Examples Of Arrogance In The Odyssey

In the comedy epic, The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is not a good leader because his arrogance causes his crew members to pass away and the lack of trust from his crew makes him unable to control them. Odysseus’s arrogance leads to the death of his crew. For example, while Odysseus and his crew are approaching Scylla, Odysseus knows that six of the crew members paddling will die. However, he says, “I told them nothing, as they could do nothing”(ln 620-621). Odysseus is implying that, as they approach Scylla, she will devour six crew members alive. Nevertheless, he refuses to tell them because he thinks they cannot do anything to prevent their deaths. A much better method to approach this situation would be having Odysseus tell the sailors and spending time to think of a plan to avoid losing six crew …show more content…
He even holds out swords to boost his own self-confidence while Scylla devours six of his crewmates. His arrogance taints his judgment, where if he survives, he is quick to resort to the easiest plan. For materials, Odysseus’s crew raids the Cyclop’s cave. Although the crew wishes to escape with the items, Odysseus says, “Ah, how sound that was! Yet I refused, I wished to see the cave man, what he had to offer”(ln 154-155). The crew had the chance to continue their journey without any crew members dying. Despite that, Odysseus decides to not take his crew’s advice and wants to stay to negotiate with the Cyclops, Polyphemus, thinking he can get materials from him. There is no way Odysseus and his crew can fight him on normal terms, which leads to the Polyphemus eating six crew members. Even as Odysseus and the remaining of his crew leave the island, he still recklessly brags against Polyphemus, in which Polyphemus throws a boulder luckily missing