Odysseus

Odysseus

  • Submitted By: rockerfahis
  • Date Submitted: 06/03/2013 10:12 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 458
  • Page: 2
  • Views: 110

* Mythology is all around us, whether it be in fairytales or movies. Greek mythology is so intertwined with American pop culture it is recognized as normal and adopted as our own. An example of this is the epic poem by Homer, titled The Odyssey. The Odyssey is a tale of a man called Odysseus and is all about the obstacles he faces as he journeys back to his homeland, Ithaca. Sailing home from a strained ten year battle with the Trojans, Odysseus leads his men through the dangers of many monsters, gods, and goddesses. Along the way, Odysseus demonstrates characteristics of leadership and is often revered as an archetypal hero. However, Odysseus is only mortal, and therefore is equipped with many flaws.
* Odysseus is not a good leader.
* Odysseus is irresponsible; he doesn’t look after his crew.
* Odysseus is disobedient; he never listens to advice.
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* Odysseus is irresponsible; he doesn’t look after his crew.
* For example, when his crew is being distrustful of Aeolus gift to Odysseus, Odysseus knows his crew doesn’t trust him, yet he still decides to fall asleep. “but now an enticing sleep came to me… hurry let’s see what loot is in the sack… they loosened the sack and all the winds burst out” (Book 10, lines 35, 49, 52)
* Odysseus slept while his crew was debating and strengthening their distrust towards Odysseus. He is irresponsible because he didn’t tell his crew what was in the sack and he didn’t even watch after the bag. Therefore Odysseus is a bad leader.
* Another example of his irresponsibility is when his crew was when his crew was when they were on the island of the sun god. His crew had sworn an oath that they wouldn’t harm the sun god’s cattle. Yet they still don’t listen to him. However he also wasn’t there to make sure they listened to him. “Let’s drive off the pick of Helios’ sleek herds… At once they drove off the Sungod’s finest...

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