Odysseus Leadership Qualities

Odysseus

For millennia Odysseus has widely been regarded as a hero, but when a closer look is taken at the Odyssey it is seen that Odysseus possesses many traits generally held by a villain. Odysseus is more morally related to Jason of the Argonauts, a man often regarded as an antihero, than the great hero Achilles whom he is often compared to. Odysseus is unnecessarily cruel, extensively selfish and lacks the leadership qualities of a great hero.

Throughout the epic poem, Odysseus is unnecessarily cruel and violent, a trait that most villains tend to possess. Early in the attack Odysseus leads to take his home back, he tells Eumaeus and Philoetius to “wrench Melanthius’ arms and legs behind him”, then “hoist him up a column” and “let

When Odysseus and his men explore the cave of Polyphemus his men beg him to just steal some cheese and leave, but Odysseus refused to listen, telling the Phaeacians that he “would not give way- and how much better it would have been-not till I saw him, saw what gifts he’d give”(9.256-258). His selfish refusal causes the death of many members of his crew, a choice no traditional hero would have made. While Odysseus and his crew flee from the island, Odysseus foolishly tells Polyphemus “If any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you...say Odysseus….gouged out your eye, Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca!”(9.559-562). While a true hero would act as a servant to his crew and put them first, Odysseus acts as a blind servant to his pride putting only his arrogance above his own self preservation. Odysseus stays on the island of Aeaea with Circe “day in, day out, till a year had run its course”(10.515). Throughout the epic poem Odysseus claims that he desires to return home, but after he saves his men he stays on the island with Circe, keeping his men away from home, keeping his son without a father, keeping his wife without a husband. Odysseus lets pleasure keep him away from his family, he falls victim to his own selfish desires, something a true hero would never do. Odysseus acts only as a servant to pride, pleasure, and himself not the greater good like any true hero would