How Is Odysseus A Good Leader

The Heroic Traits of Odysseus The epic poem written by Homer, The Odyssey, is about Odysseus, who is a good soldier and commander in the Trojan War. The Trojan War begins between the Greeks and the people of Troy. The war is about getting revenge from Prince Paris and Helen. Helen was Menelaus’s wife, but she left Menelaus, the king of Sparta for Prince Paris. The Trojan War lasted for ten years. Odysseus as the soldier and commander is ready to go home to his wife, Penelope and son, Telemachus, but many obstacles came in the way. Odysseus exemplifies being a hero through the acts of leadership, being strategic, and being intelligent on his journey home to Ithaca.

Homer in the epic poem writes the life of Odysseus, who exemplifies being

Before Odysseus plans to blind the Cyclops with the sharp, heated timber, he tells the Cyclops, “Cyclops, you ask my honorable name? Remember the gift you promised me, and I shall tell you. My name is Nohbdy: mother, father, and friends, everyone calls me Nohbdy” (Page 665, Lines 359-361). This example shows that even though the moment is to think about how to escape,Odysseus thinks about what he says before doing anything. This example exemplifies the heroic trait because in the current situation Odysseus uses prior knowledge he knows about the Cyclops to help him, which shows how Odysseus overcame his external conflicts by using his intelligence. If Odysseus didn’t think through what he was doing, he would have died with his men. Odysseus faces an internal conflict where he has to make a decision of whether he should tell his men the consequences of passing by Scylla or not. In The Odyssey it says, “But as I sent them toward Scylla, I told them not, as they could do nothing. They would have dropped their oars again, in panic, to roll cover under the decking” (Page 682, Lines 790-793). In this quote from the text, Odysseus explained why he didn’t tell his men that six of them would die and never return. Odysseus’s decision was important because he was able to overcome his internal conflict. Odysseus did that by not only thinking about the men he would lose, but by thinking about the whole crew and what would happen. Homer’s purpose is to show that as a hero it is important to be intelligent. Heros always need to think quickly and they need to think one step ahead of the person they face every time. Odysseus as a hero represents intelligence of the protagonist’s in the stories, who have to overcome the external and internal conflicts they