Tuesday, April 17, 2012
I'll Follow You to Hell and Back: Odysseus' Leadership
Odysseus leaves Troy with nine ships full of men. By the time he is rescued by Calypso, however, all his men have perished. His men are killed by Ciconians, Polyphemous and the Laestrogonians. Yet at the same time, he rescues his men from Polyphemous' cave and Circe's enchantment. Is Odysseus a good leader who is just cursed by the gods? A good leader with a mutinous crew? Or is he a poor leader who causes his own problems because of misplaced ideals, or reckless behavior or poor leadership skills? Or perhaps somewhere in between or none of the above? Explain your answer using examples from the text to support your point.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOdysseus has moments when he is a strong leader and then other times where he his a weak one. Often Odysseus' judgment is masked by his want for fame. But when he puts aside this craving, he is a strong leader. However, when he puts his fame before the safety of his crew, his leadership falls short
ReplyDeleteThroughout the epic there are examples of both his strong and weak leadership. An example of his strong leadership is in the story of the nymph Circe. Although he originally stayed back when his men went into Circe's palace, he ultimately pulls through and rescues them. He figured out a plan to rescue his men, and continue safely on their journey. In this story he did not put his fame before the safety of his men. He did not try to promote his name, or spread his story.
However, during the story of the Cyclops, he shows very weak leadership quality and judgment. Odysseus showed very poor judgment from the beginning of the story. He snuck into the Cyclops' cave, and stole his food and belongings. He continues to endanger his crew, and while ultimately using his wit to escape, still manages to put his own image before the safety of his men. After escaping Odysseus yells back at the Cyclops, his name and where he comes from. The Cyclops then curses Odysseus, which is the reason for all his suffering and future problems on his journey home. This was caused because he chose to put his image, and want for fame, before safety. This was just one of many poor examples of Odysseus. A quote by one of Odysseus' crewmen sums up the leadership of Odysseus as a leader:
...with hotheaded Odysseus right beside them all --
thanks to this man's rashness they died too! (10.480-82)
In this quote Eurylochus refers to Odysseus as hotheaded and rash. This is the perfect description of his leadership. He often is "hotheaded" and puts is own image before his crewmen. In addition he is very rash in his judgments and choices. He often does not think through all his actions, which often gets him and his crew into trouble. In conclusion, while Odysseus does have many qualities of a good leader, often they are masked by his want for fame.
After their great victory in Troy, Odysseus sets sail for Ithaca with nine ship filled with brave Greeks. After several encounters with mythical beasts and other mortals, Odysseus is left stranded with only Calypso. The question however is, how did he end up in such a situation? Odysseus boasts his leadership skills in the tales he tells to the Phaeacians, but his he really worthy of such praise? In many ways, Odysseus is a fairly decent leader. We analyzed in class the qualities that make a great leader, and he does exhibit several of those. Unfortunately though, he does exhibit some characteristics that would qualify him as a bad, if not, mediocre leader. We classified Odysseus using the following terms, all of which are assuming his stories are true: Selfish, Authoritative, Reckless, and Cunning. Odysseus exhibits cunning, a positive leadership quality, when battling escaping the lair of the Cyclops who has them captive. His “My name is Nobody.” Trick and his sheep trick show this. However, in the same story, as they are escaping Odysseus displays his selfish and reckless leadership by yelling his name to the Cyclops. Now knowing his name, the Cyclops is free to report this man to Poseidon and since he can still hear, he threw a large boulder in their direction and almost sunk their ship. But lastly, Odysseus exemplifies the leadership quality of authority throughout the book. Whether it be based on his shear stature alone or his legacy, people respect Odysseus and do not get in his way, the only exception being Eurylochus. Eurylochus constantly questions his decisions. In the end though, when Odysseus decides to listen to Eurylochus, their ship is sunk by Zeus’s bolt. Odysseus ends up losing his men in fulfillment of his grand legacy which hails him as the lone survivor of their perilous journey. Since he does lose his crew because of his selfishness, I would classify him as a low mediocre leader, but a great singular warrior.
ReplyDeleteOdysseus is somewhere in the middle, he can be a great leader at times like on 12.230-33 where he convinces and pushes his crew to keep rowing even through their hardships. In this situation the hardship his crew was going through was directly after going through the island of the Sirens. A large smoke cloud and storm formed which naturally would cause a panic but considering the situation previously endured it caused a frenzy of panic. Odysseus calms the crews nerves when he states
ReplyDelete"my courage,
my presence of mind and tactics saved us all,
and we will live to remember this someday,
I have no doubt. Up now, follow my orders,
all of us work as one!" (12.220-33)
He shows great leadership in his actions during the lines stated above. He encourages his crew to keep working and not to fear because he was sure that they would all make it through their hardship. There are many other examples of Odysseus'good judgement and leadership but there are also some situations where Odysseus lacked good leadership.
