Odysseus Lessons

Odysseus' love for his crewmen is apparent; when his men are turned into swine, Odysseus courageously risks his life to rescue his men from Circe.  Delaying the return by opening the bag of winds, the crew causes Odysseus frustration as he debates whether to "jump overboard and drown or stay among the living and quietly endure" (Homer 10.51-53).  However, he tolerates his crew's "senseless stupidity", and they continue to achieve their common goal, returning to Ithaca. In return, the men respect and trust their "master".  As a leader, Odysseus is not overbearing, but sees himself equal to his men.  Similarly, Ulysses has a close fellowship with his crew.  With his confidant speech, he arouses excitement in his men.  "My mariners, Souls that have toiled and wrought, and thought with me" (Tennyson, Lines 45-46) indicates the crewmen and Ulysses have faced many adventures together.  Ulysses feels most alive when he is "exploring the world" with his crew.  He says, "Come, my friends,...the gulfs will wash us down; and see the great Achilles, whom we knew" (Tennyson, Lines 56, 63-64).  The consistent "we" and "us" shows that the journey will be a team activity in which all will contribute and gain.  The stories of Odysseus and Ulysses show the gratification of a close fellowship in which all work as team.

Odysseus makes some substantial mistakes, thus leading to the failure to his men. Odysseus shows extremely inadequate leadership qualities throughout the story. When Odysseus is on the journey to Ithaka, he neglects to let his crew know how long they will be staying on each island. He also neglects to let them know of the journey that lies ahead. This is very poor leadership in the eyes of his crew members. The crew relies on their leader to be honest with them when it comes to situations such as these. They expect Odysseus to make decisions for the well being of the crew. When Odysseus receives advice, even if it is helpful he tends to ignore it. He thinks he is the most intelligent human being, even more so than the gods. A prime example of this is when Odysseus receives advice from Kirke about Scylla. Kirke tells Odysseus not to fight Scylla, yet he chooses to anyway. Another example of Odysseus’s ignorance toward people is when Eurylochus tells him not to go onto Kirke’s island because he knows the crew would be turned into swine. Odysseus again chooses to ignore the intelligent advice given by the gods, and finds out that hard way that Eurylochus was correct. After all that Odysseus has done to the crew, it is true to

Athena is helping Odysseus in every way she can. She even eases Penelope's distress about the suitors, and aids Telemachus in his journey to find his father. She is trying very hard to reunite the family safely. Poseidon, however, is acting as the antagonist in this situation. He has a grievance with Odysseus because he injured the Cyclops, who called upon Poseidon to curse his homeward journey. Curse him he did. Poseidon conjures up terrible storms and rough sees to throw Odysseus off track and get him further away from his destination, even going so far as to toss him onto Kalypso's island for seven

Spider-Man is your average modern day hero, he is a citizen who was bitten by an unusual and peculiar spider which gave him powers and abilities such as being able to shoot webs out of his hands and climb walls without the need of any equipment. And Odysseus is a Greek hero who was strong, heavily favored by the gods, and could take down any and all challenges he´d ever have to face. And if you ever compared the two you would see that both characters are extremely different. Why you would see this is because we know that Spider-Man is a modern day hero, but can we consider Odysseus as one. My answer to this would be NO. Society today would not consider Odysseus as a modern day hero because of many reasons. One would be that he doesn´t show

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.

All Poseidon along with Polyphemus wishes is revenge. The number one rule is to never anger a god. Thankfully for Odysseus the other gods are on his side. Odysseus is human, so he too was battling pride. This pride Odysseus is battling is when you have the urge to be in people's faces and be superior. Odysseus and his men knew they were going to be in Siren territory. His men put wax in their ear. Odysseus on the other hand was tied up with no wax in his ear so he could hear the sirens. He wanted to be the only person that has heard them and not died. “ The San Andreas is considered “the ‘master’ fault of an intricate fault network,” the Geological Survey said”(Yan and Berlinger 3). Odysseus is seen as an amazing fighter. People have very high expectations. You could call him a master just like the San Andreas which is considered the “master fault”. Although Odysseus is a master of many strengths, his pride gets the best of him. No matter how strong and powerful you are, pride will always be there. You may think this wouldn’t be a problem for him, but it is. Odysseus is still human and has weaknesses as well. Just like us Odysseus struggles with

