Do Odyessus's Good Traits Outweigh The Cons?
Everyone is different, some people are good while others are bad. Odysseus had many good and bad qualities. Throughout his journey, Odysseus is returning home, and he does many things to protect himself and his men. In The Odyssey, Homer crafts Odysseus to have positive and negative traits, however his actions are justified as he is just trying to get back home.
In The Odyssey, Homer crafts Odysseus to have positive and negative traits; however, he is a smart man and a great leader overall. Odysseus is a good leader, he is able to think quickly and get his men out safely. Odysseus tells the Cyclops,“ [His] name is Nohbdy: mother, father, and friends,/ everyone calls [him] Nohby”(Homer 323-324). After this, you can see how Oddyessus can think quickly and come up with the idea of telling the Cyclops his name is Nohdy, he can kill time and help his men escape. As well, Odysseus is a good leader since he is very resourceful and able to use what he has. In order for Odyessus to
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Odysseus is a bad leader since he is a murderer. When Odysseus and his men landed in Ismarus, “[He] stormed that place and killed the men who fought(Homer 28). Because of this, we can see Odysseus kills people for fun, which is a very bad quality. As well, Odysseus is greedy and does things even if they could put him and his men in danger. After successfully escaping, Odysseus taunts the Cyclops, “O Cyclops! Would you feast on my companions?”(Homer 441). Due to this, his men were annoyed with him and he is portrayed as greedy since he wanted to taunt the Cyclops. Furthermore, Odysseus is a selfish person. When Odysseus and his men were going through the river, “{He}/ told them nothing, as they could do nothing” (Homer 663-664). Since Odysseus didn't tell his men they were going to die, he is a selfish person because of this. Odysseus is a bad leader since he is greedy, selfish, and a
When he received the bag of winds from Aeolus his men asked him what was in the bag. Instead of him telling them that it's a bag of winds that would help them get home, he told them that it's a treasure. “what's in the bag captain treasure declared odysseus the best treasure present any host could have given to a weary traveler nobody touch it you hear” (28) His men did not listen and opened to check out the treasure that bag causing a storm that destroyed 11 ships and swept away Odysseus to the island of Laestrygonians. This shows why Odysseus is a bad leader because he needlessly puts his men in danger when he could have told them what was in the bad instead of telling them its treasure.
While Odysseus demonstrates that he’s strategic throughout the story, he also displays that he’s arrogant; however, these traits make Odysseus survive his journey. One of Odysseus’s positive traits is being strategic, As Odysseus is in the cyclops’s house, he pours the cyclops three bowls of wine to get him drunk & the cyclops drinks the wine. Homer, Author of The Odyssey, demonstrates that Odysseus is strategic by clarifying “Three bowls I brought him & he poured them down”(569). Odysseus & his crew being trapped brought the strategic trait out of Odysseus by Odysseus needing to do something to get out of the cyclops’s house or else he and his crew would have died. In addition to Odysseus being strategic he’s also very loyal, Homer, Author of The Odyssey, demonstrates that Odysseus is loyal by portraying “Put heart in me to eat & drink, you may by freeing my companions, I must see them”(1.92.93).
He knows emotions won't save their lives. He was the reason they won the Trojan war and he is also who tried to save everyone from going home as failures and would have if they didn't release the wind on the boat. Odysseus was the smartest of all his men and it showed. One of the many reasons he is a good leader is because of the dangers he got them
Even with Odysseus having many great qualities, he still has some
Because of this many of Odysseus’s men were killed by the enemy for revenge, proving that Odysseus is not a good leader, and it is not smart or good to do, and can cause Odysseus to gain more enemies. Another example of Odysseus’s poor leadership is when he and his men have just narrowly escaped the Cyclops cave. While safely sailing away from danger Odysseus yells “Hey, you, Cyclops! Idiot!/The crew trapped in your cave did not belong/ to some poor weakling. Well, you had it coming!”
Overall, Odysseus is a good leader because he is courageous, intelligent, and compassionate. Firstly, Odysseus shows his courage throughout the book. Odysseus shows courage by attempting tough challenges and completing them. For example, when the Cyclops trapped Odysseus and his crew members in the cave, Odysseus showed his bravery.
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 '
Ultimately Odysseus can be a good leader but behind the scenes, he's not. He may of saved his men multiple times, but also got them killed them due to his neglect. He might be intelligent but really he tolerably manipulated his crew by saying things such as “don’t you want to go back to your home again?”. In closing, throughout the whole story, Odysseus progresses himself and designates many Greek
In the novel The Odyssey, written by Homer, Odysseus is portrayed as a bad leader because of his selfish decisions and bad character. Odysseus makes a selfish decision when he leads his crew to stay in Polyphemus’s cave thinking he would offer gifts and Odysseus would “accept (his) help, or any gifts/” he had to “give” (9.726-727). This is a selfish act because he is putting his crew in danger for something that would only benefit himself. In the end, many of his people died and no one benefited. Once again, Odysseus displayed selfish acts when Circe told him “ he will be the only survivor of their long journey” (Homer 764).
However, in the Odyssey, Odysseus makes choices that both his crew and the reader find questionable. Although Odysseus has some positive attributes he is a bad leader for the following reasons he keeps secrets from his crew, he falls asleep at inappropriate times and is arrogant to a fault. Odysseus’s
Although Odysseus made some mistakes overall he was a great leader. Besides that he did have quite an adventure. Odysseus was a great leader when he showed bravery when saving his men from the cyclops, when he showed loyalty when saving his men from Circe, and also when he showed leadership when going to the Underworld. The first challenge Odysseus came across was Polyphemus, the cyclops.
I didn't think leadership was something I needed to work hard at. I had already arrived”(Modglin 1). If Odysseus had just treated his crew with more respect and worked harder to be selfless he would’ve been the perfect leader, and his crew would have the utmost respect for him as a
7-8). As this quote means that he is feared on a large scale for his cunningness and slyness. Odysseus manifests good leadership skills by tricking his enemies to get one step closer to his
Therefore Odysseus is a bad leader since he refuse to take advice, which consequently results in the detriment of his
In the book The Odyssey, the main character, Odysseus, is a man who is loved and respected by many. In the beginning of the book, we learn that Odysseus has left on a journey and, since it has been many years since his departure, many people assume that he has passed. On his journey, he portrays his many traits, not all of them being good ones either. Some of his good traits include his cunning, bravery, and hard work ethic. On the other hand, his negative traits are his excessive pride, immense curiosity, and rather large temper.