The Pride Of Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey

Constantly throughout the book, Odysseus shows great courage in any and every situation he is put in. We see this glimpse of courage when he fights the suitors, or when he saves his whole crew from the Cyclops. In book 9 as Odysseus and his crew are journeying through the cave of a Cyclops, Odysseus decides to make a very bold decision and blinds the Cyclops. “Hoisting high that olive stake with its stabbing point, straight ingo the monsters eye they rammed it hard.” (page 223, line 427-428) In this scene Odysseus drives a stake into his eye, in result blinding him. This was a very courageous decision because of the fact that he and his men are up against a Cyclops. At the same time, Cyclops’s are very strong and big, and Odysseus could have easily been killed . It turns out that the Cyclops is a offspring of Poseidon which put him and his crew into a lot of trouble and danger later in their journey, and if Odysseus knew that or not it was still a brave thing to do in order to save him and his crew at that moment.

Odysseus, king of Ithaca, was probably on of the greatest warriors in the history of Ancient Greece. It is said that the poet, Homer, wrote the story of the Odyssey. In this story, Odysseus and his crew are trying to make their voyage back home to Ithaca after they have fought with the Trojans. During the long journey, Odysseus will show some of his character traits which include his bravery, cleverness, and wisdom that will assist him with the situations he encounters on his journey home.

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18) is a universal message followed by many. In The Odyssey, Homer personifies this quote in the character Odysseus, the protagonist of the novel. A man beset with a hamartia of hubris, Odysseus’ flaw leads to his tragedy and hardships during his years-long journey to return home. With the utilization of motif of a lion, as well as direct and indirect characterization, Homer warns that pride, when controlled, leads to marvelous fame and recognition; however, if unbridled, leads to one’s misfortune and suffering.

Another case of his pride blinding Odysseus had no leadership or control over his men: “Temptation had its way with my companions, and they untied the bag.” (Book X, lines 52-53). Odysseus could not control his men, and this caused the whole ship to be blown back to Aiolia. Also as a result of his pride, Odysseus loses the entire Ithacan fleet. His hubris blinds his sense of judgment and as a result, kills two generations of Ithacans. His ego and selfishness makes him lose all of his men, and makes him an antihero.

Odysseus showed his pride multiple times on his journey. “O Cyclops! Would you feast on my companions? Puny, am I, in a caveman’s hands? How do you like the beating that we gave you, you damned cannibal? Eater of guests under your roof! Zeus and the gods have paid you!” (9.390-394) This quote shows Odysseus pride. When he was leaving the cyclops island he decides

When the Cyclops returns, he kills some of the men. Odysseus tells the Cyclops that his name is Nobody and plans his escape from the barricaded cave with his crew. They trick the Cyclops into drinking lots of wine, he falls asleep, and the crew stabs Polyphemus in the eye. As they escape onto the ship and begin to sail away, Odysseus yells to Polyphemus: “Cyclops, if any mortal human being asks about the injury that blinded you, tell them Odysseus destroyed your eye, a sacker of cities, Laertes’ son, a man from Ithaca.”(9.662) The Cyclops in response prays to his father, “Poseidon, Enfolder of the Earth, dark-haired god, if I truly am your son and if you claim to be my father, grant that Odysseus, sacker of cities, a man from Ithaca, Laertes’ son, never gets back home.”(9.696) Odysseus tells Polyphemus his true name just to get credit for overpowering the Cyclops. In result, Polyphemus prays to his father Poseidon and this makes his father avenge his son and make Odysseus’ trip home as difficult and as painful as he can. After visiting Aeolus in Aeolia, Odysseus returns to the ship with a bag of winds and refuses to tell his crew what is

Pride is a good thing and a bad thing. Odysseus’s greatest problem was pride. When Odysseus tried to return home, there was an island, therefore they stopped looking for food. This island was the home of Cyclops's. Odysseus along with his men infuriated a Cyclops named Polyphemus. Odysseus along with his men ran back to the ship, it was then he had let pride immerse him. Polyphemus ended up asking his father Poseidon for revenge.“The rate of major earthquakes--those with a magnitude higher than 7.0-- more than doubled in the first quarter of 2014 compared with the average since 1979”(Yan and Berlinger 2). Just alike the earthquakes doubling in the amount, Odysseus will encounter more storms than usual. Odysseus was extremely smart at first