Odysseus proves his selfishness by disregarding any advice given to him by others and doing what he thinks will have the best outcome for himself. His egocentric attitude continues to be portrayed as he puts his health and well-being before his men. Aeolus, ruler of the winds, presents Odysseus with a bag of wind to guide him and his crew home, but instead of putting his pride aside and letting his men know what it is, he lets their imagination take over to where they assume it is filled with treasure that he is selfishly taking for himself. Although he was not actually taking treasure, it is selfish of him to keep this information from his men knowing they will open it. He puts all the blame on them when he says, ‘My coward comrades did me in’ (10.71). Odysseus could have easily prevented this, but he was too stubborn. Along their way home, the crew docks on Helios’ island where they are advised not to eat the cattle, but while Odysseus was away attempting to call on the gods, they sacrificed the best cows. A good leader would have explained to them consequences, but he was only worried about his own personal agenda. Because of this, Zeus punishes them when he says, ‘As for those sinners, I’ll soon strike their ship/with blazing lightning’ (12.394-395). These instances cause his

Odysseus arrogantly does not think of the safety of his men and does not listen to them, only caring to annoy the Cyclops and to take the credit for blinding him. This shows his pride and his only care, to expand his legacy. By doing so, Poseidon curses his journey and makes it tougher for him to return

In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus endures an arduous voyage filled with countless dangers. Although he is praised by comrades and countrymen as a wise, heroic king, Odysseus does not actually live up to his name as he begins this trip back to Ithaka. Through his journey though, Odysseus corrects his reckless, undisciplined, and arrogant actions, learning responsibility, restraint, and humility in the process.

Similar in consequence, Odysseus’ boasts and taunts towards the Cyclops ultimately causes the delay of his journey home. Odysseus announces to the Cyclops that “Odysseus, raider of cities… gouged out (the Cyclops’) eye” (9.560-561). After that, the Cyclops goes to his father Poseidon and wishes Odysseus would, “come home late and come a broken man- all shipmates lost” (9.592-593). Odysseus may have never been cursed by Poseidon if he did not boastfully proclaim his name to the Cyclops. Therefore, the decisions Odysseus makes out of pride cause him and others to suffer

“A man who has been through bitter experiences and travelled far enjoys even his sufferings after a time.” (Homer, The Odyssey). Throughout our lives, we withstand many struggles and distractions. This results in straying off the correct paths to reach our goals. However, even though we may hit some bumps in the road, most of the time we'll end up alright. We’ll learn new things and can make better decisions for future references. In the book The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus undergoes several episodes and adventures. One can learn valuable lessons from these scenes. On his expedition back to Ithaca, Odysseus overcomes numerous obstacles to achieve his goal of returning and restoring order back to his kingdom. Considering this, The Odyssey is

People learn lessons every day. They can either learn them the easy way, or they can learn them the hard way. Homer documented Odysseus’ journey back to Ithaca in The Odyssey. In this journey, Odysseus learns several life lessons that applied to our lives.

Odysseus left Calypso’s Island and began his journey back home. His odyssey might be described as one’s own life struggles. There are ups and downs to every situation, and through reading The Odyssey, readers can connect parallels between Odysseus’ experiences and lessons learned in their own life. Human weaknesses can still prevail through even the strongest men you may think of; examples of this are shown in this epic. Even though there is a large gap in space between Odysseus’ travels and the present, human nature and weakness still share the same obstacles.

After fighting for 10 years in the Trojan War Odysseus sets off on a journey to his home Ithaca. Odysseus faces many encounters and conflicts that delay his return home only to face another challenge; His home coming. Odysseus is presented with similar challenges of coming home that soldiers fighting the wars of today must deal with. This challenge being, can a solider ever truly return home after war, and will they recognize their family or will their family be able to recognize them? These are all problems that arise after being away from home for so long.

Homer's epic tale The Odyssey is a story of the triumphs and downfalls that are in store for one warrior's long pillage home.  Odysseus, the hero from the Trojan wars, has led his people of Ithaca and other Achaean soldiers to victory and now wishes to return home to his wife and family of Ithaca.  Through his twenty year journey Odysseus is often tested not only of his physical strength, but his wits as well.  The many accomplishments he achieved earned him great status and recognition throughout ancient Greece.  The mistakes he made caused the deaths of many men.  Consequently, we as readers are able to see the many personas that Odysseus carries with him.