Examples Of Loyalty In The Odyssey

Odysseus’s desire is shown by his use of first-person narrating, claiming, “There I sacked the city,/killed the men, but as for the wives and plunder,/that rich haul we dragged away from the place—/we shared it round so no one, not on my account,/would go deprived of his fair share of spoils” (9. 45-49). Odysseus holds him and his men accountable for the sharing of the sacking, killing, and presumably raping of the loot and Cicones. Right after this raid and assault, Odysseus tells his men to leave, but they resist, and pay the price of their lives for their mistake: “Then I urged them to cut and run, set sail,/but would they listen? Not those mutinous fools;/there was too much wine to swill,/too many sheep to slaughter…the Cicones broke our lines and beat us down at last./Out of each ship, six men-at-arms were killed” (9. 50-52, 68-69). Odysseus understands what will become of him and his crewmembers if they stay too long and relish too much in what wasn’t

THE LOYALTY IN THE ODYSSEY The Odyssey is an epic poem that shows the importance of loyalty. Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, goes to war to protect his kingdom, immediately after his son Telemachus is born. When he is off at war, he experiences various obstacles that put his life at risk while still proving his loyalty to his family. Throughout the course of the poem, significant examples of the importance of loyalty in Ancient Greece are shown through Penelope, Telemachus, and along with Odysseus.

In this quote, Odysseus prepares only himself to meet Scylla without telling any of his crew. Because the crew is unsuspecting, Scylla ends up eating six of his men to their own surprise. Odysseus is shown being self centered in this quote, because he decides that his crew should not know about the danger they are about to face. Instead of telling his crew about Scylla, Odysseus decides to keep it to himself, while his crew gets eaten, Odysseus leaves the situation without any injury showing just how self-centered Odysseus actions can be. In addition, this is shown in another part of the book, when Odysseus escapes the Laestrygonians. In this quote, Odysseus and his crew are visiting the Laestrygonians, the man eating cannibals, on their island. While the Laestrygonians attack the eleven ships owned by Odysseus’ crew

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.

Loyalty is showing constant support to someone. The theme of the Odyssey is loyalty. The Odyssey is a story about a king who leaves for war at Troy and goes through many obstacles to get back to his kingdom. He leaves behind his son and wife leaving them alone to run the island. The suitors on the island are protesting and want his wife's hand. Even though Odysseus had a struggle to get back home he made it.

First of all, Odysseus was very selfish during their journey back to Ithaca. For example,“We lit a fire, burnt an offering, and we took some cheese to eat; then sat in silence around the embers, waiting”(Homer 219-222). If Odysseus took the cheese and left, his men would not have had to dealt with Polyphemus. He put himself before his men because he wanted a gift from the cave owner. Odysseus was also selfish when he sailed near the lands of Sirens.“Steer wide; keep well to seaward; plug your oarsmen’s ears with beeswax kneaded soft”(Homer 669-671). Although Circe told Odysseus to steer clear of the area, Odysseus wanted to be known as the man who survived a Siren’s song. He put his own men in danger just because he wanted to become famous. Odysseus was also very arrogant to think that he could get past the Sirens.

Odysseus is also trying to exact his revenge for Polyphemus eating two of his men. It is easy to tell at this point that Odysseus deeply cares for his crew and mourns the loss of their eating, while trying his best to get his crew and himself away from the immediate danger of Polyphemus consuming them. In addition, when Odysseus landed on Circe’s island, “recalling the fierce … choice fell on the firm Eurylochus”(197). At this point, Odysseus has realized that he made some boo-boos in the past. But he still feels it is the best thing for the group, because maybe since Odysseus is Greek and so used to people being very gracious hosts/hostesses that he is naive in thinking otherwise. He always expects them to be good hosts that's what his son and wife are doing right now back in Ithaca. So, Odysseus’ idea that he is helping the crew and other men is

Odysseus only cares about himself and his personal benefits, like a villain. “With great power comes great responsibility” this quote is used by many heros and odysseus obviously shows no responsibilities, so his power is simply bad, or evil . When “trapped” on Calypso’s island he shows no attempt to escape and instead finds pleasure in being their. After 7 years on this island he finally decides to go home to has son which he has never seen and his dog who is nearly dead due to old age (not to mention he barely does anything with his dog and the first thing he says to his son is basically to ask him to risk his life for Odysseus's house). “ Don't waste your time on revenge. Those who hurt you will eventually get their own karma”. This quote shows that good people and heros should not seek revenge and should show mercy to their enemies however Odysseus obviously shows no interest in mercy… After killing many people and not letting a single person out which many heroes would have especially if the people did not directly mistreat him and believed he was dead which would be a logical thought he finally revealed himself to his wife. At first his wife did not recognize him which filled him with rage even though he should be happy that his loyal wife wants to make

