Odysseus: What his Decisions Say

Odysseus, the ever- celebrated Greek hero of legend and protagonist of The Odyssey, is a confused and intriguing character. Obstacles and temptations face Odysseus through and through and end-to-end the story, only if especially so in the very olibanum fartful curbs IX through XII. He is most well cognize for his dandy strength, valor, and leadership, scarcely I wear thin?t fix any of these attri bonnie nowes to be his much memorable or noteworthy. by his decisions in Books IX through XII, Odysseus displays his two most central traits: his great silk similar and his ebullient pride. First off, Odysseus is an extremely clever, cunning man. The first example of this is his defeating the terrific Cyclops, Polyphemus. He shews several subtile maneuvers in this triumph. First of all, he elects to not fight Polyphemus immediately, as he realizes that he is the only one(a) strong enough to present the rock room access of the cave. Later, Odysseus tells a drunken Poly phemus that his realise is ?Nobody.? The genius of this is shown when Polyphemus yells that ?Nobody? is cleanup him, confusing his neighbors so that they don?t execute to his assistance. Finally, he is the one to devise a invent of escape afterwards blinding the Cyclops; he and his companions ride out on the bellies of the Cyclops? sheep. In Book XII, Odysseus provides yet another great example of his cunning. With a dwarfish advice from Circe, he devises a plan from to pass the island of the seductive Sirens. He has his men plug their ears with wax and tie him to the mass of the ship. He is therefore the only one who hears the songs, and they are so enticing he begs to be released, but he had warned his men of that, and so they refuse. Going to the island of the Sirens is a famous example of a temptation, and like umpteen times throughout the story, Odysseus outsmarts his adversity in enunciate to avoid this. However, Odysseus is often held spinal column by his get thr ough flaw- his Achilles? heel- his hubris. A! t first, I didn?t mean this was too unsafe of a weakness, but Books IX through XII cristal a plethora of examples of Odysseus? hubristic ways. Firstly, Odysseus is greedy and insulting after electric arc Ismarus, and this leads to dozens of his men dying at the hands of the strengthen Cicones. Obviously, the right decision would wee been to go out immediately. By staying, he is being prideful in that he is ?rubbing it in? the faces of the Cicones, and this is the first example of what that leads to. Similarly, when Odysseus and his men come crosswise Polyphemus? cave full of food and livestock, Odysseus again makes the geological demerit of lingering. His pride, perchance, convinces him that it?s his right to stay around and that no put forward kitty go wrong, but this again costs the lives of nearly of his men. nonetheless after outsmarting Polyphemus, Odysseus vainly yells out his true progress to to the thwarted Cyclops. Again, his hubris leads him to being a bra ggart. This causes Polyphemus to pray for vengeance from his obtain Poseidon, which of channel causes Odysseus a lot more trouble hatful the avenue than holding in his urge to insult Polyphemus would have been.

This is perhaps the most lasting image of Odysseus? hubris, to me. Soon thereafter, Odysseus is given a bag containing all the world?s winds by Aeolus, but he doesn?t tell his men that. He lets them cerebrate that he was given a sack of treasures but tacit expects them to never question him. They get jealous and vindicated the bag, scenery the journey back again when Odysseus could have just been fai r with his men instead of being smug about it. He se! emed to like the idea of having some affaire to invoke the envy of his men, though, which was a heavy(p) mistake. Books IX through XII probably tell us more about Odysseus than the rest of the entire story. This is because Odysseus is forced to make some(prenominal) crucial decisions for himself and for his men. Odysseus uses his cunning and intelligence to overcome many of these obstacles, and this is certainly the most important trait he has as a hero and as a leader. The one thing that constantly gets in the way of his better senses, however, is his excessive pride. Odysseus, even out with this flaw, is a good person though. He is just a complex, multidimensional character and makes decisions both good and bad on his long journey home. BibliographyThe Oyssey by HomerSparkNotes Editors. ?SparkNote on The Odyssey.? SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 10 marchland 2009. If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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