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Why odysseus is a good leader
Leadership and perseverance of odysseus
Leadership and perseverance of odysseus
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Being a good leader comes with having “heroic” traits. While there are some traits that hinder one’s performance, there are some such as being courageous, having perseverance, being patient, and having wisdom. One can’t be a leader without having any of these traits. Other qualities a leader has are staying with their teammates through everything, having mental and physical strength, and being able to quickly adapt to new situations for their own and their friend’s safety. A good leader will do everything they can to help everyone, even if it means putting themselves in a bad situation. Odysseus is a great example of a good leader. In The Odyssey translated by Robert Fitzgerald, Odysseus does everything he can to save his crew members, he is smart with his words and what he tells other people; Odysseus also makes his way home to his wife and saves her from the men who invaded their home. We should care about this topic because some people …show more content…
In Book Nine of The Odyssey, Odysseus and his men come to the island of Polyphemus, who is a cyclops and one of the sons of Poseidon. They explore the island and venture into the cave where the cyclops lives; without realizing how vicious Polyphemus would be. The son of Poseidon enters his home, closes off the entrance with a large boulder; he then spots Odysseus and his men. He then eats some of Odysseus’ crew, leaving Odysseus to quickly come up with a way to escape, which he does very well. He starts off by giving the cyclops wine to make him drunk, and when Polyphemus asks Odysseus what his name is, Odysseus says his name is “Nohbdy,” which is very important. Once Polyphemus lays down to sleep, Odysseus and his men sharpen a piece of wood to make a long stake, and then they proceed to stab the cyclops in his one eye. Polyphemus opens the cave door and cries out; “‘Nohbdy, Nohbdy’s tricked me, Nohbdy’s ruined me!’” (Hom. Od.
Once he and he men are sailing away from the Cyclops, Odysseus cries back to the Cyclops “if anyone ever asks you how you came by your blindness, tell them your eye was put out by Odysseus, sacker of cities, son of Laertes, who lives in Ithaca.” Odysseus has regretted his earlier decision for Polyphemus to not know his true name, because it means that anyone hearing the tale of a man defeating a Cyclops will not know that it was Odysseus who did it. The arrogant Odysseus does not like this, because he wants all tales of his prowess to be known for his. As he cannot let the chance of more fame escape him, he reveals to Polyphemus his true identity. This sentence, with which he risks the Cyclops throwing a boulder onto their ship, show the readers just how arrogant Odysseus is. It helps the readers understand quite how willing Odysseus is to risk anything if it will add to his
Odysseus and some of his men went to investigate to see what these Cyclops were like. Unfortunately, they stumbled upon a Cyclops that had no intention of being nice. His name was Polyphemus who was the son of Poseidon. He took Odysseus’s men and ate them every night and would keep Odysseus and his men hostage. Odysseus made a clever escape and blinded the Cyclops. When Odysseus finally made it back on the ship with the remaining men that went along with him, Odysseus got a little too angry and shouted from the ship to Polyphemus and insulted him. Polyphemus prayed to the god, Poseidon and cursed Odysseus. This was on page 77, lines 526-533, book
Then the hero arrives at the home of Polyphemos. Polyphemos is a huge cyclops and also a cannibal. Odysseus and twelve of his men are trapped inside Polyphemos’ cave and can’t get out. Polyphemos comes back and eats some of the hero’s men. The next night Odysseus gets the cyclops drunk on wine, and when it falls asleep, Odysseus and his remaining men blind it with a large pole. He and his men barely escape with their lives and continue on the voyage.
