How Is Odysseus A Bad Leader

Improved Essays
In the epic, The Odyssey written by Homer, the main character Odysseus shows many characteristics of a bad leader. Bad leaders let their arrogance get in the way of protecting their followers. After Odysseus and his crew escape the Cyclops’ cave, he is filled with pride , and becomes very arrogant. Because of this he idiotically shouts “‘Cyclops, if any one asks you who it was that put your eye out and spoiled your beauty, say it was the valiant warrior Odysseus, son of Laertes, who lives in Ithaca’” (Book 9 Homer). After saying this the Cyclops calls upon his father, Poseidon, and asks for revenge against Odysseus. Poseidon curses them, an causes harsh winds and rough seas that prevent from Odysseus and his crew from returning home.

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    Odysseus was an effective leader for many reasons. First of all, Odysseus was an effective leader because he was intelligent. An example of this is in the Cyclops cave. He figured a way out of the cave and that was to give the Cyclops a lot of wine and made him fall asleep so they could escape. Another way Odysseus was an effective leader because he was courageous.…

    • 171 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Odysseus Leadership Essay

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages

    John Maxwell once said, “Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.” Odysseus, a hero in the epic The Odyssey, becomes an example of this in his attempt to return to his home. While sailing, he decided to sail by a large creature and lose only a few men, compared to sailing by a whirlpool and possibly losing everyone and his ship. Odysseus also gets his crew to blind a large one-eyed monster and hide under his animals to free him and his crew. Odysseus was a strong leader and did everything he could to help his crew because of his decisions to sacrifice some men rather than possibly lose them all and to escape from a monster by hiding under his livestock.…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Odysseus tricks the cyclops and escapes. Out of anger, the cyclops…

    • 346 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Odysseus Hero Analysis

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited

    Odysseus’s ruthless actions and tendency to do whatever he needs to do in order to succeed causes him to be unworthy of his heroic title. In order to show how ruthless and willing Odysseus is, Homer writes how the supposed hero either kills his enemy, or he blinds them and that undeniable truth about his ruthlessness in Homer’s words reads, “rammed it/ deep in his crater eye, and leaned on it/ turning it as a shipwright turns a drill/ in planking, having men below the swing/ the two-handled strap that spins it in the groove. / So with our brand we bored that great eye socket/ while blood ran out around the red-hot bar. / Eyelid and lash were seared; the pierced ball/ hissed broiling, and the roots pooped/…While he had arrows/ he aimed and shot, and every show brought down/one of his huddling enemies.” (Homer 992, 1042)…

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Flaws In The Odyssey

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages

    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.…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Odysseus is seen as a hero and leader by all his comrades who returned from the Trojan War. According to his fellow commanders, like Menelaus, he has strength, courage and restraint. In Ithaca, preceding the war, Odysseus was viewed as a kind merciful king, adored by his people. Though when voyaging home, Odysseus displays his stubbornness in making decisions, overcome by the need to gain glory and prestige above all else.…

    • 1296 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Odysseus’s arrogance doesn’t show up all the time in The Odyssey, but his arrogance is extremely strong when it does occur. His arrogance is most present during book 9 against the Kyklops. When Odysseus has the Kyklops done with he says to him “Kyklops, if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes son, whose home is on Ithica,” (9.549-542). Odysseus arrogance completely takes over him in this scene, where instead of escaping he instead taunts the Kyklops. This even happens despite the fact that Odysseus’s own men are yelling things like “He’ll smash our timbers and our heads together.…

    • 1079 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.…

    • 644 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Which proves to us that this action of his is greedy. Poseidon being the father of cyclops, gives Odysseus and his crew a rough time out at sea as a consequence. In addition to that, they suffer other consequences while at sea because…

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Essay During Odysseus journey back to Ithaca, he encounters many different challenges along the way. Odysseus approach to these numerous conflicts tells a lot about his character. Odysseus is a confident, skillful, intelligent and an arrogant man when he faces some difficult situations. When he visits the Cyclops, to learn if he was friendly or hostile, Odysseus showed confidence when the Cyclops ask who had intruded in his cave.…

    • 1429 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Maryam Poonawalla Sadia Warraich Essay The Odyssey Every hero is composed of exclusive characteristics that defines them in a unique way. In today’s society heroes are often described by their significant character traits such as; courage,loyalty and great strength. In the epic poem, The Odyssey the main character Odysseus fulfills all these characteristics by defeating his enemies with the help of his crew.…

    • 804 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One would think that good leaders would not try to demoralize their crew, even if the circumstances are not going in their favor. Likewise, Odysseus is showing the lack of his leadership by not making the logical decision by not listening to the song of the Seirenes. He again is lacking in Homer’s expectation of Arete by not showing excellence or being a good leader, which should be the goal in one’s life. On the outside, Odysseus is perceived as a good leader and person, but once one starts peeling the layers back of his personality his true colors start to show. He also puts an unnecessary burden on the shoulders of his men and himself that would have been avoided if not for Odysseus’s narcissistic morals.…

    • 1948 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Odysseus’ bravery and strength helped him overcome his arrogance in order to overcome the obstacles that prevent him from returning home. Odysseus shows arrogance as one of his characteristics in the story, The Odyssey by Homer. One example of this is when in part 1 of the text, Odysseus and his crew encounters a Cyclops on…

    • 1104 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The gods all know Odysseus is impulsive and arrogant, so they allow Poseidon to test him, and becomes Odysseus’s biggest enemy because of that. Odysseus’s narcissism and egotism makes Odysseus stumble upon many obstacles and fail before he succeeds in his return to Ithaca, and as he tells the story of his wanderings, he finally realizes…

    • 1566 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Poseidon punishes Odysseus by keeping him away from his homeland, Ithaca. “For his sake Poseidon, shaker of the earth, although he does not kill Odysseus, yet drives him back from the land of his fathers,” (I: 74-75). After the Trojan War ended, all Odysseus wanted was to return home to his family with his companions. However, the path he took led him to the land of the Cyclops, and he ended up having to kill Poseidon’s son to continue on his journey home. From Odysseus’ perspective, the cyclops was just another obstacle that he had to overcome to get home; Odysseus believed that he was destined to arrive at Ithaca to be reunited with his family and would overcome whatever he needed to get there.…

    • 1767 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays