...In The Odyssey an epic poem by Homer, Odysseus, the protagonist has to fight through many trials to get home. He fights monsters, meets goddesses, and even brings back the dead in the ten tears he spends trying to get home. Throughout this perilous journey we develop a sense of what kind or a leader is to his men, his kingdom, and his wife Penelope. Odysseus is a strategic leader in hard times, a loyal leader to his kingdom and wife, but he is too prideful about his title and wit. There are several times throughout The Odyssey where Odysseus saves himself and his men because of his ability to strategize. The first example of this is when Odysseus faces Polyphemus the cyclops; he decides to blind him instead of killing him because Odysseus...
Words: 469 - Pages: 2
...Odysseus- A Good Leader? Sometimes people will claim that Odysseus was a bad leader, but I find that hard to believe. I do agree that he made some mistakes, but I still believe Odysseus was a good leader. Odysseus was a great warrior during the Trojan War, he showed extreme loyalty to his men, and he never allowed the many temptations he passed to stop him. Even if Odysseus was prideful at times, I continue to believe Odysseus was the best possible leader. First, Odysseus was a good leader during the Trojan War, where he was a general. He came up with the idea for the Trojan Horse, which ended up leading them to victory. “It was he, for example, who thought the famous wooden-horse trick that would lead to the downfall of Troy… That night the Greeks hidden inside the hollow belly came out, opened the gates of Troy to the whole Greek army and began the battle that was to win the war.” (An Introduction to the Odyssey) This proves that Odysseus is intelligent, as well as being a great general....
Words: 516 - Pages: 3
...Amaya Snyder Philipp English I Honors 16 March 2018 Title There is not a day in ones life where they won't encounter obstacles. It is how one handles these obstacles that defines them. Whether they take the lead, or stay back and follow in the footsteps of a leader. Homer exemplifies this concept throughout his epic, "The Odyssey". Odysseus, the main character, goes on a journey lasting 10 years, as he tries to return home after the Trojan War and reassert his place as the rightful king of Ithaca. During his journey, he is confronted with many dilemmas, revealing his true traits as a leader. In Homer's epic "The Odyssey", Odysseus's bravery and cleverness portray him as a commendable leader and demonstrate how one with these qualities has...
Words: 343 - Pages: 2
...An effective leader is one who is selfless, tactical, and charismatic. A leader like Odysseus lets his human flaws get the better of him. They have no control over their people and make everything worse rather than better. In, Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is an inadequate leader of his men, as he leaves them to die and puts them in more danger than before. Odysseus’ trait of curiosity makes him an incompetent leader. When he raids the Cyclops’ food stash, he decides to stay against his better judgment: “Ah,\how sound that was! Yet I refused. I wished\ to see the cave man, what he had to offer-\ no pretty sight, it turned out for my friends.”(171-173). He dooms some of his friends by staying to see the Cyclops causing Odysseus to also to end...
Words: 419 - Pages: 2
...to be a good leader. Odysseus is not a good leader seeing that he has created many problems with the Greek gods. Towards the beginning of the poem, Odysseus has just defeated the trojans and plundered the city of Troy. As any person, you would be pretty happy, but Odysseus thinks that he's more than just a man. Odysseus calls to Muse, the goddess of poetry to boast about the plundering of Troy as well as the stealing from the gods. “Sing to me, Muse and through me tell a story… destroyed them all children and fools, they killed and feasted on the cattle of Lord Helios” (Homer 1, 11-13). Early in the film, Odysseus tells Poseidon that he himself only defeated Troy without...
