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The character traits of odysseus
The character traits of odysseus
Odysseus role in the odyssey
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More handpicked essays just for you.
The character traits of odysseus
The character traits of odysseus
Odysseus role in the odyssey
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In the Odyssey “the Sirens” by Homer, Odysseus demonstrates his leadership skills and by devising a plan to hear the Sirens song without being tricked to stay on the island because he wants to keep himself and his men safe. Odysseus says to his men, “Dear friends, more than one man or two, should know those things Circe foresaw for us and shared with me, so let me tell her forecast”(975). Instead of withholding the information from his men, Odysseus tells them their fate. This shows Odysseus, as a leader, decided to tell his men what was going on at this time because he felt he trusted his men to follow the plan and help him. At other times in the story, Odysseus withholds information from his men as another tactic to essentially help them
In part one of Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus uses his epic hero qualities to help him out on his quest to get back home to Ithaca. He’s shows superb intelligence when fighting the cyclopes in “Book 9.” That’s a quality of superhuman intelligence that Odysseus possessed all throughout his entire journey. Another epic hero quality that helped Odysseus was help from Greek gods and goddesses. In part two of Homer’s Odyssey, Athena helped out Odysseus when he got back to his home land.
Homer created a complex leader to show that the weakness in someone doesn’t define them, it’s the way they approach the situation that will define you as a person. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is a complex leader because he’s supposed to lead his group home to Ithaca, but he makes some pretty selfish and rash decisions that are not what you’d expect from a leader. By doing so, this shows Odysseus’ character flaws, but it also shows his strengths. When Odysseus stayed on Circe’s island for an unnecessary amount of time, this showed his weakness, not being able to resist the urge to sleep with women. In contrast, it also showed his strength because he gained his ground after losing track of home, and found the strength to gather his men and leave.
Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another. In the Odyssey, Odysseus needed to make a lot of decisions that are right for himself and his crew. He needed to get out of hard situations without loosing crew member or loosing his own life. Odysseus was a strong leader and did everything he could to help his crew because he needed to find a way out Cyclops' cave and he needed to choose whether or not he wanted to lose 6 crew members or lose everything.
In the novel The Odyssey, written by Homer, Odysseus is portrayed as a bad leader because of his selfish decisions and bad character. Odysseus makes a selfish decision when he leads his crew to stay in Polyphemus’s cave thinking he would offer gifts and Odysseus would “accept (his) help, or any gifts/” he had to “give” (9.726-727). This is a selfish act because he is putting his crew in danger for something that would only benefit himself. In the end, many of his people died and no one benefited. Once again, Odysseus displayed selfish acts when Circe told him “ he will be the only survivor of their long journey” (Homer 764).
In the epic the The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is bad leader because his selfishness leads to bad outcomes and he does not communicate with his men properly. One of the reasons Odysseus is an unfit leader is because he puts himself above others. When Odysseus and his men go to the island of the Cyclopes, they discover a cave that Odysseus wants to explore. His men try and convince him to leave, but to this he ignores their pleas and says “Yet I refused. I wished to see the cave man, what he had to offer- no pretty sight, it turned out, for my friends” (155-157).
Webster Dictionary defines leadership as simply, “providing direction or guidance,” but to be a successful leader one must focus on completing a goal in a way that is beneficial for the majority, not only the one in charge. This can be achieved by utilitarianism, which is doing of what is best for the most number of people, and carrying out actions that lead to positive effects, instead of merely being done with good intentions. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is not an exemplary leader because he went against utilitarianism by not being honest with his men, letting his arrogance control his behavior, and by killing many people in his house without a fair trial. Firstly, a leader must be truthful with those he works with in order for no errors or confusion to occur as a result of information being hidden. In The Odyssey, not being truthful lead to negative consequences for everyone on Odysseus’ ship, and thus contradicted the principle of utilitarianism stating that actions must lead to positive effects.
A hero is someone who is revered for his or her exceptional achievements and bravery. Anyone who puts themselves before others not for recognition or an award, but because it is the right thing to do, is a true hero. In "The Odyssey," written by Homer is an epic poem about a man named Odysseus and his crewmates competing against the power of the gods to return to their homeland, Ithaca. Throughout his journey, he loses almost all of his men, but Odysseus finally arrives home, concluding his prolonged twenty-year voyage. Odysseus must battle the suitors that have taken his wife Penelope, and may soon kill his son Telemachus.
Therefore Odysseus is a bad leader since he refuse to take advice, which consequently results in the detriment of his
As a character odysseus has flaws so naturally this would transfer over to his leadership skills . During the encounters with both polyphemus and circe, odysseus exhibits weak leadership. After getting trapped by polyphemus him and his men devise a solution to escape, once they have escape odysseus endangers the lives all his men by aggravation polyphemus; “I would not heed them in my glorying spirit, but let my anger flare and yelled” (IX 545 555). Odysseys is selfish and does not think of anything but his pride when he is angering polyphemus. His anger clouds his judgment and even if he did consider the consequences he does not stop even though what he is saying is endangering the lives of his men.
Selfish is defined by the Merriam Webster Dictionary as: “seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others.” Even though it may appear that selfishness can help one succeed, in the end, it could prevent one from accomplishing his/her final goal. The Odyssey, an epic poem by Homer, translated by Robert Fagles, follows Odysseus, a well known and successful war hero from the Trojan War, on his journey back to Ithaca. Odysseus’ journey begins at year 10, after the Trojan War ends, and continues until year 20. Throughout these 10 years, Odysseus and his crew embark on many dangerous quests and encounter many obstacles, which test Odysseus’ skills as a leader.
In The Odyssey Homer makes Odysseus’ journey to his beloved Ithaca excruciating. Odysseus encounters many friends and foes throughout his journey and has to be a leader throughout his experiences. As an example, he encounters Polyphemus and Poseidon, both of whom make his journey mentally and physically painful. Odysseus faces countless scenarios in which he has to save multiple people in those situations. He also encounters the suitors, who are a group of men that try to marry Penelope, when he returns to reclaim his home.
In order to be defined as a leader, one must be loyal, decisive and able to take the initiative. According to this definition, Odysseus does not fit the profile of a leader. For example, he is loyal to neither his wife nor crew. When Odysseus visited Circe, he disregarded his marriage to Penelope. By engaging in intercourse, he violated the trust of his wife while she remained loyal, despite the urges from the suitors.
About the time Odysseus reached Ithaca, Polyphemus the cyclops Odysseus blinded is asking Poseidon, his father, a way to cure his blinded eye. Polyphemus asked, “Father, Poseidon, is there any way to get my eye back?” “Polyphemus, there is a way to cure your eye, but you must go through a long and harsh journey to get what you want,” Poseidon answers, “You must find a way to go to Circe’s palace and find a way to get her to help you on your quest.” “That’s all I have to do?” Polyphemus said, “Thank you, Father.”
Throughout the story “The Odyssey” by Homer Odysseus, the main character counters countless amounts of trouble. As king and leader it is his job to keep his men save and get the job done. Odysseus does whatever it takes to keep his men unharmed, and more importantly, alive. All his crew and him dream about is getting back to their homeland, but first they have to pass the obstacles. Odysseus demonstrates good leadership qualities by doing whatever it takes to get the job done, using his advanced cunning abilities to trick his enemy, and constantly saving his crew from dangers.