Odysseus: A Good Leader In Homer's The Odyssey

Odysseus arrogantly does not think of the safety of his men and does not listen to them, only caring to annoy the Cyclops and to take the credit for blinding him. This shows his pride and his only care, to expand his legacy. By doing so, Poseidon curses his journey and makes it tougher for him to return

Odysseus was an effective leader for many reasons. one example was when Odyssey use his mind to get his men’s out of hades. one example was when he help his mans get to safety. he was an Effective leaders and in this part of the story,Odysseus men were scared of of the Hades, and they did not think Odysseus would make it back,so he told them not to worry, i will make it back and he tells them to leave if he doesn’t make it back to the ship. another example was when Odysseus and his men were stock in cave with the one eye monster.

Odysseus did not tell his men to be afraid, he kept this as a secret so the men did not know what happened until it was over. They did not brace themselves. Odysseus did this in his best interest, not in his men’s. Odysseus overall was unfair to his

Odysseus will endanger his crew to brag to the enemy when he thinks the battle is over, but it truly is not, “...tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes’ son, whose home on Ithaca!”[Page 669; Line 503-505] After Odysseus, escapes the Cyclops’ home he tells this son of a gods his name and his homeland. This leads to him getting cursed, “...grant that Odysseus, raider of cities, never see his home again.”[Page 670; Line 528-530] This shows how Odysseus got cocky and got cursed for it, basically sealing the fate of his crew to perish on their journey home. Odysseus doesn’t care if he’s actions affect his crew, he would rather jeopardize his journey to only get cursed by the person he bragged to. He is the opposite of a good leader instead of leaving with the victory he lost due to how arrogant he

Had Odysseus taken a moment to carefully consider their actions and anticipate potential consequences, many of the challenges they faced could have been avoided or overcame more effectively. Going back to the moment with the cyclops, Odysseus’ failure to contemplate the repercussions of blinding the creature leads to more problems that prolong their journey. To add onto that when the cyclops asked Odysseus what his name was he should’ve let the cyclops continue to think his name was “Nobody”. With Odysseus telling the cyclops later on his actual name it led to curses being put on instead of them being put on to “nobody”. One of the many curses that Polyphemus asked the Gods to grant was for Odysseus to never return home, but if he did let it be a long, hard journey where he loses all of his crew, “Let him lose all companions, and return under strange sail to bitter days at

Even after Tiresias and Circe warn him not to stop at the Sun island, he says this to Eurylochus, “Eurylochus, I’m one against all - the upper hand is yours” (280). When Odysseus goes against what Tiresias and Circe said about the island of the sun, it all falls down hill from there. Because of his decision to ignore them, he will pay for his foolishness. He could have considered the crews out come but, he did not.

Odysseus is tempted again when he encounters the Cyclops, Polyphemus. Unlike his encounter with the lotus-eaters, he displays a more reckless side when he couldn’t resist screaming out his name in pride after escaping the Cyclops:

Odysseus Can be a good leader because he gets his crew out of some bad situations, To start off Odysseus got his crew out of the cyclops’s cave. “So, we seized our stake with its fiery tip and bored it round and round in the giant's eye” (9.435). This quote shows how Odysseus use a stick (more like a pole) and stuck it in the fire and when the cyclops fell asleep Odysseus took the stick and jabbed it into the giant's eye and escaped with most of his crew. Another way that Odysseus can be a good leader is that he got his crew out of Circe’s palace, even after she turned all of the crew into pigs. “Flinging open the pens, drove forth my men, who looked like full-grown swine” (10.429). This quote is showing that Circe is letting Odysseus’s crew out of the pen and releasing them, but in exchange Odysseus would have to sleep with Circe and stay

Resulting in angering Polyphemus’ father, Poseidon, who has curse Odysseus to never return home with years of bad luck. Indicating that Odysseus cockiness has lead Odysseus to try too hard to be heroic in unnecessary situation. Though, a point could be made that the Polyphemus does do bad things to people on the island, but nobody really ask for help from Odysseus. He kind of just take self liberty to bring justice to the people by defeating the Polyphemus. Not to mention, that the Polyphemus offer him a chance to forget all about the incident and be friend, but instead of accepting that offer, Odysseus provoke him even more by saying, “If I could take your life I would and take your time away, and hurl you down to hell!” (line 480, pg. 997). To put in simpler term, Odysseus indicate that he will never befriend the Cyclops for he is horrible creature that should be annihilated. Showing the reader how rashly Odysseus made his decision, as he could have make friend with Polyphemus, and continue on to his voyage home instead of putting himself in a bad position by insulting the Cyclop. Lastly, another quality that is bad about Odysseus is that he is selfish. For once, when he has come across an island on his way from Troy, he had decided to raid the village and take women as hostages for sexual pleasure. Showing how he is only doing this for his own need and not caring about the people that live in that village. He