In the “Odyssey”, Odysseus goes through obstacles throughout the book that a normal man couldn’t subside. One example is in book 9, his main obstacle that he is trying to face is to escape from being held hostage in a cave by a Cyclops better known as Polyphemus. Odysseus is a archetypal hero, he is also a role model, with an ambition to get to his homeland Ithaca. He goes through resisting temptation and using his intellect and physical strength to get him there, no matter the obstacle nor the negative flaws that he faces. Odysseus put himself and his men in that situation by being curious and wanting to know what kind of land his ship and the winds led him to. This was selfish of him because it cost him some of his men, but a leader and hero has to play that role and some lives will be dealt with on the way. Odysseus says, “The rest of you will stay here while I go with my ship and crew on reconnaissance. I want to find out what those men are like, Wild savages with no sense of right or wrong Or hospitable folk who fear the gods” (Homer 429). Saying this quote alone makes Odysseus a humble man due to the fact that not even a piece of land is going to slow him down on his journey back home.

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

My name is Nohbdy'"("The Cyclops" lines 312-315). Odysseus' astuteness is apparent in this situation because he refused to reveal his identity to Polyphemus while he was vulnerable. His decision prevented the other Cyclops from coming to aid of Polyphemus. By precluding this beforehand, he demonstrated his heroic quality of wiliness. The ingenuity established by these actions personifies Odysseus as a hero.

Just as Odysseus ' men rashly and stupidly provoke and dishonor Helios, Odysseus rashly and stupidly provokes Poseidon through a careless display of hubris. According to the Earth Shaker, Poseidon, mortals such as Odysseus "do [him] no honor" (13.129). Odysseus dishonors the Earth Shaker when he blinds his Cyclops son, Polyphemos, by twirling fire-point-hardened timber in the Cyclops ' eye as he slept, causing blood to boil around the hot point of the timber, so that the blast and scorch of the burning singes Polyphemos ' eyelids and eyeballs, and the "fire makes the roots of his eye crackle" (9.390).Odysseus and his men rush back to their ship. As they escape the oafish Cyclops, Odysseus engages in a uselessly macho and reckless act of bravado; he taunts Polyphemos, telling him, "Cyclops, if any mortal man ever asks you who it was that inflicted upon your eye this shameful blinding, tell him that you were blinded by Odysseus, sacker of cities" (9.502-504).

When Odysseus encounters the sirens, he comes up with a plan to help them escape them. In “Book Twelve, line 142,” Odysseus says, “Friends, have we never been in danger before this? More fearsome, is it now, than when the Cyclops penned us in his cave?... Did I not keep my nerve, and use my wits to find a way out for us?” Even in danger Odysseus is able to keep himself together and lead his men. Homer, in this, shows us that a leader needs to be brave in all times, always ready to take control and calm his men. Before Odysseus returns home, his wisdom is shown once again when his men don’t listen to him, because of this, all his men die and Odysseus returns

Odysseus’ hubris played a negative role when Odysseus revealed his identity to Polyphemus. Odysseus and his crew had just managed to escape from the Cyclops, Polyphemus, after driving a stake into his eye. But then, Odysseus told the blinded Cyclops his identity by shouting, “Cyclops – if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so- say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out you eye, Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca” (9, 558-562). Odysseus managed to tell Polyphemus his name, father, and home. Polyphemus then prayed to Poseidon, his father, to get revenge on Odysseus. Poseidon ended up killing Odysseus’ entire crew and delaying Odysseus for 10 years. None of those terrible consequences would have happened if Odysseus had suppressed his enormous pride. Odysseus’ hubris resulted in a lot of suffering for many people. Odysseus’ hubris prevents Odysseus and his crew from getting back to Ithaca again when Odysseus did

Homer uses Odysseus’ arrogance to emphasize that pride can lead to the start of one’s problems. When Odysseus and his crew are leaving the island of the Kyklôpes, Odysseus taunts Polyphemus by yelling, “Kyklops, if ever mortal man inquire/ how you were to shame and blinded, tell him/ Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye out:/ Laërtês’ son, whose home’s on Ithaka!”(9.548-552) The taunting tone in Odysseus' sentence shows how his arrogance led to pride, as he was arrogant in his belief

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.