In Homer’s The Odyssey, there is an ill-fated man named Odysseus who is trapped on an is his fretful, teenage son, Telemachus, who rules his palace on the Greek island of Ithaca, and eventually goes on a quest to Pylos to find his missing father. Odysseus eventually escapes his island to go to another island, Phaeacia, where he tells his entire story after leaving his home, while Telemachus learns his dad will be soon coming home. Odysseus, with the help of the Phaeacians, returns to Ithaca where, with his son, kills all of the suitors of his wife, Penelope. One of the main themes of this story is loyalty, which means a strong feeling of support or allegiance to someone else. Someone who is loyal is extremely valuable, back in Ancient Greece and in the modern era. Despite the infidelities and disloyalties, many characters will continue to br faithful and honest to Odysseus, revealing that being loyal always has its rewards.

This shows that Odysseus thought he was very smart and he knew what he was doing so he didn’t tell his men so which result him to go backward and all of the sailing time was wasted. And if Odysseus told his men that he got bag of gift and don’t open then there wouldn’t be this much of trouble. Sometimes you have to trust the people around otherwise you will fail in that situation and maybe even in life. If we don’t trust others then how others going to trust us. Another example from the story is when they are at the island of the Lotus eaters. There Odysseus sends three of his men to see if they find something on the island that can be valuable. And they wouldn’t want to leave so he told the rest of his men that if you “taste the lotus” then you will “lose hope for going home” (Homer 8). This shows that Odysseus knew that the three men wanted to stay but he forced them to leave because he knew or thought that since he wanted to go home then

Odysseus portrays his selfishness right as the book begins and this shows how truly incompetent of an individual he is. One form of selfishness Odysseys shows is adultery. He is unfaithful to Penelope many times throughout the book. He reveals this trait specifically when

It is believed that William Shakespeare once said, “Be loyal to yourself, and then just as surely as night follows the day, the loyalty of others will follow.” In Homer’s epic, The Odyssey, he illustrates that loyalty is needed in order for society to flourish. Odysseus has been away from his kingdom, Ithaca, for more than 10 years. In society, loyalty is an important tribute to keep it strong and stable. Odysseus’s wife, Penelope must stay loyal to her husband to keep the society from falling apart.

Another trait that Odysseus demonstrates repeatedly throughout the story is his loyalty. In various situations he never gives up on his crew, even when he has reason to. During an episode in the epic, Odysseus travels to the underworld to receive a prophecy. He meets his great friend Elpenor, who has died earlier in Circe’s hall. Because he is unburied and unmourned he asks Odysseus to build a cairn in his honor. Odysseus replies, “Unhappy spirit, / I promise you the barrow and the burial.” (Homer, lines 609-610). Although Odysseus is preoccupied with finding Tiresias, he shows loyalty to his crew mate by spending time with his spirit, and carrying out the spirit’s request. It could have been easy for Odysseus to ignore the spirit of Elpenor, but Odysseus shows a real emotional reply to this meeting. Not only does he show loyalty to his crew but his homeland as well. Although he could have given up during the ten year span Odysseus wandered from home, he persisted even though giving up would have been easier. At one point Odysseus is detained by the enchantress, Circe, but remains determined to reach home:

But this also shows how selfish he is. For example, he does not care how his crew feels about him extending their trip every time he gets. When he gives them news that their journey will continue their hearts break and “they [sit] down right where they [are] and [weep]” (10: 589-590). If Odysseus really cared about his men, he would be taking all measures to get them home as soon as he could. But that is not the case. We can also see his selfishness when we think about Penelope and Odysseus loved ones. They must be mourning and awaiting his arrival and if he cared for them, he would be rushing home to them, not taking extra trips to places he doesn’t need to go and staying places for longer than he needs

When Odysseus arrives at the island of the Cyclops, his first mistake occurs when he decides that he and men should stay in the cave and meet Polyphemus, even when his men advised him to take the goods and leave (IX.215-217). At this instance, Odysseus’s decision is influenced by his ego. He sees all the goods in the cave and the reason he stays is because he hopes that the Cyclops would give him a gift of hospitality. This is interesting because Odysseus does not know whether the Cyclops is civilized or a brute; however, Odysseus goes forward with his plan because he believes the Cyclops will listen to him since the gods are on his side. In this instance, Odysseus is calling himself powerful because he has the support of the gods especially Zeus, when he threatens the Cyclops that “Zeus avenges strangers and suppliants” (IX. 262). If his ego was not already high, Odysseus boosts it even more when he believes that he has outsmarted the Cyclops by not falling into the trap of telling the location of his ships (IX.273-277). At this point, Odysseus