When people get lost without a way home, they will usually sacrifice everything to get home. Being on the way home for ten years already caused Odysseus to make the brash decision of sailing past Scylla, even after Circe had warned, “No mariners yet can boast they've raced their ship past Scylla’s lair without some mortal blow”(9.108-109). This brash decision lead to death of some of his crew, he sacrificed his men for himself. Odysseus also decided that in order to get home he and his men we to go, “to the House of Death”, which is extremely dangerous. So many things could have gone wrong, they may have never even made it out to get out.
Ever since childhood, people develop an image on what a true hero should be like. A considerable hero is someone who looks after their allies and makes rational decisions in tough situations. On the contrary, in the book, The Odyssey, Odysseus shows that not all heroes make the most reasonable choices. For instance, he is willing to sacrifice his own shipments in order to get back to Ithaca. Yes, it may be one of the best options considering the position they are in, but he was the reason why the crew is in that position in the first place.
In Homer’s The Odyssey, the deaths of Odysseus’ men should not be blamed on Odysseus. “The men open the bag, thinking it contains gold and silver, The bad winds escape and blow the ships back to Aeolus’ island.” The men blow them back to the island when they were almost home. They would have made it if Odysseus’ men weren’t greedy and tried to steal from Odysseus.
There are many types of hero, fictional, historical, and modern day. Odysseus was a historical hero, who saved his home of Ithaca. He had so many heroic traits, such as, bravery, courage, caring, loyalty, determination, and so much more. Fictional, modern day and other historical heroes have many of these traits as well. Therefore, the word hero has not changed.
Another example of him showing his confidence is when he finds out his men have been kidnapped and turned into pigs by Circe, a goddess. Odysseus receives help from a god named Hermes and is told how to handle the situation and is given something to eat that prevents her from enchanting him. When he gets into the home she offers him a soup that would've turned him into a pig along with his comrades. When she realizes that it wasn't working Odysseus pulls his sword out and threatens her so she will release his men. This shows he is confident because instead of running away he stayed and wasn't scared that his plan wasn't going to
When Odysseus and the men go to the island of the cyclops they get trapped in a cave. The cyclops that traps them eats a few of the men everyday. One day Odysseus decides that The King is going to stab the cyclops in the eye using a long log that has been put into fire. The cyclops is then blind and cannot see when Odysseus and the men sneak out of the cave underneath the sheep. This makes Odysseus a hero because Odysseus was thinking about how to get everyone out of the cave.
Depending on Others, Can Teach Self-dependence From a young age people are often told, contradictory things. People are told that they should try to do things on their own, but are also told that, if they need help they should ask for it. These conflicting messages are exceptionally difficult for soldiers trying to assimilate back into society after the war. As soldiers return home, they often try to live self-dependently, but sometimes they need help and have to depend on others. This effects Odysseus because when he needs help, he has to rely on the gods to lead him the right way.
In 'The Odyssey' an epic poem written by Homer, a Greek poet, tells the tale of how the King of Ithaca, Odysseus, goes on an eventful adventure that costs him 20 years and all of his men. In this epic poem, Odysseus demonstrates many strengths and weaknesses. Odysseus' strengths are put to use and show how smart he can be. However, his weaknesses put him through many hardships and show what he needs to work on. Odysseus has many strengths.
In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus repeatedly shows that he is polytropos, for as Zeus says “There is no mortal half so wise”(3). Using his wits, Odysseus gets him and his men out of several sticky situations in the Odyssey, proving his leadership through his actions that save the lives of his crew member. On the other hand Odysseus’ streak of constantly outsmarting challenges, goes to his head, and unfortunately causes Odysseus to develop a hubris. His pride at times makes him arrogant, believing that he always knows best, which leads to the untimely demise of his crew. While Odysseus proves to be good leader by saving his crew from trouble with his wits, he is ultimately a bad leader because he refuses to listen to advice.
Only thinking for oneself is often favorable initially. However, this mindset can have a large effect on others as well. These consequences are often negative and harm all of those involved. The Odyssey, an epic poem by Homer, is based around the adventures of a hero named Odysseus and his crew. Odysseus spends 10 years away from home at war and spends just as long trying to get back.
The main character Odysseus in the Odyssey written by Homer is generally thought to be a great hero; however, he shows more traits of a quite flawed character on closer inspection. Around the beginning of Odysseus’ journey home after the war, Odysseus decides to take a detour to the home of a cyclops deciding to not listen to his men’s suggestions to leave while they still could; consequently, it does not end well: “Ah, how sound that was, Yet I refused. I wished to see the caveman, what he had to offer no pretty sight it turned out, for my friend” (9.130-132). This thought by Odysseus shows that he realized his decision to go to the mysterious island wasn’t the most rational one and that his men’s pleas to leave were the better option, but he decides to be stubborn and place his curiosity before his men’s safety resulting in a non-heroic
When Odysseus finally returns home, he has Athena disguise him so he can look at how his home has been going without him. Everyone besides his wife, son, and two other of his men have been disloyal to him and there is a group of suitors there who have overstayed their visit trying to get Penelope to be their wife. Odysseus locks the suitors all in one room where the
In real life we make our own decisions, and some of those decisions lead to bad outcomes, even though we don’t blame ourselves for many of our mistakes, we are to blame. In Greek Mythology, humans make many important decisions in their life, many of them lead to horrible endings. In the journey of Odysseus, he made many choices throughout his journey that eventually led to the death of all his crew members. In other stories from mythology like the stories of Theseus and Icarus, they made decisions that led them and their loved ones to life threatening situations. Even Zeus once stated “My word, how mortals take the gods to task!
The Odyssey In Homer’s epic, The Odyssey, Odysseus is bestowed with great abilities. But along with this potential, he is cursed with great arrogance. Conveying that even the labeled ‘perfect’ among us have fatal flaws that causes pain and suffering among the ones closest to them. The author, Homer, uses Odysseus’ arrogance to create a melancholic atmosphere to convey the idea that arrogance is a fatal flaw that will lead those around them to pain and suffering.
There are many lessons Odysseus and is men learn on their journey home in the Odyssey. Unfortunately, only Odysseus makes it home and the rest of men are dead because of their foolish actions. In the Thrinacia and The Cattle of the Sun episode of the Odyssey Odysseus’s men once again disobey him and cost them their lives. The men and Odysseus learn valuable lessons throughout their epic journey, but in the episode the most important lessons they learn are; temptation can lead to death, being obedient can save your life, and trust your instincts. If Odysseus’s men would have been more obedient to their leader Odysseus perhaps all of them would have made it back home alive.