Words: 612 - Pages: 3
...In the first few chapters of The Odyssey, Odysseus repeatedly proves that he is a valuable leader. In “The Lotus-Eaters,” Odysseus and his crew land on an island where people eat Lotus, a “honeyed plant” (line 97). The Lotus-Eaters offer this plant to Odysseus’ men. After three of his men ate this fruit, they wanted to stay on the island forever. Odysseus’ loyalty helps save his men when he states that he “tied them down under their rowing benches” (line 102). In the book “The Cyclops,” Odysseus and his men find themselves in a life-and-death situation when they get trapped in a cave by the Cyclops (a one-eyed giant) Polyphemus. Odysseus’ creative thinking allows him to outsmart Polyphemus, saving him and his men. Odysseus tells Polyphemus...
Words: 281 - Pages: 2
...Odysseus is he a great leader or not? Some people may argue that odysseus is a great leader or a terrible one. As a tragic hero, Odysseus contains tragic flaws, which include pride and quick tempered; these flaws negatively impact the story by getting his men and boat killed on their adventure and he was lost at sea for 20 years. A tragic hero is described as a selfless and heroic person. Odysseus is a tragiv hero because he fights his temptation to eat circe's food to save his men from her spell. Odysseus shows his characteristics when he said "Circe, wheres is the captain who could bare to touch this banquet, in my place? a man would see his company before him first. put heart in me to eat and drink- you may, by freeing my companions. I must see them."...
Words: 404 - Pages: 2
...Homer’s epic poem translated by Robert Fitzgerald. It is about Odysseus’ 10-year battle to return home after the Trojan war. While Odysseus battles mythical creatures and countenances the wrath of the Gods, his wife Penelope and son Telemachus stave off suitors vying for Penelope’s hand and Ithaca’s position of authority sufficiently long for Odysseus to return. In the Odyssey, Odysseus demonstrates to be a good leader because he gives a prime case of a homeric hero and he exhibits moral obligation in his actions throughout the epic. Initially, Odysseus chooses to go to war with the Greeks despite the fact that he does not want to leave his wife and son. Odysseus answers, “My lady goddess, there is no cause for anger. My quiet Penelope I long for home, long for the sight of home,” (The Wanderings....
Words: 360 - Pages: 2
...Odysseus has the traits of a Homeric leader as he is strong, courageous, noble, confident in his authority, and has a thirst for glory and fame. His view on Life of Pi by Pi’s situation with being stuck in the middle of the Ocean was fair as Pi had the guts to adventure around the ship during a dangerous storm and in return got into difficulty when the ship had sunk leading him to be stuck on a lifeboat with wild animals, like a tiger, for a long time. Pi’s wrong intentions of adventuring during a storm led him to a dangerous situation. Just like when Odysseus had ventured into the Cyclops cave to steal some of his food; he and his crew were faced with the trouble of getting crushed to death by a Cyclops in which Odysseus had to deal with due...
Words: 303 - Pages: 2
...Compassion, strength, and intellect are what make up a successful leader, but; although Odysseus is a great hero; does he have any qualities to be a great leader? The epic poem “The Odyssey” by Homer tells the story of Odysseus and his journey home to Ithaca. The adventure home tests Odysseus in both his capabilities to journey home and to lead his crew to safety. He fails in the latter. From his own actions thought his journey, Odysseus’s pride, selfishness, and absence of cautiousness causes the destruction of his crew and delays his eventual return home. Odysseus’s selfishness and pride contribute to his inadequate leadership role. An Example of his own arrogance creating problems includes Poseidon’s rage towards Odysseus. Odysseus angers...
Words: 464 - Pages: 2
...The strong and powerful leader, Odysseus, was he really a good leader to his crew? Or did he ultimately lead to all his men's fait of death? Along Odysseus and the crews journey back home to Ithaca, their was many obstacles put fourth ahead of them. But these obstacles would have not been put in place if Odysseus would have not made Poseidon mad in the first place. Due to Odysseus's conflict the crew had to suffer and pay the consequences, because he only cared about himself, and when It came to times where the crew needed his help, he choose to not help them so that he could move farther along. With this being said Odysseus was not a strong leader and ultimately contributed to the destruction of his own men. For example, in the story Charybdis/sirens, Odysseus chose to face Charybdis and sacrifice six of his best men, while being taken away by Charybdis they shouted out to Odysseus for his help, but he did nothing, he did not even make an attempt to help them. He just moved along with the journey. A good leader would have at least tried to help save his crew members from being taken away to their death but he did not. In another part of the story called Island of Aeolia, Odysseus receives help from a god and is gifted with a bag of wind which would lead them back to...