In the Odyssey, Odysseus exemplified strong leadership and outstanding noble qualities. Like Achilles, Odysseus carried some flaws at the beginning of the story. A strong case can be made that his biggest flaw as a character was pride as it caused him unnecessary risks that only delayed his journey and possibly endangered his men. This is evidently shown when Odysseus and his crew wander around in Polyphemos ' cave. After the confrontation with the Polyphemos, Odysseus and his men escaped by stabbing Polyphemos’ in the eye while he was asleep. Once Odysseus and his men were safe on board on their ship, Odysseus took it upon himself to reveal his true identity and proceeded to taunt Polyphemos. At

Journal 2: Odysseus’ weakness causes his journey to take a lot longer than it should, and puts his men in danger. Odysseus tantalized Polyphemus when he was leaving the island by saying, “‘If I could I would take your time away, and hurl you down to hell! The god of earthquake could not heal you there’” (9.71-73). Polyphemus almost sank Odysseus’ ship by throwing a rock after Odysseus said this, but if he had been silent, Polyphemus wouldn't have heard them, and couldn't have thrown the boulder if he didn't know where the ship and men were. Arrogance can cause unnecessary and avoidable harm to come, and can create issues for the future. Later, when Odysseus is about to start home again, Poseidon is still angry about his son’s eye, and sees Odysseus on his way back and says, “ While I was gone the gods have changed their minds about Odysseus...still I can

First of all, Odysseus was very selfish during their journey back to Ithaca. For example,“We lit a fire, burnt an offering, and we took some cheese to eat; then sat in silence around the embers, waiting”(Homer 219-222). If Odysseus took the cheese and left, his men would not have had to dealt with Polyphemus. He put himself before his men because he wanted a gift from the cave owner. Odysseus was also selfish when he sailed near the lands of Sirens.“Steer wide; keep well to seaward; plug your oarsmen’s ears with beeswax kneaded soft”(Homer 669-671). Although Circe told Odysseus to steer clear of the area, Odysseus wanted to be known as the man who survived a Siren’s song. He put his own men in danger just because he wanted to become famous. Odysseus was also very arrogant to think that he could get past the Sirens.

When Odysseus arrives at the island of the Cyclops, his first mistake occurs when he decides that he and men should stay in the cave and meet Polyphemus, even when his men advised him to take the goods and leave (IX.215-217). At this instance, Odysseus’s decision is influenced by his ego. He sees all the goods in the cave and the reason he stays is because he hopes that the Cyclops would give him a gift of hospitality. This is interesting because Odysseus does not know whether the Cyclops is civilized or a brute; however, Odysseus goes forward with his plan because he believes the Cyclops will listen to him since the gods are on his side. In this instance, Odysseus is calling himself powerful because he has the support of the gods especially Zeus, when he threatens the Cyclops that “Zeus avenges strangers and suppliants” (IX. 262). If his ego was not already high, Odysseus boosts it even more when he believes that he has outsmarted the Cyclops by not falling into the trap of telling the location of his ships (IX.273-277). At this point, Odysseus

In the epic poem The Odyssey written by Homer, Odysseus is a good leader because his men put their faith and loyalty in him and Odysseus can use his wits to get his men out of deadly crises.

Odysseus has a sense of hubris that leads to adversity and causes him harm, he also has humility; however, the lack of balance between these emotions takes Odysseus through many tough obstacles. When Odysseus tricks Polyphemos, he does it logically, and he uses his mind and reason; however, his hubris comes out when he feels the need to expose his true identity thus leading to his difficulty to return to Ithaka and future problems. Odysseus’s men beg him to stop harassing the beast, but Odysseus has one other plan in mind when he says, “Kyklops / … Odysseus raider of cities, took your eye: / Laertes’ son, whose home’s on Ithaka!” (Homer 160). This provoking of Polyphemos that Odysseus displays is a cause for the pain Ithaka is going though, as well as personal and direct grieving directed at Odysseus and his immediate