Flaws In The Odyssey

In the book, The Odyssey, a man named Odysseus is lost at sea. He cannot find his way home for 10 years. He is faced with multiple challenges. Challenges that bring out Odysseus’ weaknesses by his emotions emotions of anger, sadness and loss. Weaknesses can cause people to move backwards in their life, like they did in Odysseus’. The crew and Odysseus are angry about not being able to go home, and will do whatever it takes to get there. Odysseus and the crew gets into a tough situation and ends up stabbing a cyclops in the eye and blinds him to escape. When they get a safe distance from the island, Odysseus, filled with anger and pride yells, “Cyclops- if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so- say Odysseus, raider of cities” (227). This is his weakness of self centeredness and pride by wanting to take credit for all of his accomplishments. He wants to be known. His pride causes him to be blown off course by Polyphemus's angry father, Poseidon. A person's pride can be a good things but also a bad one. Pride causes people to move backwards in life. Pride can be a weakness that can keep one from moving forward and make life …show more content…
Odysseus was given a bag of wind on one of the stops on his journey home. He told the crew to not open it. The crew got jealous. They were so close to home that they could see Ithaca. They were happy and not fearing about getting home. They thought treasures would be in the bag. The crew was greedy and disobeyed their captains commands. “They loosed the sack and all the winds burst out and all the sudden squall struck and swept us back to sea, wailing, in tears, far from our native land” (232). Because of their weakness, the crew would end up dying about 3 years later. Greed can cause people to make decisions that they know are wrong but can’t resist. It is a weakness that brings out the worst in a person because they are not content with what they