ipl-logo

Odysseus's Leadership In The Odyssey By Homer

806 Words4 Pages

The epic poem The Odyssey by Homer deals with themes and ideas that connect with the real, modern world, despite it being a fictional tale written a long time ago. Some of these ideas include the concept of hubris as well as loyalty, both of which the main character, Odysseus, possesses. Although Odysseus can be arrogant and can lead his men into danger, he is a good leader because he uses his intelligence to get his men out of tough situations, and he is loyal and motivational towards them.
While Odysseus’ curiosity can get him and his men into tough situations, his intelligence can get them out. When Odysseus was stuck in the Cyclops cave with his men, he tricked the Cyclops into thinking his ship was destroyed. By saying “‘My ship? Poseidon Lord, who sets the earth atremble, broke it up on the rocks at your land’s end” (9. 273-274), he prevented the Cyclops from thinking about attacking the ship. This statement shows he was thinking ahead and using his intelligence and cleverness to keep them safe. When the Cyclops asks who he was, he said his name was “Nohbdy” (9. 360-361). Again, he is tricking the Cyclops and thinking ahead. This time, instead of preventing the ship from being damaged, Odysseus stops other Cyclops from trying to help Polyphemus. His intelligence allows him and his men to …show more content…

Despite doing things only for himself sometimes, he cares for his men and protects them, as well as motivates them. When they encounter the lotus flowers, some of his men eat them and no longer want to go home. Odysseus doesn’t want to leave them behind to suffer, so he brings them back to this ship and ties them down, despite their protests (9. 211-215). By tying them down, he shows that he wants the best for them and that he is willing to protect them no matter what. He also warns the rest of the men about the lotus flowers as well, which proves that he does not want to see the rest of his men get

Show More
Related

Odysseus: A Lousy Leader

556 Words | 3 Pages

Odysseus: A Lousy Leader or a Terrific Leader? In the epic The Odyssey, written by Homer, Odysseus can be categorized as a bad leader because he is a bystander to preventable deaths of his crew members and exhibits poor authority amongst his group. Odysseus dismisses the possible danger of death he places his crew members in.

Read More

Odysseus Lack Of Leadership In Homer's Odyssey

635 Words | 3 Pages

Furthermore, Odysseus lacks a leadership role. To illustrate, when Odysseus is back in Ithaca the response he received wasn't the one anticipated. Odysseus is dressed as a beggar in order to see who is in his side and to see whether or not his wife has been faithful. However, Odysseus is bothered at the fact there are men in his house.

Read More

Odysseus As An Effective Leader In Homer's The Odyssey

368 Words | 2 Pages

In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is an effective leader in chapter twelve. A leader who has too much pride is now showing too much humbleness for what’s important by following all the things he has told to do to save his crew and himself. He does what he is told to do to save his crew and keep them safe. “ But now, fearing death , all eyes fixed on Charybdis now Scylla snatched six men from our hollow ship, the toughest, strongest hands I had, and glancing backwards over the decks, searching or my crew I could see their hands and feet already hoisted, failing, high, higher, over my head, look wailing down at me, comrades riven in agony.

Read More

Odysseus: An Adequate Leader In The Odyssey

665 Words | 3 Pages

Polyphemus is the son of Poseidon which means that creating a conflict with him would not be a wise decision. Furthermore, it is especially unclever since Poseidon has the power to control the route a ship takes. Ignoring that fact, Odysseus decides to ignore his shipmates advice of not lingering in the island for too long. They begged Odysseus if they could, “. . . help themselves to the cheeses and be off,” and to, “make haste and drive the kids and lambs out of the pens and get under sail” (Homer 104).

Read More

Examples Of Ptsd In The Odyssey

1043 Words | 5 Pages

On his journey home, Odysseus have made multiple mistakes that he usually doesn’t make. One example is in the Odyssey when Odysseus shouted at Polyphemus while he was throwing the rocks, “Cyclops— if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so—say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out your eye, Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca!”(Odyssey, 152). I believe the Odysseus in the past would have kept his pride in and be quiet, not because of Polyphemus’s father, but for his crew and him to escape safely without constantly getting thrown with giant boulders, capable of crushing ships in one blow, missing inches away from them. Why would you keep screaming at an opponent that can accurately throw life threatening boulders at you? Clearly, Odysseus was not in his right mind and was just letting everything out.

