Examples Of Machiavellianism In The Odyssey

Homer’s The Odyssey follows Odysseus’ adventure as he attempts to travel back to his home island of Ithaca. Odysseus manages to get home after many trials. Some would consider the completion of this journey to follow the hero’s journey arc. However, being a true hero has as much to do with motives and intentions as it does solving a problem. Odysseus often follows a Machiavellian approach to being a hero, saving the day at whatever cost and usually in a way that is most beneficial to himself. So although he “went through the motions” of being a hero and completing the hero's journey, he didn’t come out of it transformed or as a better person. As a character and hero, his arc is incomplete. Odysseus has completed his hero’s journey in the classic

He turns against the kind Phaeacians, even though they put his treasure “clear/ of the road for fear some passerby might spot/ and steal Odysseus’ hoard” (XIII. 138-140). His time at sea has not changed him; it has only made him more paranoid. He is not just suspicious of helpful strangers, but even his own family. Athena berates him, “Anyone else, come back from wandering long and hard,/ would have hurried home at once, delighted to see/ his children and wife, Oh, but not you,/ it’s not your pleasure to probe for news of them--/ you must put your wife to the proof yourself!” (XIII.378-382). Odysseus puts himself and his desire for control over his own family, proving he does not consider them as a top priority. Similar to the situation with the Phaeacians, he wants to know he hasn’t been cheated and considers this above his own wife’s feelings. The added time when Penelope is unsure of her husband’s arrival only adds to her pain. He puts his own desires above his family. His wife is not the only one who is troubled by Odysseus’ selfish ways. Odysseus doesn’t even show his own father the respect he deserves. When Odysseus sees his father, he is “worn down with years” and “heart racked