Words: 479 - Pages: 2
...As a natural-born leader, I've always been motivated to inspire and encourage others around me. I always tried to help and encourage my teammates when I played football. Leadership has also come up in the Odyssey several times with Odysseus and his men. Odysseus is known as being the hero of the Odyssey and being a good leader, but I disagree. There have been many times where Odysseus has made terrible decisions like when he was facing the six-headed monster named Scylla. He didn’t tell his men what was ahead and I think that was a bad decision. A leader with bad decisions can put his whole team in jeopardy. Like when Odysseus went to the Cyclops cave and stabbed him in the eye and stole his belongings, which led to the death of his men. There wasn’t any reason to believe that the Cyclops were going to harm them, Odysseus was just being selfish. They told Odysseus to steer clear of the land of sirens, which if you heard it would lead you to death, but he wanted to be famous and say he survived the land of sirens. When he was doing this, he put all his men in danger because if the wax didn't work, all of his men would be dead....
Words: 436 - Pages: 2
...and king named Odysseus and his journey home from the Trojan War and it reveals how even great leaders have their flaws. Odysseus is faced with many trials throughout his journey home to Ithaca. Although he is said to be a perfect leader, we later see that his flaws are what cause these challenges and ultimately gets in his way to get home. Odysseus is a person who likes adventure and likes to experience things first-hand, because of this he is an imperfect leader. Odysseus has his qualities, he’s a brilliant strategist and has shown that by being the one who came up with the idea to use the Trojan Horse to end the ten-year-long war. When coming back from the war, one of his first trials is against a cyclops named Polyphemus. He and his men get captured by the Cyclops and get trapped in a cave where it is blocked by a huge boulder. When Polyphemus asks for Odysseus’ name, Odysseus says “‘Nobody - that’s my name. Nobody - so my mother and father call me, all my friends,’” (223). This is a good idea not to tell they cyclops his name, it shows he's quick to think of a good plan because of him being on the spot when faced with the question. The reason why he says his name is “Nobody” is so when Odysseus attacks the Cyclops. NOBODY is attacking Polyphemus. It’s a clever trick and it would have worked if Odysseus hadn’t revealed later that “‘say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out your eye, Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca!’” (227). This was Odysseus’ biggest mistake...
Words: 815 - Pages: 4
...including making our first national bank, similar to how Odysseus always tried to do what was right for his men. Also like Odysseus, Alexander Hamilton was stubborn, blinded by some of his ideals, and at times could act like an overly emotional teenager. Centuries before Alexander Hamilton, the man who wrote like he was running out of time, was even born, Homer wrote The Odyssey, which presented the heroic Odysseus. Odysseus, like Hamilton, exhibited multiple traits that made him a famous leader. Odysseus is a good leader because of...
Words: 1470 - Pages: 6
...Leadership is not something to be taken lightly. In the book the Odyssey, Odysseus leads his men through many journeys on his way back home to Ithaca. Odysseus has the responsibility of taking care of the lives of his whole crew. In today's world, a leader may just be the coach of the local high school basketball team or the manager of the McDonald’s just down the road. These two occupations have nothing in common with what Odysseus is faced with in his endeavor, except for one thing. All three of these leaders want success for themselves and the people that they are trying to lead. Odysseus fails at leading his men to success because he allows for all of his men to die during his journey back to Ithaca. Odysseus is an unfit leader because he does not possess the trust of his crew and the openness to communicate with them....
Words: 661 - Pages: 3
