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Examples Of Human Flaws In The Odyssey

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The Greek’s viewed man’s character as flawed. The sum of a man’s human traits is defined as human nature. Human nature is the reason for the evils and the flaws of this mortal life. In The Odyssey, the main character Odysseus constantly demonstrated these flaws while on his journey. He continually struggled on his journey and through life. He struggled with his arrogance, pride, and vengeance, and seemed to be weighed down by the never ending power struggle of nature versus mankind. He did things to make the gods mad, yet at other times he tried to appease the gods. At the end of his journey it seemed that Odysseus had figured things out, but he was still not perfect and would never be in life. His arrogance, pride, and vengeance still
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He has to overcome his foes and his environment. In the cavern with the cyclops, Odysseus must fight to survive. He and his men have to use wit and strategy to escape the cave. After the first attack on his men Odysseus knew he would need to develop a plan to survive. Odysseus and his men are put in danger as they encounter their foe:“Neither reply nor pity came from him, but in one stride he clutched at my companions and caught two in his hands like squirming puppies to beat their brains out, spattering the floor” (Homer 903).

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Odysseus’s Greatest Flaw It is very clear what Odysseus’s problem is. Throughout the entirety of the Odyssey, we can see the countless mistakes made by Odysseus. As a viewer, you focus on the main character’s actions and decisions. Seeing as that is what we look for, we can quickly observe that Odysseus is not the smartest of men. As you read through this essay, the answer to this question becomes clear.

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The Fatal Consequence of Hubris In The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus has to face Hubris many times in the story as he spends years trying to find a way home after the Trojan war. Two instances when Odysseus faced especially strong Hubris were his encounters with Laertes’ son and the Cyclops. Both times, immortals try to use pleasurable gifts and fatal consequences to keep Odysseusus from continuing his quest home to Ithaca and his wife Penelopee. These examples prove that hubris can lead to a fatal consequence [In the movie Scarface the main character is named Tony Montana essentially sells drugs, also is valor in battle , and hurts people. In the end Tony’s life is cut short when he is killed by the lifestyle he chose to live.

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This shows bad character because he is acting arrogant. This puts his crew in danger because Odysseus angers the Cyclopes whose father has control over the ocean Odysseus and his crew are on. The “hero” shows bad character once again when he tells his crew about the “Sirens/ weaving a haunting song over the sea” (12.1245-1246), but leaves out the adventure they are going to encounter with the Scylla and Charybdis. The Greek hero proves he has bad qualities again when he becomes untrustworthy. His crew trusts him, but they do not know that he does not tell the whole truth.

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Can dishonesty be valuable if it was used to achieve desirable outcomes? Is lying considered justified if it was involved in a dangerous situation? It is not always bad to lie. As children, we were continuously taught to be honest. We have grown to be implanted with the fact that lying is unacceptable but admissible.

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(Book 10, page 159, PDF). Odysseus had left almost always meant to die with only saving a few which may have caused a sense of controversy and confusion. Also Odysseus hadn’t thought of a way to save all of his men, which eventually impacted his journey and his entire crew. Though Odysseus did have several acts of heroic deeds, the amount of failure in a majority of those other acts overpowered them

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An epic hero is someone who is characterized commonly on their nobility and bravery. However ,there are more attributes epic heros can posses. For example Odysseus, the protagonist in Homer's retelling of “The Odyssey”, shows many forms of excessive arrogance and pomposity. After conquering Troy, Odysseus and his men set off on their way home.

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He acts extremely self centered, self righteous and all important. Odysseus does not show any respect for his men after everything they have been through. This is after the Cyclopes after they sailed away. He does not take any responsibility for what happened at the cyclopes land. Even though a mature person would have already taken responsibility for what happened.

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Book Recommendations: 1. D’aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths: D'Aulaire, Ingri, and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire. Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1962. Print D’aulaires’ book introduces the concept of power and control within families and of dictatorships over lower ranked people.

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Back in the fifteenth century to question the Catholic Church’s authority and correctness on the Gospel was to rebel against God. Yet, that is what Martin Luther did; he set out to challenge the belief of the Catholic Church at the time. He made a bold decision to declare the Church was wrong and was ostracized from the Church. After struggling with the idea of righteousness, he came to the belief that justification and salvation comes from God’s gift of grace, which alone must be accepted through faith. This is an essential issue for the Lutheran doctrine and higher education.

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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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Odyssey Essay Did you know Odysseus let many of his men die in the Odyssey? Well, Odysseus is also known for his brave and heroic acts, but to further understand him, you have to know about his Greek Values. In the Odyssey, Odysseus’ strength and weaknesses of leadership, intelligence, and his selfishness. This reflects the Greek Values of leading others to success, and accomplishment, outsmarting others, and caring for others.

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Why was Odysseus being so resourceful and using so much hubris within the book? In the epic poem ¨The Odyssey¨ by Homer, a key strength and weakness are shown by Odysseus. He shows resourcefulness and hubris in an attempt to save him and his men. This poem by Homer demonstrates Odysseus´ greatest strength, resourcefulness, and his greatest weakness, hubris. He does this to teach his readers that certain actions can have bad consequences.

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In the book The Odyssey, the main character, Odysseus, is a man who is loved and respected by many. In the beginning of the book, we learn that Odysseus has left on a journey and, since it has been many years since his departure, many people assume that he has passed. On his journey, he portrays his many traits, not all of them being good ones either. Some of his good traits include his cunning, bravery, and hard work ethic. On the other hand, his negative traits are his excessive pride, immense curiosity, and rather large temper.

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No matter what is thrown at him he never stops trying to get home, getting past a Cyclopes, the Lady Circe, and sirens. He even gets through the Underworld and lives. Despite this, Odysseus does have faults about him, though not as many as there are qualities. He is a worldwide symbol, an archetype, of both nobility and bravery. Odysseus, the epic hero of the Odyssey, a great leader with many attributes as well as flaws, is no ordinary man.

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