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Advice In The Odyssey

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Advices

Usually when an older or experienced person gives you an advice you try to follow it. You know sometimes not following their advice can bring you consequences. As when the teacher advises you to study for the next test, or else there is a chance of getting a bad grade on it. Sometimes, not all advices are good. In the Odyssey, Homer presents cases in which advice is given and not taken, resulting in a mess. Odysseus suffered of this, as being stubborn, making poor decisions and being egoistic.

As Odysseus arrives in the land of the cyclops, he decides to meet one of them. Hes crew quickly advice him not do such insane action that he’ll soon regret. Odysseus didn’t follow the advice and proceed to the cave. Odysseus men once again try to convince him to leave the place. Odysseus as an egoistic person, decides to do as he wants, and does not follow the advice. As a consequence to the decision he made, he lost some of his men to polyphemus, the one eye giant.

Odysseus was once again stubborn as they sail by the sirens. Circe has advise him of the sirens already, she told him not to listen to them. He of course, did not follow the advise Circe has given him. He asked his men to tie him to the center of the boat and not to cover his ears. Before, he covered his men ears with wax. He wanted to know what so bad …show more content…

In book 12, Odysseus and his crew returned to Circe's land. She decides to give Odysseus a chance and offers him advice. Odysseus followed her advice. Circe told Odysseus that it was best if he didn’t fight back to sylla. As a consequence he could die with the rest of the crew. He had to decide whether to lose part of his crew or for all of his crew including his to die. Even thought he was aware of what could happen, he felt nostalgic seeing 6 of his men

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Polyphemus asks Poseidon to cause Odysseus to "get [home] late and with no honor, in pain and lacking ships, and having caused the death of all his men" [reference p.]. He dooms himself and his sailors to a long and deadly journey. Another example of Odysseus’ intelligence succumbing to greed is when he is able to avoid being turned into a pig by Circe. Although he saves his men, his journey is halted for a year because he cannot resist staying with her. Similarly to Thorin, greed overpowers Odysseus’ intelligence, causes him to stall his journey home, and similarly puts himself and his companions in danger.

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On his journey home, Odysseus have made multiple mistakes that he usually doesn’t make. One example is in the Odyssey when Odysseus shouted at Polyphemus while he was throwing the rocks, “Cyclops— if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so—say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out your eye, Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca!”(Odyssey, 152). I believe the Odysseus in the past would have kept his pride in and be quiet, not because of Polyphemus’s father, but for his crew and him to escape safely without constantly getting thrown with giant boulders, capable of crushing ships in one blow, missing inches away from them. Why would you keep screaming at an opponent that can accurately throw life threatening boulders at you? Clearly, Odysseus was not in his right mind and was just letting everything out.

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Six of his were killed. Finally, they reached the island called Thrinacia. He told his men not to eat the cattle, but he did not mention what can happen if they do. Due to eating the cattle, all men on the ship died except for

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Odysseus is extremely selfish by betraying his crew. His crew believes that Odysseus is trying to help them return home, when he is actually only concerned about himself.

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Before leaving The Land of the Dead, Teiresias told Odysseus that they will face destruction and only he will survive to return home. After the prophecy, Odysseus and his men encountered Charybdis and Scylla. To avoid destruction, Odysseus demanded his men to sail the ship quickly through Scylla and hug onto the cliff. Odysseus did not want his men to lose hope and turn against him if they knew that only Odysseus would return home. To avoid his men going against him, “Odysseus does not tell his men of Circe’s last prophecy-that he will be the only survivor of their long journey,” (Homer 716-719).

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Not listening to her, Odysseus lost his men, which also resulted in his voyage being unsuccessful and a messy fight. Odysseus’ hubris leads to his downfall by losing his men and creating a mess within his journey with him and his

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After he successfully exits the cave by blinding the cyclopes, he and his surviving men board the ship. As a result of his pride, he calls out to the monster, "If anyone asks who put out your eye, tell them it was Odysseus of Ithaca!”(Hinds 109). Considering the fact Polyphemus is the son of Poseidon, the cyclops calls out to him and therefore starts the troublesome voyage for Odysseus back home. When he returns to Ithaca he learns to control his hubris by replacing it with patience. Athena, the goddess of war and strategy, disguises Odysseus as a beggar because it is wisest to arrive in Ithaca without anyone being able to recognize him.

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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

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The ethics behind the “Ulysses Contract” has been a controversy for centuries. The idea of giving consent for a future self, who is less capable of making a correct decision, shows in both literature and medicine. While the “Ulysses Contract” is prevalent across our society, many debate whether an initial consent is more important than a rash decision made under the influence. Although it is debated heavily, morally a decision made with a mentally sound mind should be irreversible compare to a rash decision, however legally it has many practical complications.

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Odysseus only shook his head, as he walked on” (Homer 685). After Odysseus came up with the plan to sabotage them from the inside, he went to the suitors, where he asked for food -disguised as a beggar-. After asking for food, the haughty suitor Antinous, bashfully threw a stool, just to defend for that meager comment, “A pity you have more looks than hearts”. Although Odysseus could’ve ended his life right now and then, he waited patiently; That is the true format of self-control, holding one’s eager covets in the most crucial moments. If Odysseus just gave up and fought back, his plan would’ve failed, for he can’t fight hundreds of men all alone; proving that self-control is

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These traits of Odysseus shows that he is loyal to his crew. For instance, in Odyssey nine, Odysseus refuses to leave the cave of the Cyclops,

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Yet I refused.” book9 line 126 Odysseus and his men went into

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The first trait is that he is a very arrogant person and this often puts him and his men in danger. Secondly, Odysseus can be deceitful and not fully communicate the facts of each situation. Odysseus was a weak leader and his lack of vision in not seeing the strength and possibilities in his men combined with his inability to effectively communicate to those around him ultimately led to his failure of not being able to safely deliver his men back to Ithaca. The story of the Cyclops in Homer 's The Odyssey illustrated how Odysseus '

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Firstly, when he had finally gotten past the Cyclopes and they were far off from the shore he shouted out to the Cyclopes “’Would you feast on my companions? Puny, am I, in a Caveman’s hands? How do you like the beating we gave you…’”, letting his anger get the better of him. This is a fatal flaw that could have killed him and the rest of his crew. Another flaw is that he let himself fall into the luxury of Circe’s home when he could have left once he had the rest of his men back.

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