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Odysseus As A Leader In The Odyssey

Decent Essays

When we think of leadership, what comes to mind? Is it the bold, charismatic, and passionate person who takes the group on their back? Or is it really the more quiet and realistic leader who has a compromising attitude? Most people will think of a loud and passionate person who can grab the attention of an audience. But leaders come in all shapes and sizes. Leadership is defined by dictionary.com as the ability to guide or influence others to achieve a common goal. Although the term leader is used in our everyday lives, many people mistake it for close synonyms. Not all leaders have to be the boisterous, bold, and burly people that most people think of them to be. More often than not, a leader will be the commanding one in the group. But there …show more content…

In The Odyssey by Homer, the main character, Odysseus, is found depicting this trait several times in the poem. But his way of being a leader is very controversial. Determining whether Odysseus is a good leader on not is a difficult task. On the surface, he appears to have more faults than successes. It seems that when it comes to Odysseus’ leadership qualities, Homer presents the reader with an ambiguous impression. But looking deeper, Odysseus can be found with a pure heart that cares for others. When Circe, a witch-goddess, tells Odysseus the possible future of him and his men, he immediately goes to his crew to tell them the news. He leads his speech with, “The crew now silent before me, I addressed them sore at heart.” Although this is a very short quote, the meaning behind Odysseus’ words are found when looking in between the lines. This phrase shows the captains respect that he has for his crew. He informs them about their future for the sake of them. When he says “sore at heart”, it shows that Odysseus truly does care for each one of his men. Later in the same book, Odysseus and his men face rough seas as they try to make their way back home. The crew are quickly starting to doubt themselves, but Odysseus being the leader he is, says, “Friends, have we never been in danger before this? More fearsome, is it now, than when the Cyclops penned us in his cave? What power we had!” Odysseus repeatedly says “we” in that phrase to emphasize that it is not only him that defeated the Cyclops, but also the whole crew. He hopes that by reminding them of their past accomplishments, it would give them confidence to move

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