because it was fun. Others say that Odysseus’ actions were a real leadership move, that doing this was the bravest thing he could have done. By getting himself tied to that mast, he was risking his life for the good of his crew, now he could see the siren and hear its song to work out a way to permanently avoid the siren, for everyone. Odysseus clearly knew what he was doing because the text shows the crew was not worried by saying “Then they found me hand and foot and fastened to be up right against the mask, took their places and paddles on.”
Although some could possibly call Odysseus, the protagonist of Homer’s The Odyssey, a great leader, the fact that he fails to earn his men’s respect, endangers his men’s lives repeatedly and allows them to die due to his own selfishness states otherwise.
Although many of Odysseus’s characteristics are those that many people strive for, his overconfidence is one flaw in him that many people should learn from. In almost every story in the Odyssey, the reader gets yet another example of Odysseus’s pride. Whether it is insulting a God, making fun of a dangerous monster, or asking other men to write poems about him while he is in disguise, the reader realizes that Odysseus is, in fact, an overconfident madman, and it is this overconfident madness that hurts Odysseus in the future, and is what causes him much pain and a very treacherous journey home.
When people think of Odysseus, they think of a great, cunning, warrior. Who wouldn’t see him that way, he fought his way through Troy and embarked on a journey back home to see his son and wife again. On the surface Odysseus seems like a genius but in Homer’s, The Odyssey, Odysseus shows many instances where he outwits his foes but his foolishness heavily outweighs his smarts; he becomes boastful after a victory which leads to more hardships, he leaves precious cargo in the open for his brutish crew to mess with, and refuses help from the gods which nearly leads to his demise.
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
The definition of pride is a feeling or deep pleasure of satisfaction that people obtain from their own accomplishments. Odysseus, the main character in The Odyssey, is full of pride throughout his long journey. Odysseus is a warrior from the ten year Trojan War and he is trying to get back home to Ithaca. He is one of the most popular war heros from his time. On his journey home over sea, the sea god and Odysseus’s enemy Poseidon, creates obstacles for Odysseus that he has to overcome if he wants to get home. Odysseus eventually returns home after another ten years. In the epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer represents pride Odysseus’ biggest flaw throughout his encounter with Polyphemus and the Phaeacians.
Odysseus displays his desire for glory through his careless actions during his encounter with the Cyclops Polyphemus. The desire for glory Odysseus displays is shown through the words he speaks to Polyphemus. He is a clever character but makes rash decisions that affect the outcome of his original goals and intentions. While Odysseus is trapped inside of the cave of the Cyclops, he begins to taunt Polyphemus. “I called back to the Cyclops, stinging taunts: So, Cyclops, no weak coward it was whose crew you bent to devour three in your vaulted cave—with your brute voice! Filthy crimes came down on your own head, you shameless cannibal” (Fagles, 226). Odysseus was insulting the Cyclops, and those insults caused the rage of the monster to boil over. The Cyclops was already angry with Odysseus blinding him, and was even more demoralized and angry when Odysseus began to taunt him. As Odysseus goes on with his insults and as his anger rises, he says, “Cyclops—if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed—say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out your eye, La...
In a world ruled by kings and gods, there isn’t much room for emotions or showing weakness. At some point every human-being will show some moments of weakness in difficult times. Odysseus, a man that is held to such high regard seems to go against the norms of the time by
Along the same line as humility comes pride. Odysseus had more pride and cockiness than any of the characters I have read about this semester. He didn’t seem as bad in the Iliad, but the Odyssey really showed him in a different light. He had to swallow his pride when he had to come back to his home and get it back. Just in the fact that he came back at all was pride swallowing. He lost all of his men.
“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…...
Odysseus uses his brain to sail past the Sirens without being entranced by their sweet song. A Siren is a bird-woman who bewitches everyone that approaches. The Siren women sing a seductive song. Their song has many powers. As Nugent says “as in the days of the musician Orpheus, music still has power to soothe the savage beast, to ally anxiety, and to connect with the divine through contemplation” (Nugent 45-54). Circe tells Odysseus, “There is no homecoming for the man who draws near them unawares and hears the Siren’s voices” (Homer XII, 40). . Odysseus follows the advice Circe gave him to put beeswax in his men’s ears so they will not be entranced. Odysseus then tells his men “but she instructed me alone to hear their voices…”(XII, 160), when, truthfully, Circe states, “But if you wish to listen yourself, make them bind you hand and foot on board and place you upright by the housing of the mast, with the rope’s ends lashed to the mast itself”(XII, 49). In this way, Odysseus is being selfish only wishes to know the Siren’s sing so he will...
Odysseus is a person of great nobility, an unmistakable trait which is essential to him being an epic hero throughout The Odyssey. Homer displays Odysseus’ noble characteristic in numerous forms, whether it be through his actions, defining qualities or high moral principles. For instance, after Calypso keeps Odysseus on the island of Ogygia for many years, he begins to believe as though he can never leave the island, unable to escape the clutches of the witch. When Calypso unexpectedly allows him to leave, Odysseus retorts, "And I should not care to embark on a raft without your goodwill: not unless you could bring yourself to swear a solemn oath that you will not work some secret mischief against me" (Homer 65). Odysseus feels as though he
The first time Odysseus exhibits hubris is in the very beginning of his journey. Odysseus and his crewmen decide to visit the island of Polythemus simply out of curiosity. They run into a predicament inside the cave since Polythemus won’t let them escape. Odysseus is keen and cunning when he comes up with a plot to blind Polythemus and escape under the bellies of the flock of ewes brought in and out of the cave every day. After escaping Odysseus cannot resist pumping himself up, so he explains how after his men are out of the cave he yells in anger back at Polythemus:
In The Odyssey, Homer, or more so, the characters, often referred to Odysseus as the ‘Great Odysseus’. In the text, it is obvious to see that Odysseus demonstrates arrogance, charisma, over-confidence, and pride. Odysseus and his m...
One example from the text that shows odysseus does not have the incredible heroic trait of humility is found in book 9 of the odyssey. In lines 416-419, odysseus says, “cyclops. / if ever mortal man inquire/how you were put shame and blind, tell him/odysseus , radar of cites took your eye; / Leate’s son, whose home’s on ithanca!”(384). Odysseus wanted the cyclops to know who to credit for blinding him. His bragging almost cost him and hitmen their lives.
Odysseus understands the Sirens are trying lure in him and his crew to crash on the rocks and die. When Odysseus and his crew approach the island of the Sirens he “lays [wax] thick” in their ears. This judgement prevents the crew from the temptation of the Sirens’ song and heading towards the island of the Sirens saving their lives. Moreover, Odysseus decides that he will hear the song and for the crew to tie him to the mast. Odysseus’ crew “ties [him] up” for two reasons to resist temptation from the song and to know when the Sirens disappear in the distance. Odysseus’ judgment and intelligence allow him and his crew to overcome the Sirens and their