Odysseus has potential to be a good leader but in many situations his need for fame and a legacy overrules his ability to make good decisions for his crew as a whole. A great example of Odysseus putting his fame and legacy in front of the safety of himself and his crew members is on 10.558-562. The crew had landed on the island with the Cyclops and had been previously trapped on it with Odysseus. Odysseus comes up with a brilliant plan to escape and successfully does but in the process of his plan he must tell the Cyclops that his name is "nobody" so that if anyone asks the Cycopls with simpally say "Nobody is killing me" or any else. After escaping from the Cyclops' cave Odysseus feels the need to make himself famous and yell back
" '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 your eye,
Laertes'son who makes his home in Ithaca!' " (10.559-56)
This above quoatation is an example of Odysseus putting his fame in front of common safety and sense. His self-centeredness made him put himself along with his shipmates in a vulnerable and unsafe position.
Odysseus clearly has much potential to be a great leader but if he does not shrink his ego and become selfless he will never reach his full potential as a leader or comrade. Odysseus needs to focus more on others before he focuses on himself.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA good leader has qualities such as cunningness, cleverness, awareness, and cautiousness. These can all be used in making good judgment as a leader. Most importantly, a leader must have authority over his peers, and the peers need to trust and respect their leader in order for both of them to achieve success.
ReplyDeleteOdysseus is not cursed by any gods, but is just naturally a bad leader. This is due to his lack of selflessness. Odysseus is too self-centered, and doesn’t take into consideration the safety of his crew before entering a situation. He also lacks cautiousness; he takes on problems that are too big to handle and extremely dangerous. An example of Odysseus bad leadership skills is shown in the incident when Odysseus is given a sack of wind from Aeolus. Aeolus gave Odysseus a sack when Odysseus set off for Ithaca, but because of Odysseus’ lack of leadership, it was opened when it shouldn’t have been.
In the following quote, Odysseus wakes up from his deep slumber to find the sack open: “A fatal plan, but it won my shipmates over. They loosed the sack and all the winds burst out and a sudden squall struck and swept us back to sea, wailing, in tears, far from our own native land. And I woke up with a start, my spirit churning-should I leap over the side and drown at once or grit my teeth and bear it, stay among the living?”(10.51-57) This quote also points out how selfish Odysseus really is, because as soon as he sees that the shipmates opened the sack, he considers suicide. He doesn’t want to have to suffer, but if he cared about others before himself, he would not even think about that because he is the captain, and he must save his shipmates. The fact that he thinks about just giving in to hardship proves what a bad leader he is. I think this incident proves Odysseus bad leadership skills in another way, as well. Odysseus should have been commanding his shipmates and communicating to them that they were not to open the bag because they would drift back to sea. If he were a great leader and informed his shipmates so that they didn’t feel like they should sneakily open it, he could have gone home a lot quicker, and with more of his men.
Odysseus is a good leader in some aspects but in some ways he is not the best leader he could be. Odysseus’s adventurous personality leads him and his crew into some risky situations, which could have been avoided, if he was more cautious. One example of Odysseus being a loyal leader to his crew was when he was not afraid to rescue them from their misfortune, of getting turned into pigs at Circe’s place, and Odysseus helped to reverse the spell. The following quote explains this story in much more depth,
ReplyDelete“Don’t force me back there, captain, king-
leave me here on the spot.
You will never return yourself, I swear,
you’ll never bring back a single man alive.
Quick, cut and run with the rest of us here-
we can still escape the fatal day!” (10. 293-298)
The quote above spoken by Eurylochus to Odysseus shows that the courage that Odysseus had to go and save his crew was tremendous because that was a very risky situation to put himself into, because he could have been turned into a pig himself. On the other hand Odysseus is a very adventurous leader that does not always think situations all the way through, before putting himself and his crew into them. There are many examples of Odysseus and his crew in these situations but one that stood out was when Odysseus and his crew wondered into the giants cave and he decided that they would wait for the giant to return, instead of listening to his crew members and just leaving with the cheeses. The quote that follows explains this event in more detail,
“ ‘Let’s make away with the cheeses, then come back-
hurry, drive the lambs and kids from the pens
to our swift ship, put out to sea at once!’
But I would not give way-
and how much better it would have been-
not till I saw him, saw what gifts he’d give.
