Odysseus Failure Essay

Aadarshini Vinod Das

Kisatsky

English 1 Honors

17 February 2023 “The Failure of Odysseus” The Odyssey by Homer explores Greek culture. It shows how following Greek culture and beliefs properly will lead to prosperity and happiness, but if a human chooses to live without the Greek values, he would suffer greatly. Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, learns this bitter truth as he faces many unnecessary dangers on his way home from the Trojan War because of his abundant pride. Those dangers cause him to suffer the loss of all his soldiers and his ships. Although Odysseus was able to return home to Ithaca alive, his journey home was a failure because he still failed to save his men and his ships due to

The Cyclops’ land was unknown territory for mortals, and because of this Odysseus decided to explore the land, even though they already had everything they needed. He declares, “I’ll go across with my own ship and crew and probe the native living over there. What are they-violent, savage, lawless? Or friendly to strangers, god-fearing men?”(Homer Book 9 line 193-197). This shows that Odysseus wants to take home the pride of going to the Cyclops land and living to tell the tale…. This happens again when Odysseus and his men explore the Cyclops cave, and even though they get a chance to escape, Odysseus is adamant on seeing the cyclops before he leaves. He says “But I would not give way- not till I saw him, saw what gifts he’d give.”(Book 9 line 256-259). After eating, it's food, they still wait for the cyclops to appear. Odysseus and his men were expecting gifts from the Cyclops in accordance with Greek hospitality. But they did not account for the Cyclops not following Greek culture out of ignorance. This choice leads Odysseus to lose two men to the Cyclops’ appetite. This further aids his failure and shows that Odysseus was a selfish, neglectful leader. Later, he is able to defeat the cyclops by blinding it; however, he feels the urge to tell the cyclops his real name. Odysseus brags “if any man on the face of earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so-say Odysseus, raider of cities he

Aeolus the King decided to give them the west wind to make their journey to Ithaca quicker. So, he gave a sack in which he kept the winds other than the west wind, because “he set the West wind-free to blow us on our way and waft our squadron home.” (Book 10 line 29-30). While this seems like a perfect opportunity to end Odysseus's journey, it isn't because he makes one mistake: he doesn't tell his men about what's in the sack. Since his men don't know what is in the sack, a couple of the men talk and one of them decides that they should “see what loot is in the sack” (Book 10 line 49). And just as they were about to arrive home in Ithaca, they are taken straight back to the Aeolian Kingdom, once again feeling so close and yet so far away. Again, proving that Odysseus's pride caused him trouble, because all he had to do was tell his soldiers to never open the sack because the winds were in there. Instead, he lets his ego get the best of him by not telling his men an easy, simple explanation that could have altered his story