Failure In The Odysseus

Also, in book twelve: Scylla and Charybdis fate is demonstrated once again. Thirdly in the text, at this point Odysseus men disobeyed his order not to eat the plumed sheep’s, and Zeus help him realize that his men are not promising. Odysseus says on page 166, lines 372 to 373,”…so it was to ruin me the [Zeus] lulled me into a cruel sleep, while left to themselves my men planned this awful crime.” Zeus put Odysseus in a deep sleep so that Odysseus could see that his men are not promising; Odysseus men lack strength and they are very greedy. They only care for themselves! Furthermore, Zeus was punishing Odysseus and his men completely by destroying their boat. Odysseus says on page 167, lines 414 thru 416,”… Zeus thundered and struck the vessel with lighting. The whole ship reeled from the blow his bolt and was filled with the smell of sulphur…” This shows that Zeus is the reason why Odysseus couldn’t get home overall, because throughout the book we seen Zeus take charge more than once and that he is above all gods; therefore, Zeus is the reason Odysseus couldn’t get home.

In Homer's Odyssey, the hero is Odysseus, a man who left his home to fight the Trojan War and who comes back twenty years later to find his household overrun by suitors courting his wife Penelope. Throughout his journey, this rich and complex character battles life's temptations towards purification, since he must overcome his sins and flaws in order to obtain redemption from the gods, thus returning home to his throne on the island of Ithaca. However, this purification process and Odysseus' chances of returning home are compromised by his flaws and those of his crew, while enhanced by the many virtues and qualities he possesses. This voyage symbolizes man's road to salvation hoping to obtain the God forgiveness

During his visit to the underworld, Odysseus was informed of one of his most formidable enemies: desire. Teiresias plainly told him that “if [he could] contain [his] own desire, and contain [his] companions… [they] might all make [their] way back to Ithaca” (Homer 171). When they finally saw the island, Odysseus did feel the desire to stop at the island, but tried to heed the warnings he received. His men however did not feel the same way he did. His me pestered him until he felt they had “[forced him] to it” but in reality he was just making an excuse to give in to his desires” (Homer 193). After indulging in his (and his crew’s) desires, he thought they would soon proceed off the island, however this was not the case. While exploring the island, his food deprived crew came upon the cattle of Helios, and being starving, began to cook and eat them, even sacrificing a part to the gods. Odysseus was walking back to their camp on his own when “the pleasant savor of cooking meat came drifting around [him], and [he] cried out [his] grief aloud to the gods immortal (Homer 194). Once he smelled the meat he knew that the horrific actions that were predicted would come true. All these things happened because Odysseus’ crew did not follow the instruction of their leader and instead followed their desires, but an even worse fate comes true when they disobey the gods themselves.

Odysseus was an effective leader for many reasons. one example was when Odyssey use his mind to get his men’s out of hades. one example was when he help his mans get to safety. he was an Effective leaders and in this part of the story,Odysseus men were scared of of the Hades, and they did not think Odysseus would make it back,so he told them not to worry, i will make it back and he tells them to leave if he doesn’t make it back to the ship. another example was when Odysseus and his men were stock in cave with the one eye monster.

After the Trojan war all of the Greek warriors had made it home, except for Odysseus and his men. For them the journey home had many twists and turns that caused them to be away from home for more than 10 years after the war. Their delay was caused because of their inability to follow direct orders and resist the temptation of disobedience. It was for this same reason why none of them made it home, except for Odysseus; although he was the main culprit for heeding to temptation.

In the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is a noble hero even if he does make some mistakes. Like all humans, Odysseus makes mistakes constantly. There is not one person in the whole entire world that does not make any errors. However, even though people make blunders, many do not want to learn or grow on them. They let their slips stop them and they do not overcome them. Conversely, Odysseus perseveres through his struggles and does not have his mistakes stop him from achieving his goals. He learns and overcomes his missteps, which makes him successful. During his times of struggle, Odysseus becomes a noble hero by being brave, using his wisdom, and caring for his followers.