Read More

Odysseus As A Leader In Homer's Odyssey

735 Words | 3 Pages

Leadership in The Odyssey Being a leader means to look past all distractions and focus on the main goal. Odysseus must return to his home, Ithaca, with the help of his crew. As they face evil and cruel forces, Odysseus’s strength, leadership, and dedication is tested. Despite Odysseus instructing his crew to return to their ship in order to avoid the Cicones, Odysseus forcefully ties his crew to the ship and reminds the crew about their past encounters to motivate them, supporting Homer’s changes in leadership. Homer continuously portrays Odysseus as being a strong, witty leader although his crew does not always obey him.

Read More

Examples Of Arrogance In The Odyssey

439 Words | 2 Pages

An epic hero is someone who is characterized commonly on their nobility and bravery. However ,there are more attributes epic heros can posses. For example Odysseus, the protagonist in Homer's retelling of “The Odyssey”, shows many forms of excessive arrogance and pomposity. After conquering Troy, Odysseus and his men set off on their way home.

Read More

Pride And Recklessness In Homer's The Odyssey

1107 Words | 5 Pages

After he successfully exits the cave by blinding the cyclopes, he and his surviving men board the ship. As a result of his pride, he calls out to the monster, "If anyone asks who put out your eye, tell them it was Odysseus of Ithaca!”(Hinds 109). Considering the fact Polyphemus is the son of Poseidon, the cyclops calls out to him and therefore starts the troublesome voyage for Odysseus back home. When he returns to Ithaca he learns to control his hubris by replacing it with patience. Athena, the goddess of war and strategy, disguises Odysseus as a beggar because it is wisest to arrive in Ithaca without anyone being able to recognize him.

Read More

Odysseus: A Good Leader In Homer's The Odyssey

571 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

Odysseus Crew In The Odyssey

1764 Words | 8 Pages

At various times throughout the story, mainly through the trials, Odysseus made many decisions and forced his crew to go through many potentially lethal situations without preparing his own crew, or situations that were just a waste of time. This then leads to not only all of his crew being killed but the creation of many bad relationships. The first example of Odysseus mistreating his crew is when he and his crew went through the trails, “No more. Come, / let me tell you about the voyage fraught with hardship / Zeus inflicted on me, homeward bound from Troy...” 9.42-44.

Read More

Odysseus Traits In Homer's Odyssey

1125 Words | 5 Pages

He used it to outsmart many of the characters, which is most likely why he made it home after the many obstacles he faced. At the Cyclops Island when Odysseus and the 12 chosen men talk to The Cyclops, they can tell he is no good. When the Cyclops asks where their ship is, Odysseus tells him it has been wrecked so the Cyclops doesn’t try to wreck it himself or take his men. Odysseus tells Cyclops, “My ship? / Poseidon Lord, who sets the earth a-tremble, / broke it up on the rocks at your land’s end” (9. 187-188).

Read More

Odysseus: The Legendary Leader In The Odyssey By Homer

1286 Words | 6 Pages

He and his men could have easily left unharmed, but due to Odysseus’ self-centered demeanor they stayed. Although, after this Odysseus does shows cunning skill when he blinds the cyclops and escapes to his ship, but once they are away from the dangers of the island, Odysseus boastingly brags about who brought down the cyclops even though his men told him not to. “God Sake, Captain! Why bait the beast again? Let him alone!

Read More

Examples Of Leadership In The Odyssey

761 Words | 4 Pages

Bravery, cleverness, and determination are three traits a good leader has. In Homer’s epic “The Odyssey,” Odysseus, the hero in the story, is trying to return home to Ithaca after his victory in Troy. On their way back home, Odysseus and his men hurt the cyclops, Polyphemus, and angered his father, Poseidon. With a god angry at them, Odysseus and his men had to overcome many obstacles. These obstacles led them to strange islands that had goddesses and dangerous creatures.

Read More

Odysseus Crew Analysis

2242 Words | 9 Pages

This is shown first through the taunting of the Cyclops. As stated above, Odysseus taunts the Cyclops who shows that he is more than capable of wrecking their ship and the people on it. Besides that, the crew begs for Odysseus to be sensible and stop with the taunting, but they were unable to “bring [his] fighting spirit round.” The only reason why he does stop is because the Cyclops eventually makes a big enough wave with the top of a mountain thrown in the water to push their vessel to another island (9. 530-608). Due to the pleading of his crew, this shows that Odysseus is inconsiderate because they could have easily died and left their families behind.

Read More

Odysseus Leadership In Homer's The Odyssey

620 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

More about Odysseus's Leadership In The Odyssey By Homer

Related Topics

Open Document