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Leadership In The Odyssey

550 Words3 Pages

Park Jisu
Mr. Springs
World Classics 1
11. January. 2023
The Odyssey: A Masterclass in Leadership
The epic poem “The Odyssey” by Homer tells the story of Odysseus and his journey home after the victory in the war of Troy. Along the way, Odysseus and his crew face various challenges and events. In the challenges, Odysseus makes decisions that demonstrate the qualities of a strong leader, and through his actions and decisions, the poem teaches valuable lessons about leadership.
One of the most important lessons that Odyssey teaches about leadership is self-control. In “The Odyssey,” Odysseus and his crew face many temptations and distractions that could have delayed his journey home. As an example, when Odysseus and his men landed on the island where people lived on …show more content…

When Odysseus and his men are trapped in the cave of Polyphemus the Cyclops, Odysseus designs a clever plan to blind Polyphemus and escape the cave by hanging under the bellies of the Cyclops’ sheep. While they were trapped in the cave of the Cyclops and were about to be killed, Odysseus introduces himself as “noman” which later fools Polyphemus’s friends who came to help Polyphemus who was crying in pain from losing his eyes, as a result, escapes the cave safely. Another example is when Odysseus’s men were enchanted by Circe, “a beautiful, dreadful goddess who speaks in human languages.” (Book 10 lines 136) “But I said, ‘Circe, no! What decent man could bear to taste his food or sip his wine before he saw his men with his own eyes, and set them free? If you are so insistent on telling me to eat and drink, then free them, so I may see with my own eyes my crew of loyal men.’.”(Book 10 lines 382~388) While in danger of becoming a pig, Odysseus used his wisdom to not only guarantee his own safety and bring his crew back to the form of humans but as well as receiving advice on their journey

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Although Odysseus occasionally does something for the short-term benefit of his crew, he does not deserve their loyalty because he does not sincerely care about them, trust them, or listen to them. Even when Odysseus is in the middle of nowhere in a boat with his comrades and crew members for twenty years, he still manages to not care about them and think of his own life as more valuable than any of theirs. An example of this is when Odysseus sends his men into danger instead of being a leader and going first: “All I spied was a plume of smoke, drifting off the land. / So I sent some crew ahead to learn who lived there -- / men like us perhaps, who live on bread?”

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