In the Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is a bad example of a leader. First, Odysseus is not disciplined enough to discipline his crew even if not punishing them will cause them to ignore his orders again. For example, in the Epic of Aeolus, Odysseus asks Aeolus to put all the storms into a bag, “...curious and suspicious the sailors open the bag, thinking it contains treasure… hurricanes blow the ships back to Aeolus.”[Page 673; Line 535] This quote shows his crew not adhering to Odysseus’s orders to not open the bag. After, this happens he does not punish them instead he moves on. This shows him not wanting to control his crew instead let them do what they want. Doing so causes them to be more mutinous and ignorant towards Odysseus in the future. Odysseus does not show good leadership qualities because he himself if not strong enough to get on to his crewmates and tell them what's what.

After reading about Odysseus in the first part of The Odyssey he may seem like a good leader. Nobody had thought that deeper in the epic Odysseus’ actions made him turn out to be a bad leader. Homer’s epic The Odyssey is about how Odysseus and his men are journeying back home to Ithaca from the Trojan War. He encountered many obstacles along his journey that cost him the lives of his men. Odysseus faced atrocious monsters, foxy nymphs, and gods out for revenge. The journey that he completed tested his skills not only as leader, but as a human too. Odysseus proves himself to be a bad leader due to him being deceitful, oppressive, and dramatic.

Although, Odysseus has positive traits that contribute to his status as a god hero, he often times display bad traits, but that does not mean he is a bad leader. Odysseus lacked to be a good leader when him and his men were on the way to Ithaca. He failed to tell them what was going on when they arrived and failed to tell them how long they were staying. His men relied on him to prepare them on what was going to happen during their journey. His men expected Odysseus to make decisions for his crew because he was their leader. Odysseus is arrogant and thinks he outsmarts everybody he knows. When Odysseus gets advice from Circe about Scylla, telling Odysseus not to fight with Scylla, Odysseus does not listen. Scylla was inmortal and could not

Well known actor Christopher Reeve mentioned, “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” Christopher explained that heroes can be just normal people that do extraordinary things. Odysseus did some superior deeds, but he wasn’t consistent with his deeds. He made plenty of poor decisions that cost not just himself but his crewmen. These are the reasons why Odysseus was a poor leader because of his arrogant and forgetful actions.

When Odysseus could, he made very brave decisions to get his men out of tough situations, but, what can be easily be over looked is that Odysseus got his men into most of the bad situations they came upon. For instance, an episode of this poor leadership is when Odysseus does not adequately warn his men about abstaining from eating the cattle on Helios's island. Yes, one could argue that Odysseus did in fact warn his men, but he really did not warn them as well as he could have. Odysseus didn't even tell the men that they would die if they ate the cattle, and so they were quickly tempted into Eurylochus's plan, "Listen to me. . . all ways of dying are hateful to us poor mortals. . . but to die of hunger, starve to death- that’s worst of all. . . let's drive

Throughout the course of the Odyssey, Odysseus and his men find themselves facing the most difficult of challenges. Odysseus will be classified as a bad leader or not based on how he acted during these challenges. Once inspecting Odysseus' decisions and thought process throughout his journeys, he is an overall bad leader. Some of his bad leadership moments are when Odysseus refuses to leave the cave of the cyclops, not communicating with his men about the contents of the bag from Aeolus, and not warning his men about the danger of eating Helios' cattle. All of these situations resulted in the death of many soldiers and could have been prevented by Odysseus.

One of the reasons why Odysseus is a good leader is because he saves his men on multiple occasions. A good example was when he saved his men from the Cyclops. In the Odyssey it states “Here’s liquor to wash down your scraps of men… He seized and drained the bowl, and it went down so fiery and smooth he called for more” (hom. 904). He used his wisdom to get the cyclops drunk so it would be easier to escape. He could have said something that could have made the Cyclops enraged wich could have made his men die. Instead, he used his wisdom to get out of his men and his situation.

I have recently read the Odyssey by Homer. It follows the ten year journey of Odysseus getting home to Ithaca from Troy. Odysseus is the king of Ithaca, and a war leader. Many would say that Odysseus is a good, even great leader, but i disagree. I think that Odysseus was good military general and a mighty warrior, but I think That the ability to lead men home was terrible. Odysseus was not lacking chances, he was just lacking common sense. He had three main faults that caused him to take ten years. These detrimental mistakes are: Not going north and continuing west, Being too proud to leave the island of cyclops quietly, being lustful with Circe and spending a year doing it. Now i will get in more detail to verify my points.

“Wise Hermes, my bow is in the ship, and my arms are weary from rowing with my men. I shall be unable to aim for Maivifolia’s feather. I see no resolution from this other than her vengeance,” I replied.