Pride and Loyalty: An Analysis of Strengths and Weaknesses in The Odyssey
Many great characters throughout history exhibit the same tragic flaw-- hubris. From Oedipus to Faustus, many heroes fall victim to their excessive pride, which manifests itself in a number of different ways, including a lack of trust and a desire for power. Pride is especially prominent in Homer’s Odysseus, as it prevents him from returning home for twenty years in The Odyssey. Odysseus’s pride, while not a tragic flaw, is perhaps his most easily identifiable trait, but he does exhibit a number of other qualities that are crucial to his story. His strongest qualities are his intelligence, which helps him out of many potentially fatal situations, and his loyalty, which …show more content…
Although he is absent for years, and "no one of the people he was lord over remembers godlike Odysseus, and he was kind, like a father" (5.11-11), he continues on without failure. During his seven years of living with Kalypso, Odysseus never stops wishing for a way home: “his eyes were never wiped dry of tears, and the sweet lifetime was draining out of him, as he wept for a way home” (5.151-153). When given the option of living with the loving goddess Kalypso for all eternity, Odysseus’s loyalty to his wife and home prevail. He is presented with many opportunities to give up on his homecoming and live a happy life, all of which may have been less difficult and painful than continuing onwards and eventually losing all his men. However, he does not choose the easiest path, nor does he stay with Kalypso who is infinitely more beautiful and gracious than Penelope, but instead he says that “what I want and all my days I pine for is to go back to my house and see my day of homecoming. And if some god batters me far out on the wine-blue water, I will endure it, keeping a stubborn spirit inside me, for already I have suffered much and done much hard work on the waves and in the fighting. So let this adventure follow” (5.219-220). No matter what hardships he goes through or will face, Odysseus does not fail in his determination to …show more content…
Excessive pride is his main flaw, as it puts him into many dangerous situations and even results in the deaths of his entire crew. However, Odysseus’s intelligence saves him and his crew members from the dangerous situations they encounter, and his loyalty is his main motivation to continue on his journey home. These three major qualities all work together to both complicate and aid his homecoming, and often times a complication that arrives out of one quality is resolved with another, or vice versa. His twenty year journey is a result of these traits all working at times together and separately, until he finally reaches his wife and home of
Many great characters throughout history exhibit the same tragic flaw-- hubris. From Oedipus to Faustus, many heroes fall victim to their excessive pride, which manifests itself in a number of different ways, including a lack of trust and a desire for power. Pride is especially prominent in Homer’s Odysseus, as it prevents him from returning home for twenty years in The Odyssey. Odysseus’s pride, while not a tragic flaw, is perhaps his most easily identifiable trait, but he does exhibit a number of other qualities that are crucial to his story. His strongest qualities are his intelligence, which helps him out of many potentially fatal situations, and his loyalty, which …show more content…
Although he is absent for years, and "no one of the people he was lord over remembers godlike Odysseus, and he was kind, like a father" (5.11-11), he continues on without failure. During his seven years of living with Kalypso, Odysseus never stops wishing for a way home: “his eyes were never wiped dry of tears, and the sweet lifetime was draining out of him, as he wept for a way home” (5.151-153). When given the option of living with the loving goddess Kalypso for all eternity, Odysseus’s loyalty to his wife and home prevail. He is presented with many opportunities to give up on his homecoming and live a happy life, all of which may have been less difficult and painful than continuing onwards and eventually losing all his men. However, he does not choose the easiest path, nor does he stay with Kalypso who is infinitely more beautiful and gracious than Penelope, but instead he says that “what I want and all my days I pine for is to go back to my house and see my day of homecoming. And if some god batters me far out on the wine-blue water, I will endure it, keeping a stubborn spirit inside me, for already I have suffered much and done much hard work on the waves and in the fighting. So let this adventure follow” (5.219-220). No matter what hardships he goes through or will face, Odysseus does not fail in his determination to …show more content…
Excessive pride is his main flaw, as it puts him into many dangerous situations and even results in the deaths of his entire crew. However, Odysseus’s intelligence saves him and his crew members from the dangerous situations they encounter, and his loyalty is his main motivation to continue on his journey home. These three major qualities all work together to both complicate and aid his homecoming, and often times a complication that arrives out of one quality is resolved with another, or vice versa. His twenty year journey is a result of these traits all working at times together and separately, until he finally reaches his wife and home of