Like Jacob, Odysseus connived, manipulated, and deceived. On his journey home from the Trojan War, Odysseus uses his trickster ways to get himself out of trouble. One famous tail was his encounter with the one-eyed Cyclopes Polyphemous. Odysseus and his crew landed on the land of they Cyclopes. They made themselves at home, eating the cheese and goats of the Cyclopes, fully expecting him to be hospitable. Instead, Cyclops began eating then men as though they were animals themselves. Odysseus and his men were trapped in the cave and Polyphemous rolled a stone over the entrance so no one could exit. Odysseus connived a plan and gave the Cyclopes some wine. When he got drunk and passed out, Odysseus poked out the eye of Polyphemous and completely blinds him. Odysseus and his men escape the cave by clinging to the bellies of sheep (Odyssey, Ch. 9). He also disguised himself as a veteran of a Trojan war to Eumaios, a loyal servant, and as a beggar to his wife and son.
Polyphemus ate four men of Odysseus' crew and in return, Odysseus and his remaining crew administered justice: 'Seizing the olive pole, they drove its sharpened end into the Cyclops' eye'; (pg. 135). In doing this, they were able to escape and they set sail. Odysseus, carried away in his pride, announced his identity to Polyphemus. When he had heard Odysseus' name, Polyphemus called upon his father, Poseidon, to adminis... ... middle of paper ... ...
In Homer’s The Odyssey, there are a lot of traits displayed that are considered important in ancient Greek culture. These are shown by many different characters, but mostly by Odysseus (he is, after all, the main character in the epic poem). Odysseus is the epitome of a Greek ruler: he has a lot of admirable traits. His only fault is his hubris, but that is overcome and taken care of. Throughout Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus displays wisdom combined with strong loyalty and inspiring leadership through the evident trust of his men and the ability to conquer any challenges that he may face along his journey back to Ithaka.
Odysseus comes up with a plan to try and escape the Island and this sets a suspenseful, gory tone. “ He dismembered them and made his meal, gaping and crunching like a mountain lion-everything innards, flesh, and marrow bones.” (Fitzgerald 287-289) Polyphemus is brutally eating Odysseus men without a care right in front of them and this begins to anger Odysseus and take action quickly before him and the rest of his crew are gone. He comes up with a plan to escape by offering Polyphemus some wine. “Cyclops,try some wine. Here’s liquor to wash down your scraps of men.”(Fitzgerald 348-349). This was the best opportunity for Odysseus. Once Polyphemus had fallen asleep from the wine it led him take his final chance to get him and his men out of that
To start, within the course of The Odyssey, Odysseus displays hubris through many of his actions. The most prominent instance in which Odysseus shows hubris is while he and his men are trying to escape from the Cyclops Polyphemus. They drug the monster until it passes out, and then stab him with a timber in his single eye. Polyphemus, now blinded, removes the gigantic boulder blocking Odysseus’ escape, and waits for the men to move, so he can kill them. The men escape from the cave to their boat by tying themselves under flocks of rams, so they can easily slip by. Odysseus, now proud after beating the giant, starts to yell at Polyphemus, instead of making a silent escape. Odysseus’ men ask him to stop before Polyphemus would “get the range and lob a boulder” (436). But Odysseus shows hubris by saying that if they were to meet again, Odysseus would “take your life” and “hurl you down to hell!” (462; 463). Polyphemus, now extremely angry with Odysseus, prays to his father, Poseidon, to make Odysseus “never see his home” again, and after which, throws a mountain towards the sound of Odysseus’ voice. (470). Because of Odysseus’ hubris after blinding Polyphemus, Poseidon grants the prayer, and it takes Odysseus 20 years to return home, at the cost of the lives of all his men.
The protagonist of the Odyssey, written by Homer and translated by Robert Fitzgerald, is Odysseus, and he possessed many qualities that portray him as a great leader. He is clever, strategic, and is able to think quickly on his feet, and this allows him to get him out of tricky situations that put his men in danger. These attributes could be seen throughout most the story, whether it be escaping the island of Kirke, or avoiding Skylla and Kharybdis. However, Odysseus also has some qualities that make him seem not-so-great. Although Odysseus can be prideful and arrogant at times, his strategic mindset overshadowed both of these qualities.
In Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, Odysseus fails as a leader by prioritizing his reputation over his crew’s safety after defeating the cyclops Polyphemus. In the story, Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, travels to Troy to fight against the Trojans. On his journey back to Ithaca, a string of damaging incidents lead him to a mysterious island, which he later discovers is inhabited by the murderous cyclops Polyphemus. His crew manages to escape the cyclops, but not before Polyphemus kills several of Odysseus’s crew. Odysseus escapes and could have sailed away peacefully, but he calls out to Polyphemus to suggest that “if anyone, any mortal man, asks you how you got your eye put out, tell him that Odysseus the marauder did it,” (IX, 500-502). This prompts Polyphemus to lob a rock, nearly destroying Odysseus's ship. It is odd that this was
Ancient works of literature including Homer’s The Odyssey have spread Greek values of a leader’s traits through the embodiment of the main protagonist, Odysseus. Odysseus’ traits as a good leader in Greek values derive from his principle qualities of intellect, caution, and empathy.
The hero decided to tell the creature his name was Nohbdy, so the Cyclops would not know his true name, get the creature drunk on the fine wine he brought with him, stab him in his one eye while he is essentially hungover, and escape the cave with the sheep when the cave door is opened for them to go out and roam in the pastures. Had Odysseus not brought this wine, the Cyclops would have never fell so soundly asleep to allow Odysseus and four of his strongest men to ram the spike into the eye of the Cyclops. When Odysseus harmed the Cyclops and escaped with his men, they all boarded their ships. The hero’s flaw came into play, when his pride led Odysseus to shout back at the Cyclops while he was a decent distance away, and let that savage being know who hurt and defeated him. Odysseus tells the creature, “‘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!’”
In the epic, also called The Odyssey, written by Homer, Odysseus and his men are captured by the cyclops Polyphemus, after they pillage his cave. The cyclops then kills two sailors daily, by smashing their heads on boulders and then eating them. This continued until the rest of the crew plotted an escape. Odysseus offers Polyphemus some wine. After the cyclops gets drunk, they sharpen and heat a wooden stake and thrust it into his eye.
Odysseus and his men land on the island of the Cyclops extremely hungry and looking for food. He and his men carefully search the island despite the “....instant foreboding that we were gong to find ourselves face to face with some barbarous being of colossal strength and ferocity, uncivilized and unprincipled” (Homer;9;213;216). The Cyclops also known as Polyphemus returns home from tending his animals to find twelve strangers in his cave. He quickly returns the boulder back in the door way and begins asking the men who they are and where they came from. At first Polyphenus shows hospitality to them until Odysseus replies to him with a lie. Polyphenus is outraged and quickly grabs two of Odysseus’ men and bashes their brains out and begins to eat them. Odysseus and his men are terrified that such a horrific creature could do such a thing. He then realizes that will have to use their whits to get away from this creature not their brute strength. He then hardens a stick out of a piece of olive wood and hides it under some dung in the cave. When Polyphenus returns to the cave Odysseus then sets out to ...
Odysseus traversed his epic by using his mind to deceive his enemies in order to make it through his trials and tribulations. A key trial was the way in which Odysseus deceived the Cyclops Polyphemus, Poseidon’s son. Polyphemus was considered god-like according to the text so overcoming this monster was no easy task for Odysseus and proving how cunning he was. Odysseus emotionally reacts to the Cyclops initially eating two of his comrades, but realizes that if he takes revenge he loses his only means out of the cave which is the Polyphemus’ strength to remove the doorstone. Odysseus realizes that in order to gain freedom he must methodically take down the Cyclops by getting him drunk, branding his eye with a hot iron, and then escaping under using the disguise of Polyphemus’ sheep. Getting the Cyclops drunk was a means for Odysseus to build rapport with the monster and this trust can be seen by Polyphemus falling asleep near his prisoners. During this encounter Odysseus tells Polyphemus his name is Noman essentially removing his name from himself. After, Odysseus and his men brand Polyph...