Integrity In The Odyssey

Odysseus, the legendary Greek king of Ithaca or the Hero of Homer's poem, “The Odyssey”. The god that never back downs from a challenge or repeatedly faces mythological creatures with ease. Also risking his life for the safety of his crew. For instance, Odysseus faces the Cyclops Polyphemus, travels to the Underworld, overcomes the temptation of the Sirens(singers), outmaneuvers the monsters Scylla(underwater monster) and Charybdis(sea monster), and leaves behind the beautiful Calypso(nymph). All these feats required a great amount of bravery and skill, two traits Odysseus was honored for in antiquity. These traits of Odysseus shows that he is loyal to his crew. For instance, in Odyssey nine, Odysseus refuses to leave the cave of the Cyclops,

But I would not listen, though it would have been better, wishing to see the giant himself, and test his hospitality". This quote is reworded a tad bit, so you can understand the full meaning of what Odysseus meant in this saying. Sadly, this choice resulted in six of his men dying. In addition, in Odyssey of book ten, Odysseus does not communicate with his men about the contents of the bag he receives from Aeolus. Odysseus falls asleep, his men become curious, open the bag just when their ship was in sight of their homeland, and then they are blown back to Aeolus' land. Odysseus can be good and bad in certain situations, but some of his decisions can either end a disaster or he can triumph through the problems he has to deal with. But, the question is, is Odysseus seen to you as a good leader or is he perceived to you as a bad leader.

Knowing that Odysseus was seen as an epic and brave hero; he also has his flaws

The others say that Odysseus is “dumb and oblivious”, when making decisions. Those people that disagree about what I have to say about Odysseus is society. Society has there own point of view of how they want to see things or in other words, a “perspective”. For example, society believes that Odysseus is a bad leader because he fell asleep and let his crew die from letting them eating the cattle. The public only focuses on the bad things he do and not really the good stuff he does. Like, saving his crew from sea monsters. Besides society’s opinions on Odysseus, I believe that Odysseus is an alright leader to me. The acts he makes are not always the most intelligent, but we know he is trying to do the right thing for himself and also for his team. If you were in the shoes of Odysseus during the time period of when he was there, what would you do to lead a group. Would you be a better leader than Odysseus or a bad one. My point is, there is no perfect leader when it comes to taking charge of a group, but I am not saying that you should be a bad one also. S In the end, I believe that Odysseus is a good leader overall, despite the poor decisions he made in the