Corruption Of Pride In The Odyssey

Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey, tells the journey of Odysseus where he faces many perilous challenges. Throughout the challenges he displays the type of character he is within the episodes, "I am Laertes' Son" and "The Sirens; Scylla and Charybdis." Homer uses indirect characterization to illustrate Odysseus' arrogant and loyal character. First, Odysseus is shown to be quite arrogant. After surviving through many perils Odysseus has finally come to a king's court and has begun to tell his tale and he is shown to think quite high and mighty of himself Odysseus says that, "Men hold me / formidable for guile in peace and war / this fame has gone abroad to the sky's rim" (127-129).

“If ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: laertes’ son whose home is on Ithaca”(Homer 1.486). Odysseus eventually is punished by Poseidon the god of the sea who is Cyclops's father. “Because of Odysseus’ hubris after blinding Polyphemus, Poseidon grants the prayer, and it takes

Odysseus’ hubris played a negative role when Odysseus revealed his identity to Polyphemus. Odysseus and his crew had just managed to escape from the Cyclops, Polyphemus, after driving a stake into his eye. But then, Odysseus told the blinded Cyclops his identity by shouting, “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 you eye, Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca” (9, 558-562). Odysseus managed to tell Polyphemus his name, father, and home. Polyphemus then prayed to Poseidon, his father, to get revenge on Odysseus. Poseidon ended up killing Odysseus’ entire crew and delaying Odysseus for 10 years. None of those terrible consequences would have happened if Odysseus had suppressed his enormous pride. Odysseus’ hubris resulted in a lot of suffering for many people. Odysseus’ hubris prevents Odysseus and his crew from getting back to Ithaca again when Odysseus did

Another example of Odysseus’s arrogance is explicit after he won the battle of Troy. He decided to yell out to the gods that he doesn’t need them, and he does not give a sacrifice to them for leading the Greeks to victory. It is clear that Odysseus believes that he’s so strong and powerful, he doesn’t need the gods’ assistance. In return, the gods created a difficult journey back home for Odysseus and his men, which brought them many hardships. Unlike a hero, Odysseus was too absorbed in his own accomplishments that he did not acknowledge the others who have helped him along his difficult journey. A hero would have acknowledged the other people who have been an aid to him or her, and respect them, not disregard them. Odysseus’s arrogance is also seen when he is on Cyclops’ island. Odysseus discovers a cave and insists on waiting in the cave for whoever lives in it hoping for some type of guest-gift: “We lit a fire, burnt an offering, and took some cheese to eat;than sat in silence around the embers,

All Poseidon along with Polyphemus wishes is revenge. The number one rule is to never anger a god. Thankfully for Odysseus the other gods are on his side. Odysseus is human, so he too was battling pride. This pride Odysseus is battling is when you have the urge to be in people's faces and be superior. Odysseus and his men knew they were going to be in Siren territory. His men put wax in their ear. Odysseus on the other hand was tied up with no wax in his ear so he could hear the sirens. He wanted to be the only person that has heard them and not died. “ The San Andreas is considered “the ‘master’ fault of an intricate fault network,” the Geological Survey said”(Yan and Berlinger 3). Odysseus is seen as an amazing fighter. People have very high expectations. You could call him a master just like the San Andreas which is considered the “master fault”. Although Odysseus is a master of many strengths, his pride gets the best of him. No matter how strong and powerful you are, pride will always be there. You may think this wouldn’t be a problem for him, but it is. Odysseus is still human and has weaknesses as well. Just like us Odysseus struggles with

The example of Odysseus’ raid on the city of the Cicones—and the loss of six men from his ships that results from it—shows a starting point in Odysseus’ evolution of humility by showing a a pre-suffering few of Odysseus—that of a man who encourages the sacking of a city—and a post initial dose suffering view of the same man—a man who blames his crew for the aforementioned suffering instead of taking responsibility himself. On his path home from the Trojan War, the fighter Odysseus—still filled with the greed and seeming invincibility of a victor came across a set of bystanders to the war known as the Cicones “There [he] sacked the[ir] city, killed the[ir] men, but as for the[ir]

Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus acts pompous, arrogant, and believes that he is better than everyone. His actions prevent him from accepting help from others- there are several moments in the book where Odysseus portrays these actions. For example, when entering the battle of troy, Odysseus yells out to the gods, explaining that he does not need them or their help. This action shows arrogance because Odysseus is only worrying about his own self importance.

