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). …show more content…
Odysseus’s crew being turned into pigs brought the loyal trait out of him because he needed to get his crew out of a spell that turned them into pigs and he was ready to sacrifice himself. Another one of Odysseus's traits is him being arrogant, as Odysseus is on his boat outside, he boasts about taking the cyclops’s eyesight to the cyclops. Homer, Author of The Odyssey, demonstrates Odysseus's arrogance by asserting “If ever martial man inquire how you were put to shame & blinded, tell him Odysseus took your eye”(574). Odysseus being arrogant affects his journey because sometimes he cares too much for fame, in addition to Odysseus being arrogant he’s also very easily distractabe as
In the Epic, “The Odyssey,” written by Homer, is the story of a man named, Odysseus, and his experiences and his exploration told through many episodes within the story. Odysseus, as the leader of his men, he lacks qualities of humility, empathy, and focus, which overall prevents him from being qualified as a good leader. In not having humility, it causes Odysseus to often lose focus. During the episode, “The Cyclops,” Odysseus and his men escape the island in which Polyphemus, the cyclops, was keeping them held captive, rather than thinking of his men and immediately leaving, Odysseus takes the time to gloat and risks their safety. (Cyclops.
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.
“I drew on all my wits, and ran through tactics, reasoning as a man will for dear life until a trick came-and it pleased me well. The Cyclops’ rams were handsome, fat, with heavy fleeces, a dark violet. Three abreast, I tried them silently together, twining cords of willow from the ogres be then slung a man under each middle one to ride there safely, shielded left hand right.” From this quote, you can infer that Odysseus is quite cunning. This is after he stabbed the Cyclops in the eye.
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).
While we see many displays of character from Odysseus, the one that stands out to me in this book is his intelligence and thoughtfulness. Before Odysseus left Circe, she advised him about the sirens they would travel by. Instead of keeping this information to himself, he shares it with his crew so they can navigate past them in the best way possible and so that they know what they are up against. He says to them, “Friends… it’s wrong for only one or two to know the revelations that lovely Circe made to me alone. I’ll tell you all, so we can die with our eyes wide open now or escape our fate and certain death together”
Sometimes Odysseus could be arrogant and that took away from people thinking highly of him. His pride turned into arrogance when he defeated Troy. His arrogance created difficulty for him and his crew to get back home. The Odyssey observes, “Endure, my heart; you’ve suffered worse than this” (Homer 309). This is when Odysseus is Odysseus’ is struggling
Impulsive acts fueled by ego and recklessness are fatal flaws for humanity, causing many tragedies and unsuccessful endeavors. In The Odyssey, Odysseus’s impulsiveness leads to problematic situations on his journey, highlighting how detrimental rash choices can be in life. Odysseus displays impulsivity with egotistical and stubborn behaviors that harm him and his crew on their journey. When they are on the land of the Cyclops’ and go into the cave, his crewmates start, “… pressing round [him], pleading: ‘Why not take these cheeses, get them stowed… and make a run of it?’”
In 'The Odyssey' an epic poem written by Homer, a greek poet, it tells the tale of how the King of Ithaca, Odysseus, goes on an eventful adventure that costs him 20 years and all of his men. In this epic poem Odysseus demonstrates many strengths and weaknesses. Odysseus' strengths are put to use very well and show how smart he can be. However, his weaknesses put him through many hardships and show what he needs to work on. Odysseus has many strengths.
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 '
These points may come off as bad traits as a person, but as a leader they got the job done. On a journey that was extremely dangerous and risky, his cold-heartedness came in handy. The death of the people on his crew was inevitable, and Odysseus was able to keep a level head throughout the continuous losses. He was not afraid to sacrifice some of his men in order to reach his goal, and that allowed for him to make more daring plans. When Odysseus had tied all of his men under different sheep, he made sure to save the largest sheep for himself.
The Odyssey by Homer revolves around the character, Odysseus, and his ten-year struggle to return home after the Trojan War. As the epic’s idol, he displays the combination of a clever, handsome, and courageous man popular among the mortals as well as the gods. Essentially, he embodies the ideals of the ancient Greek culture, being adorned with many favored characteristics of the era. However, an intriguing aspect of Odysseus lies in his personality. As the protagonist, he does not manifest the entirety of a stereotypical hero because Odysseus has a fatal flaw—his arrogance.
In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus repeatedly shows that he is polytropos, for as Zeus says “There is no mortal half so wise”(3). Using his wits, Odysseus gets him and his men out of several sticky situations in the Odyssey, proving his leadership through his actions that save the lives of his crew member. On the other hand Odysseus’ streak of constantly outsmarting challenges, goes to his head, and unfortunately causes Odysseus to develop a hubris. His pride at times makes him arrogant, believing that he always knows best, which leads to the untimely demise of his crew. While Odysseus proves to be good leader by saving his crew from trouble with his wits, he is ultimately a bad leader because he refuses to listen to advice.
Odysseus’s traits help him achieve his goal of returning to his home. Odysseus and his men have a lot of willpower to continue traveling after some dangerous and life risking experiences with cannibals, lotus-eaters, cyclops and many more creatures that could of killed Odysseus and his whole crew. Odysseus's confidence and epic hero traits only increase as the story goes on, his confidence in his men increase as he starts noticing how strong and powerful his men can be, and also shows confidence in
Odysseus’s Traits Throughout the Odyssey, the main character Odysseus goes on an epic adventure with his focus being to get home to his wife Penelope, and his son Telemachus. He faces many obstacles dealing with characters such as the Cyclopes, Poseidon, Aeolus, Athena, Helios, Calypso, Zeus, Hermes, Scylla, and Circe. Odysseus’s men are some of the most valuable people to him throughout the Odyssey. He always puts himself in front of danger for them to protect them even though they all died from an unexpected turn of events soon before he returns home. When Odysseus comes home he greets his twenty year old son and straightens things out on his homeland, Ithaca.
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.