Examples Of Pride In The Odyssey

Odysseus Curse

A fool damns himself in the name of pride; a promise is enforced; a man uses honor as an excuse for the death of his peers, all leading to the making of a broken man. The customs of ancient greek influenced people to uphold their honor and be prideful which leads to stubbornness and conflict. Great stories of epic adventures were told best, representing the effect of pride in Homer's “The Odyssey” showing Odysseus journey home facing many obstacles that resulted because of his honorable personality. As Odysseus tries to make his way home after the battle of Troy his curious personality makes him take multiple stops causing him to face multiple obstacles and end up cursed forcing multiple significant events to occur.

This problematic display of curiosity from the epic hero leads him to taunt and insult the imposing one eyed giant saying “‘So, Cyclops, no weak coward it was whose crew you bent to devour there in your vaulted cave…you shameless cannibal…”(9, 531-34) “That made the rage of the monster boil over” (9,537) With Odysseus’s arrogance, would be his fall. This significant detail foreshadows the karma later delivered. Odysseus blinds the cyclops, and in a fit of pride and adrenaline, reveals who he is saying, “‘Cyclops– if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so–say Odysseus…”(9,558-60) With this outburst of information, the giant called out to poseidon fortelling he will “never reaches home. Or if he’s fated to see his people once again and reach his well-built house…let him come home late and a broken man-all shipmates lost”(9,589-94) Odysseus has now been cursed foreshadowing his future. This key detail in the story sets up the rest of Odysseus' epic story and shows who Odysseus is and the customs of Greek culture and how it was considered honorable to be prideful and

As he tries to make way home he gets stopped by calypso who wants him as her husband but Odysseus’ commitment to his wife and his son prevent her from convincing him even though she promised him immortality. She keeps him for seven years before Athena convinces Zeus to tell Calypso to let him go. Odysseus' curse is taking place causing him to “come home late…”(9,592). This curse shows that is further developed when Calypso goes to release him, she “found him there on the headland sitting, still weeping/ he wept for his foiled journey home”(5,167-69) fulfilling the curse for him to be “a broken man..”(9,593) Odysseus recognizes that the curse is taking place and he knows that he can’t do anything about it. This important detail reveals that there is only more to