In the Odyssey, when Odysseus is escaping unscathed from the Cyclops Polyphemus, Odysseus remarks, “They tried, but didn’t persuade my hero’s heart— I was really angry—and I called back to him.” (The Odyssey, Book 9, Lines 498 - 499) This is towards the beginning of the story when Odysseus is a rash, prideful person. He causes the death of a lot of his men by saying this, and he refers to his pride as his “hero’s heart”, showing that since so many people regard him as a hero, his ego is rather large and he cannot resist one last jab at his enemy. If he had practiced humility in this situation, he would not have angered Poseidon and he would have made it home much easier.

In homer's Odyssey the main character Odysseus is a person who only tries to help himself. Although he earns the trust of his men while in Troy, he loses it on his perilous journey home. Many times in the epic he manipulates others, commits foolish acts and is full of hubris. He tries to take shortcuts and as a result of this is men are killed and his boats destroyed. He plays with the lives of his men and he is punished for it. Odysseus is not a hero because, he is foolish, lacks faithfulness and is consumed by his Hubris and selfishness.

The hero of Homer’s Odyssey is Odysseus—the glistening, golden-skinned, muscular, clever hero that every audience aspires to be…right? Homer’s idea of Odysseus being the ideal man at the beginning of the Odyssey is repeatedly proven to be wrong. On more than one occasion, Odysseus displays definitively unheroic behavior that conflicts with his descriptions as a paragon of honor and virtue. His beautiful exterior conceals his true interior: that of a hypocritical antagonist who flouts the same rules he claims to uphold.

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

Another case of his pride blinding Odysseus had no leadership or control over his men: “Temptation had its way with my companions, and they untied the bag.” (Book X, lines 52-53). Odysseus could not control his men, and this caused the whole ship to be blown back to Aiolia. Also as a result of his pride, Odysseus loses the entire Ithacan fleet. His hubris blinds his sense of judgment and as a result, kills two generations of Ithacans. His ego and selfishness makes him lose all of his men, and makes him an antihero.

One of the most difficult obstacles Odysseus faced was overcoming if epic flaw. Odysseus had excessive pride, or Hubris, which sometimes got him in more trouble than he was already in. For example, in the Cyclops, as Odysseus and his men are leaving after stabbing the Cyclops’ eye, he shouts “Cyclops, if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes’ son, whose home’s on Ithaca.” Before this, Odysseus had told the Cyclops that his name was “Nohbdy” and could have gotten away without the Cyclops knowing who it really was, but Odysseus had to boast and brag that if anyone were to ask, it was him who blinded the Cyclops. Also in the beginning of The Odyssey after they had one the Battle of Troy, Odysseus shouted to the Gods that nothing could stop him. By provoking the Gods, he brought his 20 year journey onto himself. But by overcoming this flaw in the end, Odysseus finally returned home.

During his journey Odysseus used what he has learned from is mistakes to return home and kill the suitors of his wife. On the island of Cicones,and with his encounter with Polyphemus, Odysseus learned that bragging can bring great misfortune. On Ithaca Odysseus never brags to the suitors and is able to enter his house with the Antinous and the other suitors knowing his real identity. He takes the punishment of Antinous and the other suitors without saying a word and is able to see those who have invaded his house. Odysseus is able to see who is loyal and who is not and take his revenge with the suitors never knowing who

Thesis: In the novel “The Odyssey” Homer displays the main character Odysseus, the shepherd of men, with god like qualities which clouds his judgement and sense of superiority that he will never transpire to respect the other warriors through his harsh tones.