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Why odysseus is a good leader
Textual evidence of Odysseus showing leadership
Why odysseus is a good leader
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Odysseus’ Weaknesses In the epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer reveals that Odysseus’ encounter with the Cyclops magnifies his curiosity and hubris, allowing him to defeat the Cyclops despite his weaknesses. Odysseus shows he is a weak leader when he displays signs of curiosity because he wants to see the Cyclops that dwells in his cavern. After climbing to the cavern of the Cyclops, Odysseus alongside his men enter the home of the Cyclops and examine the belongings inside: “My men came pressing round me, pleading: ‘Why not take these cheeses, get them stowed, come back, throw open all the pens, and make a run for it? We’ll drive the kids and lambs aboard. We say put out again on good salt
People tend to think that heroes only have strengths and no weaknesses but unfortunately, that’s not how it is. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is the hero and he has many strengths as well as many weaknesses. Odysseus’ strengths help him get through rough situations and on the other hand, his weaknesses lead to more consequences. Odysseus’ strength of being hardworking helps him in his journey a lot and his weakness of bragging leads to consequences. Odysseus is very hardworking.
In The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus has dealt with many obstacles set forth by the gods and goddesses, in order to overcome his flaw of hubris and become a better person. Now, twenty years after the Trojan war, Odysseus returns to his home in Ithaca and finds that his beloved dog, Argus, once strong and brave is now old, weak, and treated like garbage; his son has grown up without him; and that his wife, Penelope, is sought after for marriage by men whom have vitiated his home and belongings. This infuriates Odysseus and forces him to face the karma and consequences of his hubris of his younger self. After Odysseus meets his son, Telemachus, for the first time, Odysseus must now take back his rightful place, but he must do so as a beggar, which is sad and humiliating for his son to watch: “ ‘If they make fun of me in my own courtyard, let your ribs cage up your springing heart, no matter what I suffer, no matter if they pull me by the heels or practice shots at me, to drive me out. Look on, hold down your anger.
Both Odysseus and I have both shown level headedness. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is trapped in a cave with the gigantic man eating cyclops. The cyclops left them trapped in the cave for a day while he tended to his sheep giving him time to think. Odysseus finally comes up with an ingenious plan to put the cyclops into a deep sleep, but it would require him to stay level headed in one of the most dangerous things he ever had to do. Odysseus went up to the cyclops and offered him some extremely potent wine to put him into an very deep slumber so they could stab him in the eye.
Rough times are something that everyone goes through but Homer’s Odysseus went through a bit too many. Odysseus is a hero who fought in the Trojan war and has been away from home for many decades. He gets his men killed, people hate him, the gods hate him. These circumstances are very stressful because all Odysseus wants is to go home. In Homer’s
Being known as the “Master Strategist” he is looked on to make big decisions that affected the outcome of the Trojan War. Also Odysseus did many heroic things in the Trojan War that led to people seeing him as the most important hero that fought in the ten year war, even above Achilles who is another well known hero. Odysseus even came up with the plan that ended the war. We have all heard of it, and that is the wooden horse. After being pushed back and withdrawing Odysseus requested a giant Wooden horse be built.
The main character Odysseus in the Odyssey written by Homer is generally thought to be a great hero; however, he shows more traits of a quite flawed character on closer inspection. Around the beginning of Odysseus’ journey home after the war, Odysseus decides to take a detour to the home of a cyclops deciding to not listen to his men’s suggestions to leave while they still could; consequently, it does not end well: “Ah, how sound that was, Yet I refused. I wished to see the caveman, what he had to offer no pretty sight it turned out, for my friend” (9.130-132). This thought by Odysseus shows that he realized his decision to go to the mysterious island wasn’t the most rational one and that his men’s pleas to leave were the better option, but he decides to be stubborn and place his curiosity before his men’s safety resulting in a non-heroic
The author of the heart-wrenching Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket once wrote “Just because you don’t understand it doesn’t mean it isn’t so,” ( "A Quote from The Blank Book.") in his work Blank Book. Authors from 750 B.C and those closer to today all use Snicket's notion as a reason for writing about a journey; every quest and exploration holds understandings that are not known yet. Homer, the author of the epic poem Odyssey, (Homer) chronicles the voyage of Odysseus through the Adriatic sea and all of its hidden traps. In the second piece, the poem, “Ithaca” by C.P Cavafy, ("C.P. Cavafy - Poems - The Canon.")
In this passage, we are introduced to the main character, Odysseus. Odysseus is the King of Ithaca, son of Laertes and Anticleia. His wife back on Ithaca is named Penelope. He has a son named Telemachus, who never knew his father, for Odysseus left his family when his son was just born too go fight in the Trojan war. After fighting an in the 10 year Trojan war Odysseus tries to make it back home, however, he ends up being stranded for 10 more years.
“You are free to choose, but you are not free from the consequence of your choice.” (A Universal Paradox). In The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is stuck in a whirlwind of choices, and with all of those choices come consequences. Odysseus proves throughout the book that he is the worst person you could choose to pick a choice. He does not consider the consequences of his actions because he is not logical, is selfish with his actions, and is very secretive.
Along his journey, Odysseus faces many challenges and disasters causing him to spend 20 years lost at sea. Many of the decisions that expanded his journey home were caused by his hubris and lack of respect for others. He ignores advice from others which creates more problems than solutions. As his journey progresses he begins to change and learn from his mistakes. He becomes a mentally different person than when he first left Troy.
In the poem, The Odyssey, Odysseus wanted to make a name for himself and to have everyone know that he is a hero and wanted to always be remembered. His quest was to get home after the ten years of war in Troy, that he tried to get out of by faking he was crazy. After Achilles, the Greek champion died, Odysseus came up with an idea to get into the city and to end the war. He had the Greek army make the “Trojan Horse”, which was just a giant wooden horse that was hollow and he devised a plan to give it to the Trojans as a peace offering. “The horse which Odysseus led up to Troy as a trap filled with men who would destroy great Ilion.”
The Odyssey, by Homer, presents the encounter with “six heads like nightmares of ferocity” (XII. 109. the sea monster Scylla. Odysseus and his crew are sent into an inevitable fate between two locations, Kharybdis and Scylla, in which they lose their lives and their respect towards their leader. Due to Odysseus’ decision being limited and not properly thought of, he was unaware of the pains and wounds that would follow arriving on the Island of Helios. The crew, still scarred from the previous events, show their ignorance towards their leader’s orders by their actions.
“The man of twists and turns believes that he has escaped all of his woes! As simple as that; the great Odysseus seems to have overcome all obstacles blocking him from returning to his lavish life. Well not so fast, mortal!” shrieked the immortal Poseidon, outraged after witnessing Odysseus and his son emerge victorious from the bloody battle against the suitors. Swiftly, Poseidon descended to the rocky isle of Ithaca, taking the form of his son; Polyphemus, the son that the prideful King Odysseus blinded so cleverly.
Throughout Odysseus’ ten year journey, him and his men went through many trials of pain and loss. By the end of chapter twelve, Odysseus’ entire crew is dead, and he is the lone survivor. However, it does not seem to upset him as much as it should. Although it is clear that Odysseus cares dearly for his crew and mourns them, he still values his survival and pride over his comrades’ lives.