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The Mistakes Of Odysseus Guile In Homer's Odyssey

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Although Odysseus proved to have guile on the Island of the Cyclops, he made crucial mistakes. Odysseus’ first mistake was taking his men into the Cyclops cave. This brought upon a dreadful chain of events, for even Odysseus knew. In fact he said “I knew some towering brute would be upon us soon-- all outward power, a wild man, ignorant of Civility” (Homer 8). This quote states how Odysseus had already predicted that the presentence of him and his men would come down on them; but his selfishness made the lives of his men expendable. Secondly, Odysseus believing that the Cyclops would be kind to him and his men was yet another mistake. He believed that as him and his men were raised so was him, “here we stand, beholden for your help, or any
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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.

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He has to overcome his foes and his environment. In the cavern with the cyclops, Odysseus must fight to survive. He and his men have to use wit and strategy to escape the cave. After the first attack on his men Odysseus knew he would need to develop a plan to survive. Odysseus and his men are put in danger as they encounter their foe:“Neither reply nor pity came from him, but in one stride he clutched at my companions and caught two in his hands like squirming puppies to beat their brains out, spattering the floor” (Homer 903).

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Odysseus should not be granted an award for being a good leader in the Odyssey Although he fought well and won many battles he still made some very selfish decision 's. The Choices that the so called "Great" leader made caused the innocent solders to lose their life 's Odysseus chose to think by him self and not discuss with his mates about his dangerous ideas. Odysseus is A man know from the city/island of Troy, he is a so called leader, knight and great fighter. One of his selfish decisions that he made was when him and the soilders wandered into the cave of the cyclops, his soldiers suggested that they should take some food and leave, while Odysseus deiced to stay longer and examine the cyclops cave, This is were things get worse, as

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Overall, Odysseus is often portrayed as a “model hero”, but in reality he has many faults such as being untrustworthy, arrogant and

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Odysseus and his men were fleeting from Polyphemus’ island, he said, “ Cyclops, if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye…” (book 9, lines 416-418, textbook). Odysseus is being to boastful and therefore it caused him and his man to become cursed and their journey to last for several years to come. Odysseus’ actions caused his men to pay for just being too full of pride and egotistical. After encountering Aeolus, king of the winds, odysseus received a bag full of wind so they could finally return home to Ithaca, “ nine whole days we sailed, nine nights, nonstop.

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In Odysseus journey he faces great dangers, and in order to succeed in his quest to get back to Ithaca he must be brave. His men look up to him, whether or no they are in a situation Odysseus does or does not know how to handle he will assuage his men by being brave even in the face of danger. To emphasize, when Odysseus and his men arrived at Circe’s island, also know as Aeaea, he divides his his men into two groups and he sends one group, led by Eurylochus, to explore the island. His men stop at Circe’s house, an enchantress, Eurylochus warns the men not to go in but they saw no harm, they go in and Circe drugs the men and turn them into swines. Eurylochus horrified went to tell Odysseus they should leave the island immediately.

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In the book called The Odyssey by Homer, it mainly follows the story of a king of a village called Ithaca, hundreds of years ago-This man, is named Odysseus. Odysseus goes through many adventures after the victory of the Trojan War. However, this is where Odysseus, is not being as strong as a great war hero and a king as he should be. Although Odysseus was seen as a very strong person, physically and mentally, he lacks the appreciation and the care of his crew throughout the trials and didn’t think through many of his actions thoroughly and how they would affect not only his crew but people around him.

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TS1 (Thesis): In The Odyssey, Homer depicts Odysseus’ real foe as the theme of temptation with displays of hubris and lustrous goddesses, which portrays the importance of being vigilant to not submit to temptation. ST1: Homer depicts that Odysseus is determined to get home, but Odysseus succumbs to temptation when he leads his crew into the cyclops lair, eats the cyclops’ food, and demands for a gift, resulting in a protracted journey home. 1: Homer displays Odysseus as recklessly brave when he requests, “we’re at your knees, in hopes of… a guest-gift”(9.300) from the cyclops. 2: It is apparent that Odysseus has given into the temptation to be arrogant when he declares for the cyclops to give them, “a guest-gift,” after Odysseus and his men have broken into the cyclops lair, showing even further Odysseus’ isn’t vigilant to

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While Odysseus did have good intentions of bringing his men home, he continuously made poor and selfish decisions, and he was constantly putting his men in danger more often than

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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!

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The men of Odysseus struggled with facing the obligations they had for their lives. The Cyclopes did not take control of their island and did not make responsible choices with his property. Odysseus, on the other hand, took the power he had and helped others along the way. Many have contended with accountability and not many have succeed in vanquishing it. Consequently, it is hard to prosper under the weight of responsibility, but Odysseus

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1279 Words | 6 Pages

A myriad of obstacles continuously obscure his path, and on occasion, he becomes the very root of these problems himself. One of the qualities that disturbed the peace in his journey was his sense of excessive pride. When the men anchor in the Cyclops’ homeland, they soon encounter the bloodthirsty Polyphemus and narrowly escape their deaths. Whilst he and his men are on the verge of being killed by a man-eating creature, Odysseus digs himself a deeper hole by jeering, “‘...if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you...say Odysseus, raider of cities... Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca!’”

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970 Words | 4 Pages

Although Odysseus failed to keep his men alive, Odysseus is an epic hero because Odysseus displayed intellect and quick-thinking, and he also displayed loyalty throughout the journey. In the episode, “Cyclops”, Odysseus’ use of intellect and quick- thinking leads to himself and his men to survive for another day. An example of Odysseus’ intellect is written on page 379- 380 where he presents his name to Polyphemus, “Cyclops, you ask my honorable name? Remember the gift you promised me, and I shall tell you.

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1175 Words | 5 Pages

Toward the end of his journey, Odysseus spends 7 years with the nymph Calypso. In book 9 of the Odyssey Odysseus doesn’t think about others, and makes a bad decision. Almost costing the whole crew their lives, Odysseus lets his anger get to him, and shouts at the Cyclops. After being taunted, the Cyclops hurls a gigantic rock, barely missing the ship. This shows that Odysseus has his faults as well, and does not always exhibit heroic behaviors.

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The first trait is that he is a very arrogant person and this often puts him and his men in danger. Secondly, Odysseus can be deceitful and not fully communicate the facts of each situation. Odysseus was a weak leader and his lack of vision in not seeing the strength and possibilities in his men combined with his inability to effectively communicate to those around him ultimately led to his failure of not being able to safely deliver his men back to Ithaca. The story of the Cyclops in Homer 's The Odyssey illustrated how Odysseus '

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