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Traits of the epic hero for the odyssey
Odysseus as a great warrior
Traits of the epic hero for the odyssey
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Traits of the epic hero for the odyssey
Odysseus as a great warrior
Traits of the epic hero for the odyssey
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In the Odyssey “the Sirens” by Homer, Odysseus demonstrates his leadership skills and by devising a plan to hear the Sirens song without being tricked to stay on the island because he wants to keep himself and his men safe. Odysseus says to his men, “Dear friends, more than one man or two, should know those things Circe foresaw for us and shared with me, so let me tell her forecast”(975). Instead of withholding the information from his men, Odysseus tells them their fate. This shows Odysseus, as a leader, decided to tell his men what was going on at this time because he felt he trusted his men to follow the plan and help him. At other times in the story, Odysseus withholds information from his men as another tactic to essentially help them
It’s a classical moral dilemma: do you lie or keep information from those you care about in order to better their lives, or do you tell them the truth, and risk ruining the relationship or potentially, some aspect of their life. This problem is portrayed in many forms of media, and it’s not always handled the same way. In The Odyssey, the protagonist, Odysseus, is forced to make this decision, with the negative outlook being the death of his crew members. As the leader, Odysseus is the one faced with making such decisions. While he initially has poor leadership skills at the beginning of his journey, Odysseus does have great potential as a leader, and as such, his leadership skills grow over the course of The Odyssey.
Odysseus should not be granted an award for being a good leader in the Odyssey Although he fought well and won many battles he still made some very selfish decision 's. The Choices that the so called "Great" leader made caused the innocent solders to lose their life 's Odysseus chose to think by him self and not discuss with his mates about his dangerous ideas. Odysseus is A man know from the city/island of Troy, he is a so called leader, knight and great fighter. One of his selfish decisions that he made was when him and the soilders wandered into the cave of the cyclops, his soldiers suggested that they should take some food and leave, while Odysseus deiced to stay longer and examine the cyclops cave, This is were things get worse, as
As the Webster Dictionary says a hero is a person admired for great deeds, courage or fine qualities. Odysseus was a hero modeling all three of those examples. The King showed many qualities of a hero when Odysseus volunteered to fight in the battle of Troy, when Odysseus helps the men escape the cyclops, and when Odysseus keeps all emotions together after watching some of the sailors get eaten by the monster Scylla. Odysseus shows qualities of a hero when the king of Ithaca offers to go fight in the battle of Troy. Odysseus fights for Ithaca in the battle of Troy voluntarily.
In the epic the The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is bad leader because his selfishness leads to bad outcomes and he does not communicate with his men properly. One of the reasons Odysseus is an unfit leader is because he puts himself above others. When Odysseus and his men go to the island of the Cyclopes, they discover a cave that Odysseus wants to explore. His men try and convince him to leave, but to this he ignores their pleas and says “Yet I refused. I wished to see the cave man, what he had to offer- no pretty sight, it turned out, for my friends” (155-157).
Webster Dictionary defines leadership as simply, “providing direction or guidance,” but to be a successful leader one must focus on completing a goal in a way that is beneficial for the majority, not only the one in charge. This can be achieved by utilitarianism, which is doing of what is best for the most number of people, and carrying out actions that lead to positive effects, instead of merely being done with good intentions. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is not an exemplary leader because he went against utilitarianism by not being honest with his men, letting his arrogance control his behavior, and by killing many people in his house without a fair trial. Firstly, a leader must be truthful with those he works with in order for no errors or confusion to occur as a result of information being hidden. In The Odyssey, not being truthful lead to negative consequences for everyone on Odysseus’ ship, and thus contradicted the principle of utilitarianism stating that actions must lead to positive effects.
In the Epic, “The Odyssey,” written by Homer, is the story of a man named, Odysseus, and his experiences and his exploration told through many episodes within the story. Odysseus, as the leader of his men, he lacks qualities of humility, empathy, and focus, which overall prevents him from being qualified as a good leader. In not having humility, it causes Odysseus to often lose focus. During the episode, “The Cyclops,” Odysseus and his men escape the island in which Polyphemus, the cyclops, was keeping them held captive, rather than thinking of his men and immediately leaving, Odysseus takes the time to gloat and risks their safety. (Cyclops.
Being a leader is a complex role that is easy to mess up. Time and time again he endangers his crew up until their demise. Constantly Odysseus is shown to be brash and controlled via his emotions in moments of danger. Even after he begins to lose more and more men he continues to be insanely unremorseful. In the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is overall an overrated leader with his biggest flaw being his horrible judgment
In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus repeatedly shows that he is polytropos, for as Zeus says “There is no mortal half so wise”(3). Using his wits, Odysseus gets him and his men out of several sticky situations in the Odyssey, proving his leadership through his actions that save the lives of his crew member. On the other hand Odysseus’ streak of constantly outsmarting challenges, goes to his head, and unfortunately causes Odysseus to develop a hubris. His pride at times makes him arrogant, believing that he always knows best, which leads to the untimely demise of his crew. While Odysseus proves to be good leader by saving his crew from trouble with his wits, he is ultimately a bad leader because he refuses to listen to advice.
Selfish is defined by the Merriam Webster Dictionary as: “seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others.” Even though it may appear that selfishness can help one succeed, in the end, it could prevent one from accomplishing his/her final goal. The Odyssey, an epic poem by Homer, translated by Robert Fagles, follows Odysseus, a well known and successful war hero from the Trojan War, on his journey back to Ithaca. Odysseus’ journey begins at year 10, after the Trojan War ends, and continues until year 20. Throughout these 10 years, Odysseus and his crew embark on many dangerous quests and encounter many obstacles, which test Odysseus’ skills as a leader.
Odysseus’s Traits Throughout the Odyssey, the main character Odysseus goes on an epic adventure with his focus being to get home to his wife Penelope, and his son Telemachus. He faces many obstacles dealing with characters such as the Cyclopes, Poseidon, Aeolus, Athena, Helios, Calypso, Zeus, Hermes, Scylla, and Circe. Odysseus’s men are some of the most valuable people to him throughout the Odyssey. He always puts himself in front of danger for them to protect them even though they all died from an unexpected turn of events soon before he returns home. When Odysseus comes home he greets his twenty year old son and straightens things out on his homeland, Ithaca.
There were many traits that made up Odysseus as a wanted leader. He was quite ambitious and was willing to take some risks. Most risks that would be taken were for him to return to his wife in the
Earlier in the epic, Odysseus frequently abuses his role as captain of his crew because of his curious nature. He makes several stops on their journey home in search of more opportunities to prove his skillfulness, even though he is already a king and has won a major war. One of these stops is at the Island of Polyphemus, home to the cyclops famed for eating all humans that enter his cave. Even though Odysseus is well aware of the danger ahead, his curiosity tempts him to
Odysseus was a man of great stature and strength; however, Odysseus was not only physically strong, but mentally strong as well (Olson). We can see Odysseus’ mental strength, or cunning, and bravery when he is in the den of Polyphemus and devises the plan to save him and his crew by calling himself nobody and stabbing out the cyclops’ eye. He also recognizes that he
Throughout the story “The Odyssey” by Homer Odysseus, the main character counters countless amounts of trouble. As king and leader it is his job to keep his men save and get the job done. Odysseus does whatever it takes to keep his men unharmed, and more importantly, alive. All his crew and him dream about is getting back to their homeland, but first they have to pass the obstacles. Odysseus demonstrates good leadership qualities by doing whatever it takes to get the job done, using his advanced cunning abilities to trick his enemy, and constantly saving his crew from dangers.