Decisions In Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey

Decisions are a part of an everyday life. It helps us distinguish the pathways we want to go on. However, not all of us happen to be smart when making decisions. Odysseus certainly is an odd person, choosing what to do left and right. His choices are the key part to his personality and near-downfall many times. His decisions have drastic effects, which affect the lives of his crew and his family.

Through his actions, we see a piece of Odysseus whenever he decides on something. On the Cyclopes’ island, Odysseus and a few of his men are in front of Polyphemus’s cave debating to stay or not. His men just want to steal some food and leave quickly, but Odysseus being prideful says they should go in. He’s expecting that as guests they should be welcomed

He encounters Circe, has one last night with her, and she describes the future obstacles while on his journey home. Odysseus was right to pass this information along to his crew so they may be able to know what to expect. When the boat arrives near the island of the Sirens, Odysseus tells his men to fill their ears with beeswax and have him bound to the mast of the ship so he could listen to the sirens’ sweet singing. Whenever Odysseus begged to set loose, his crew would tighten the ropes. This was a clever yet dangerous set-up. The crew that Odysseus works with hard to deal with. Earlier, some crewmembers opened a bag of wind meant to help them because the men thought Odysseus was keeping the riches to himself. Some of the encounters his men had to suffer was because of Odysseus’s poor decisions. If they had not learned to listen better along the journey, than they wouldn’t be as convincing when Odysseus told them to plug their eyes with beeswax, and they would have certainly been tempted to join the

This island has Helios’s cattle, so it would be a disaster if someone killed his cattle. Odysseus wants to stay away from this island as possible, but Eurylochus persuades him to let the crew rest. A storm leaves everyone stuck there, and do well with the provisions at first. It became an issue when it ran out, and Eurylochus persuades the crew to disobey Odysseus and butcher the cattle when Odysseus slept. As a result, the Sun finds out and asks Zeus to punish Odysseus and his men. Unsurprisingly, Odysseus barely survives the storm that destroyed his men and ship, and swept away to Charybdis. He nearly escapes her for the second time and reaches Ogygia on remaining broken timbers of his ship. Had Odysseus gotten rid of Eurylochus, none of this would have happened, and he would not have to deal with a swaying crew or a storm. Furthermore, it seems like a good punishment to Odysseus for not being firm in his orders, and letting himself be