Examples Of Arrogance In The Odyssey

Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus has the tendency to be a narcissistic, selfish and inconsiderate leader towards his men. When Odysseus and his men finally escaped certain death from the giant cyclops, Polyphemus, the not-so-heroic king of Ithaca shouted a taunt above the pleas of his aghast crew, towards the blinded cyclops. He yelled to the enraged cyclops,”If any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shame you so--say Odysseus(Homer IV. 558-560).” With this reproachful act of arrogance, Polyphemus, son of the wrathful Poseidon, cried out to his father, praying that Odysseus' travels be cursed and that he would return home a “broken man” and with “all shipmates lost(IV. 593).” This event shows how he is too unworthy

When people think of a hero, they think of a tall, handsome, loyal, brave, and a type of man that could do no wrong. The “hero” that is portrayed in the Odyssey is a man named Odysseus. This “hero” may be tall and handsome, but he is often arrogant, disrespectful, conceited, and rude. Odysseus consists of positive and negative characteristics that is shown in the text by Homer. These characteristics impact the characters day to day, or in the book’s case, the quests. In the Odyssey, Homer values the characteristics hospitality and cunning, but he objects bad leadership.

In the Odyssey, Odysseus exemplified strong leadership and outstanding noble qualities. Like Achilles, Odysseus carried some flaws at the beginning of the story. A strong case can be made that his biggest flaw as a character was pride as it caused him unnecessary risks that only delayed his journey and possibly endangered his men. This is evidently shown when Odysseus and his crew wander around in Polyphemos ' cave. After the confrontation with the Polyphemos, Odysseus and his men escaped by stabbing Polyphemos’ in the eye while he was asleep. Once Odysseus and his men were safe on board on their ship, Odysseus took it upon himself to reveal his true identity and proceeded to taunt Polyphemos. At

In the Odyssey, Odysseus is quite the legend known to people, whether you are high up in the sky with Zeus, or deep in the ocean with Poseidon, everyone knows Odysseus. In the epic poem, the Odyssey told by the one and only Homer, the brave, the godlike human, Odysseus is finding his way home after the big battle victory against the Trojans. This story is about his travels home and how he got caught up in other business. Let’s just say he stabbed Poseidon’s son, had his crew turned into pigs, faced a six-headed monster and whirlpool, and that is to say the least. He may as well be on America’s most wanted list with all the trouble he was causing. Even though Odysseus is a troublemaker, he has multiple great characteristics of a leader. Odysseus, when it comes to his crew and family, is confident, compassionate, wise, and always knows a way to get out of any problem.

Odysseus tends to use strategy over strength to be a hero when it comes to challenges. Instead of beginning with fighting the Cyclops, he takes his time and sets up a plan. Everytime he enters a new island, he does not start telling everyone that he is Odysseus, king of Ithaca. Instead, he charms the people he meets and uses his wise words that cause them to help and pity him. Odysseus represents what being a hero is actually all about. Throughout the novel The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus continuously shows his personality of being an admirable hero to everyone by using strategy instead of strength.

In The Odyssey written by Homer the main protagonist, Odysseus, learns many things about himself on his journey back home and reveals the truth that mankind can be easily manipulated by someone who seems more powerful and or intimidating. Odysseus has a troubling time getting back home to his wife and kingdom when the god of the sea, Poseidon, does almost everything in his power to stop him from doing so. Along Odysseus’s journey he has to face many obstacles and he learns to display three main traits of bravery, wittiness and perseverance which he uses to get home safely and avoid the dangers of threatening people and or things that get in the way. Odysseus proves himself to be full of bravery, which he exhibits during a fight with a cyclops:

There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. For a person to be successful, they must fully understand the difference. In Greek mythology, the gods are looked to for advice when people are on journeys or in trouble. In The Odyssey, Homer uses eternal conflicts to portray Odysseus as an intelligent, wise, selfless, and arrogant character. First, Odysseus must be smart and clever to overcome various conflicts during his journey home to Ithaca.

