Hubris In The Odyssey

600 men died because of one leader. Odysseus in the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer leads 600 men on many voyages; every single man dies except for him because Odysseus let his pride get to the best of him. Odysseus fights monsters in such a cunning way, but there is one problem: hubris. Odysseus's main weakness is hubris, and this causes him to be a horrible hero to his men. Odysseus is a terrible hero, to begin with- he's proud and lazy on his voyages and loses all of his men. In a certain story, Odysseus is stranded on an island and there are red cattle that belong to Helios. He tells his men not to eat the cattle, and then he leaves them alone without watching over them, so the men get greedy and eat the cattle, and they all die. "Odysseus

This shows how Odysseus-pride and selfishness in one package-picked up and left his men to their own devices, comfortable in himself instead of performing the duties of being a leader. "Odysseus arrived at Helios's island with 45 men, he left with none". 2.910. He is portrayed as a fallen hero with his pride and sloth as evidenced in the case of losing all his men. He and his crew were stranded on an island where Helios had some cattle which were considered as a gift from the gods. He ordered his crew not to eat them, but he failed to keep watch, which led them to succumb to greed and meet their demise which in the end portrays Odysseus as being considered a horrible leader. He is not only lazy but also prideful of himself, which again causes him to be an awful leader, and it is shown through The Odyssey. Odysseus innocently stumbles upon a one-eyed giant, known as Polyphemus, on his voyage home. A good thing to know about Polyphemus is that he is the son of Zeus. Odysseus finds himself trapped in this cyclops' cave; luckily, he blinds the monster and gets away but says his name while making his exit, which causes all sorts of

a total of 2,640. This shows that if Odysseus didn't have so much pride in himself, then he would have never scrambled his name and caused more trouble. Also, Odysseus encounters singing sirens and wants to hear them, so he ties himself to the boat, a dangerous thing for him to do. "I will tie myself to the boat and listen to the sirens sing so that I am the only man to hear them and live". a total of 2,860 units. This also infers that Odysseus is selfish and has pride in himself which not only puts him but his men in danger also; Odysseus's hubris leads him to being a horrible leader. It seems that Odysseus does not care about his men; he only uses them for his good to reach home, which ultimately contributes to him being a horrible hero. In the short story The Cyclops, Odysseus is forced to sacrifice 2 of his men each day, over 3 days, as bait to the Cyclops. "2 men were brought forth and consumed by the Cyclops each day while Odysseus was in command". a. 2. This is how Odysseus is a bad hero because he uses his men to feed the Cyclops, to lure them and use them as