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Odysseus As A Good Leader In Homer's Odyssey

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In the Odyssey, Odysseus incited the story. Even though he lost his men in the end, he brought out the most important things in them: never give up. However, besides being a good leader, Odysseus made some bad choices in The Odyssey, and sometimes didn’t look like a good leader. Three areas/incidents where Odysseus was a poor leader was his extreme hubris, at the battle of Troy, and when he encounters Polyphemus. First off, Odysseus threw himself and his crew into bedlam with his hubris. For example, Odysseus didn’t tell his crew the bag he receive from Aeolus, which was full of east, south, and west winds. Figuring it was treasure, they opened it and discovered the complete opposite. About to reach Ithaca, the boat was thrown miles away …show more content…

If he’d told his crew of what the bag was full of, his journey home would’ve stopped right there. In addition, Odysseus journey of hardship begins. He winds up at Circe’s island, and this delays everything. He stays there with her, while meanwhile he’s eager to be home with Penelope. Next, Odysseus lost his passion to reach home. When on Circe’s island, he and his crew relaxed for a year there. “And there we sat at ease, day in, day out, till a year had run its course, feasting on sides of meat and drafts of heady wine … but then, when the year was gone and the seasons wheeled by and the months waned and the long days came round again, my loyal comrades took me aside and prodded ‘Captain this is madness! High time you thought of your own home at last, if it really is your fate …show more content…

First off, when Odysseus spears the Polyphemus through the eye, he shouts his name at him and boasts that he was the one who just did it. He not only reveals his name, but also his father’s and his home. Due to this, Poseidon delays his trip by 10 years, and kills his entire crew near the ending of the story. Secondly, Odysseus probably didn’t have to stab Polyphemus’s eye. If he spared him, things would’ve been a lot more calmer and better. Poseidon wouldn’t have killed all of his men, and they probably could’ve helped Odysseus a lot more. In the end, Odysseus didn’t show his leadership with Polyphemus. He not only revealed his name to the cyclops, but his father’s and his home. These were poor

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