Throughout the epic poem The Odyssey, Odysseus has been characterized as an epic hero. A characteristic of odysseus that makes him an epic hero is that he has hubris. An example of him having hubris is when after the men escape and blind the cyclops polyphemus odysseus states “If ever a mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye Laertes son whose home's on ithaca”(409-412). Odysseus is bragging about how he blinded polyphemus and wanted him to tell anyone who asked about his eye that it was he who did it. The theme hospitality plays a big role throughout the epic poem. The reason that Odysseus had to blind the cyclops is that he killed some of the crew

“The Intelligence, but Foolish Overconfidence, of Odysseus” Odysseus, the heroic protagonist in Homer’s epic The Odyssey, struggles for 10 years to get back to his homeland of Ithaca and to his faithful wife, Penelope. While Odysseus passes through foreign lands, he earns the respect of some gods and the wrath of others, loses crew members and friends, faces many difficult decisions and literally journeys to hell and back. However, the particular challenge that Odysseus faces with a Cyclops, Polyphemus, illustrates one of his best qualities and quickly contrasts it with one of his worst qualities; his superior intelligence with his overconfidence and demanding need for glory. Odysseus comes into contact with Polyphemus after his crew unknowingly

On the contrary Homer’s writing in the Odyssey displays Odysseus as a loyal and wise character through the use of internal and external conflicts. Odysseus knows it is “better to mourn six men that lose them all” (705-706) during a rigorous journey where he needs them. Despite being determined Odysseus was also loyal. Odysseus shows how much he cares about his men through his dialogue. This is even after he knows that he will be the only survivor of the, and he still does not want to see any of his men die. Sitting at the foot of death Odysseus knows if he does not keep “thinking how to win the game” (198) he and his men will not make it home to ithaca. Since Odysseus knows he wants to make it home he is going to have to outsmart the cyclops.

In Epic Poem “The Odyssey” Odysseus is the protagonist. Odysseus’ over-the-top ego caused him to lose his men and his son’s childhood, but taught him a valuable lesson about humility. The Odyssey, written by Homer, tells the story of Odysseus and how he faced misfortune in his attempts to return home after the Trojan War. Odysseus is not famous for his great strength or bravery, but for his ability to deceive and trick. To his friends, he was a brilliant strategist. To his enemies, he was a deceiver and a manipulator of the worst kind.

The epic poem The Odyssey, written by Homer, centers around the main protagonist Odysseus and his long journey back home. Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, returns home after defeating the Trojans in a ten year war. On his way back, he angers Poseidon, god of the sea, by blinding his son, Polyphemus the Cyclops. Due to Odysseus’ actions, Poseidon refuses to let Odysseus reach home, and Odysseus and his crew are forced to go through a series of obstacles throughout the epic. Through this adversity, Odysseus must show his heroic attributions in order to survive. Homer portrays Odysseus as a hero by giving him characteristics such as: craftiness, loyalty, and bravery.

Odysseus holds many characteristics of an epic hero. These appear throughout The Odyssey, and become a basis for why he is an epic hero. For example, Odysseus has hubris, the trait of excessive pride in oneself. During Odysseus’s talk with Alcinous, it is revealed that he believes that he is very famous, and that his “‘fame has gone abroad to the sky’s rim’” (Homer 2). With what he feels is a strong argument, Odysseus tries to convince Alcinous to give him supplies, ships and men, to help him get back to his homeland, Ithaca. Odysseus feels entitled to these, because of how he believes others esteem (4) him. Odysseus extols (2) himself, and has a clear case of hubris, which goes along with all of his other “epic hero” traits. Along with having hubris, Odysseus also has a deep love for his homeland, a characteristic of other epic heroes. When describing who he is to Alcinous, Odysseus mentions that his “‘home is on the peaked sea-mark of Ithaca...being most lofty in that coastal sea’” (Homer 4-8). How “The Raider of Cities” describes Ithaca to Alcinous, shows how proud he is of his homeland, and

Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey is centered around the journey of Odysseus, king of Ithaca. Odysseus is one to always think ahead, as displayed by the gods’ favoritism of him. He knows when he has no chance to win, and thinks of a way around brute fighting. Odysseus knows that he needs to size up the threat that the suitors pose before acting, and he is smart enough to resist fighting them until he has a solid plan laid out. The character of Odysseus in Homer’s The Odyssey forever shapes what it means to be a hero by valuing brains over brawn.

What sets Odysseus apart from other epic heroes is his most notable trait: his cunning mind: “… Whereas Achilles achieves his epic centrality as a warrior, Odysseus achieves his own kind of epic centrality in an alternative way - as a master of crafty stratagems and cunning intelligence” (Nagy, §47). Revealed in the first sentence of Book One, The Odyssey is a tale of “…the man of twists and turns” (Homer, 77), referring not only to the journey Odysseus embarks on in his quest to return to Ithaca, but also his ability to scheme and deceive. While still being a capable warrior, unlike Achilles Odysseus relies far more on brains than brawn. When Odysseus and his men come to the island of the Cyclops on their way back to Ithaca, Odysseus cleverly resorts to tricking the savage Polyphemus, son of Poseidon, knowing that he cannot beat him in a battle of