Examples Of Odysseus Foolishness

A hero is a person who is recognized or idealized for his or her outstanding achievements and noble qualities. The deaths of his men are the result of Odysseus’ weaknesses. The possession of the character trait, arrogance, does not help him in escaping, but rather puts him closer to danger. Another trait that ends up killing a number of his men is his lack of leadership skills, or rather the lack of respect and trust from his men. In some parts of this epic poem, Odysseus also displays the characteristic, foolishness, in which that also results in the deaths of a number of his men. In the epic poetry, “The Odyssey,” by Homer, Odysseus exhibits his arrogance, foolishness, and his lack of leadership in which it leads to him going home by himself.

According to the book on how Odysseus approached the situation about Scylla, it says, “That was all, and it brought them round to action. But as I sent them on toward Scylla, I told them nothing, as they could do nothing.”(L. 160-162), and thus showing his foolishness. Odysseus continued onward and gave his men an illusion of victory and safety that they would be able to pass through this enormous obstacle they come upon. Odysseus knew it himself that he and his men may not be able to get through this big of an obstacle, but he just pushed them forward. This shows an act of foolishness as leader because he did not notify his men of the dangerous obstacle coming towards him, but just keeps put to leave his men to fend for themselves. An example of Odysseus’ arrogance is when Odysseus brags to Cyclops and yells out, “O Cyclops! Would you feast on my companions? Puny am I, in a Caveman’s hands? How do you like the beating that we gave you…” (L. 390-392). This piece of evidence has two parts on how Odysseus endangers his men. The outcome of Odysseus’ outburst is a majority of his men dying and being cursed by Cyclops’s father, Poseidon, the God of the Sea. This shows how Odysseus bragging and his arrogance leads his men and him to danger. The role of a leader should be to lead his men to safety and

An example of Odysseus’ lack of respect from his men is when he “urged them to cut and run, set sail, but would they listen? Not those mutinous fools; there was too much wine to swill, too many sheep to slaughter down along the beach, and shambling longhorn cattle.(p. 138) Odysseus’ men do not respect Odysseus enough to listen and to follow through his orders, even after the victory of the Trojan War. In the U.S. Army, soldiers are expected to follow through their leader’s commands, but Odysseus’ men just ignore his pleas and commands. The fact that the men do not even pause to listen and are too busy sacking the city shows that Odysseus does not have control over them, even as their leader. Another example of Odysseus’ lack of leadership in the book is when Odysseus does not tell his men about the bag of winds and thinks, “A fatal plan, but it won my shipmates over.They loosed the sack and all the winds burst out and a sudden squall struck and swept us back to sea…”(p.157) Odysseus keeps the fact that he has the key to the safe journey home in a bag. Odysseus does not trust his men and his men do not trust him back, so the men betray Odysseus and open the bag. Even with the big help from King Aeolus, Odysseus does not tell his men, showing distrust between both parties. The leader of men does not have to question his authority over his men, but