Odyssey Essay
Being attacked by one eyed monsters, huge storms, a giant sea dragon, and
scores of angry men were just a few of the perils Odysseus had to overcome.
He did not only overcome them, but he did so in a way that would forever be
thought of as heroic. Odysseus, the epic hero of Homer's The Odyssey
demonstrates the Greek ideal of leadership, bravery, and devotion to the
gods. Odysseus was a great leader and showed his leadership abilities many
times, times where his men were ready to give up and accept their fate. With
his motivational speeches he turned his men into dangerous fighters who
would keep on going hard until they were struck down, eaten, or thrown into
the churning seas. One example of this was during Scylla and Charybdis.
Odysseus' men were tired and didn't want to proceed, but Odysseus said:
"Friends, have we never been in danger before this? More fearsome, is it now,
then when we faced Cyclops? Did I not keep my nerve, and use my wits to find
a way out?" (P. 708, L. 766) There are also times when all the men are afraid,
but here Odysseus shows he's in charge and speaks up when nobody wants
to: "We all felt pressure in our hearts, but I spoke up in replyÉ" (P. 689, L.
203) Odysseus gave warnings to help his fellow shipmates and tried to protect
them from the wrath of the gods: "Old shipmates, our stores are in the ship's
hold, food and drink; the cattle here are not for our provision, or we pay dearly
for it." (P. 710, L. 840) Odysseus was not only a great leader, but also a very
brave man. There were also many times when Odysseus showed how brave
he was. In this next example involving the Cyclops Odysseus shows that he is
not the type of leader that sits on safe land while he sends his men in to kill,
but a leader who enjoys nothing more than being engaged in battle with his
men. "I took my twelve best fighters and went ahead." (P. 687, L. 136)
Odysseus also had the heart of a fighter, he would do battle whenever
necessary, no matter whom his opponent was, in this case the giant Cyclops:
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.
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 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
...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.
Romeo and Juliet is the tragic story of two young, “star-crossed” lovers from feuding families, destined for disaster. The Capulets and the Montagues have an ancient grudge on one another that has been passed down over generations. Unfortunately, Romeo and Juliet end up victims of their families’ vicious loathing. Romeo and Juliet’s story has several intertwining themes such as the aforementioned hatred between the Capulets and Montagues and the revenge Romeo strives for after his friend Mercutio’s death. Also, the love and passion between Romeo and Juliet and the loyalty of Romeo and his friends. Honour and revenge also feature frquently throughout the play including Juliet’s pressure to honour her family, and the revenge Romeo sees as his duty when Tybalt kills Mercutio.
Censorship is a great temptation, particularly when we see something that offends or frightens us. At such times, our best defense is to remember what J. M. Coetzee writes in Giving Offense: Essays on Censorship. "By their very nature, censors wound their own vision when they restrict what others can see. The one who pronounces the ban ... becomes, in effect, the blind one, the one at the center of the ring in the game of blind man's bluff."
President Franklin Roosevelt was undoubtedly one of the greatest presidents of the United States. He achieved both trust and respect from Americans. He brought the U.S. through the Great Depression with his successful “New Deal” programs and reformed the banking system. He taught Americans that the government isn’t always the problem, that it instead can be the solution. With his idea of keeping a strong standing military, U.S. along with the Allies defeated the Axis and made the Americans proud of being Americans.
A mention of the name, Roosevelt D. Franklin to most Americans, rekindles the memories of the Second World War, the Manhattan projects and the subsequent bombing of two Japanese cities. What most of these people fail to understand is that Roosevelt's presidency was the Second World War. Turth be told, Roosevelt is one the greatest presidents the United States ever had based on his personality and the challenges he faced while in the White House. This paper discusses a number of aspects about one of the United States' celebrated presidents, Foosevelt D. Franklin, including his life history, challenges he faced, his achievements, as well as, some unique things about him and his presidency.
“I would not heed them in my glorying spirit, / but let my anger flare and yelled: / ‘Cyclops, / if ever mortal man inquire / how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him / Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: / Laertes’ son, whose home’s on Ithaca!’” (500-505, 769).
Franklin Delano Roosevelt is among the most remembered U.S. Presidents. Serving as President for more than twelve years, he was the only President to be elected four times. Roosevelt led the United States through its worst depression and its worst war. He tried his best to stay optimistic with our country and the decisions he made. In Roosevelt's first inaugural address, he asked for faith in America's future. He told the country, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" (Burns 1970, p. 238). That is the lesson that he taught our country to live by.
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...
Exercising the freedom of speech has two sides: the speaker and the listener. Censorship is unfair to both sides. When it takes away the speaker’s Constitutional freedom of expression, it simultaneously revokes the listener’s right to develop an informed opinion based on unobstructed truth. This opinion has been supported by the courts. In 1982, an informal agreement between several broadcasters from major media outlets known as the Code of Broadcaster Conduct, which banned “depictions of sexual encounters, violence and drug use, as well as excessive advertising,” was nullified because it was a violation of First Amendment rights (“Broadcast Decency”). Excessive censorship is viewed as unnecessary by both the American public and by the government that endorses it.
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
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution or simply the Cultural Revolution was launched by Mao Zedong in May 1966 and lasted until his death in September 1976. The first two years of the Revolution, which was the most violent phase of the struggle, was led by militia units comprised of students called the Red Guards. Their goal was to destroy anything in relation to the “four olds”: Old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits. They also engaged in the purpose of the Cultural Revolution according to the “Sixteen Points” by beating, humiliating, and even killing the “capitalist-roaders”. By mid-1968, Mao realized the young Red Guards were overly annihilative, so he abolished them. Although according to the “Sixteen Points”, the purpose of the Cultural Revolution was to eliminate those who are “capitalist-roaders” and to transform China into an equal, socialist society, Mao’s true, unrevealed goal of the CR was to eliminate his biggest enemy, who was the Chairman of China and Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, Liu Shaoqi, in order to further consolidate his own power in the People’s Republic of China.
Antony also uses the power of his speech, similar to Cassius, to influence the plebeians of Rome by carefully structuring his words together and using various tones to appeal to the audience. Antony uses repetition, such as this quote, “I thrice presented him a kingly crown,/ Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?/Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,/And sure he is an honourable man.”(III.ii.94-97) Antony uses this repetition of giving evidence to the people of what Caesar’s characteristics were really like, showing them that Caesar was not as ambitious as Brutus said, and calling Brutus an honourable man. The repetition allows for the plebeians to realize the truth because of Antony’s multiple exposures of verification that Caesar was not ambitious and how Brutus and the other conspirators are at fault. It also influences the plebeians to believe that Brutus is not noble at all because of how deceitful he acts when justifying his causes to murder Caesar. Antony then says, “[...]Bear with me./My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,/and I must pause till it come back to me.”(III.ii.103-105). Antony indicates how close his relationship to Caesar and that he feels so heartbroken that he chokes up from all the overwhelming emotions he feels. The tone of his speech elicits sympathy from the plebeians due to the