But he proved no lovely sight to my companions.” (9. 253-259)
The quote above spoken by the crew members and Odysseus’s response to them, shows that the crew does not want to take the risk of confronting the giant, but Odysseus’s does and he risks everybody’s life when he made that decision. When you are a good leader you stand out and are known for your great morals, but through the epic so far Odysseus has shown signs of a true leader and a leader who wants to be adventurous and take risks you know that are not going to end well.
wonderful explination
DeleteOdysseus has his moments of being a quality leader. However, at the same time being a leader isn't just about protecting yourself its about protecting others as well. Odysseus failed at protecting his men because they all died. This does not mean he didn't try to save his men. One example of him trying is his people were turned into pigs. Odysseus was able to change them back however this is a controversial situation.This is because Odysseus was not there for his men to protect them from being turned into pigs. This is controversial because he may have been turned into a pig as well if he was with them, or his ship may have been stolen. While, those were good reasons to stay behind, as a leader he should have been there to protect his men. Odysseus also puts people in the situations to begin with. For example, when he leaves the cyclops he screams his name. This puts the men in danger because Poseidon's now out to get them. Had Odysseus just left the island the men wouldn't be in danger. In conclusion, Odysseus tries to help his men out of the situation, however he is usually the one to get them to a dangerous point in the first place.
ReplyDeleteOdysseus has both assets that make him a strong leader and weaknesses that make him a coward in the face of danger. One of Odysseus’s main strengths is his cunning mind. There are many examples throughout the book that exemplify how crafty he is when put in the face of danger. One example is when he gets trapped by the Cyclops in his cave. Odysseus tells the Cyclops that his name is nobody to trick the Cyclop into telling the other one-eyed giant that he is being attacked by nobody, “’Surely no one’s rustling your flocks against your will-surely no one’s trying to kill you now by fraud and not by force!’ ‘Nobody, friends’-Polyphemus bellowed back from his cave-‘Nobody’s killing me now by fraud and not by force!’”(9. 452-455). Later, Odysseus then taunts the Cyclops when he thinks he is out of his reach however,
ReplyDeleteThat made the rage of the monster boil over.
Rippling off the peak of the towering crag, he heaved it
out so hard the boulder landed just in front of our dark prow
and a huge swell reared up as the rock went plunging under-
a tital wave from the open sea. The sudden backwash
drove us landward again, forcing us close inshore
but grabbing a long pole, I thrust us off and away,
tossing my head for dear life, signaling crews
to put their backs in the oars, escape grim death (9. 537-545).
While the idea of taunting the Cyclops seemed tempting and consequence-free, this backfired on Odysseus, showing how he needs to be more cautious when plotting his so-called “witty” schemes.
Odysseus has the makings of a good leader, but his actions can come across as a bit rash. Throughout the Odyssey, he seems to be the only one formulating ideas on how to get home or how to get out of trouble. However, he is usually the one who gets himself and his men into trouble due to reckless behavior. When this occurs, there is usually a fatality in the crew, which causes lack of trust from his men and then they do evil things (like releasing the bag of winds) that get them into more trouble. However, when someone is in a situation like Odysseus was faced with, it is hard to blame them for taking risks for there are not many options. For example, it was a very tactless idea to go into an unknown Cyclopes’ cave, especially when the men were quite aware of their abilities. At the same time, there did not seem to be any other choice if they wanted a meal.
ReplyDeleteOdysseus also did various tactless deeds even when there were other, more appropriate responses. An example of this was also during the Polyphemus incident. Odysseus was able to retrieve himself and his men from the cave alive, and was able to leave peacefully (as peacefully as one can after blinding a Cyclopes). Instead, he threw commonsense out the window and started taunting the beast, worsening things. Even his men knew better and tried to warn him;
“So headstrong-why? Why rile the beast again?”
“That rock he flung in the sea just now, we thought we’d die on the spot!”
They knew they were lucky that the rock had not smashed them. But Odysseus did not listen; another bad sign of leadership.
In conclusion, Odysseus has great potential when it comes to being a good leader. There are times where he is brilliant and successful, yet when his reckless side shows, he causes many problems. Although not all the problems are his fault, most of them are. If he listens to his crew and commonsense he could become a great and powerful leader.
Odysseus a character who faces many difficult circumstances but yet he goes through his journey believing that nothing and no one,not even the Gods can harm him nor stop him. Odysseus feels he is always the leader and no one can tell him otherwise.This explains how much he didn’t think about his actions.” “
ReplyDeleteBefore he speak he should have taught of what words were coming out of his mouth. Odysseus didn’t weigh the consequences of his actions so he received a curse.Leave him and for his selfishness now he learned that he really did need them. The Gods turned around on him causing a lot of his men died because of this it took more time to get home and even more since he did not even think of apologizing.
2- that shows he is selfish is when Odysseus’s ignorance toward people is shown when Eurylochus tells him not to go onto circe’s island because he knows the crew would be turned into swine Odysseus tells his remaining men to follow him back to Circe’s palace, and one of the men, Eurylochus, refuses, saying that Circe will harm the men and that they should just go home. Instead of listening to Eurylochus, Odysseus, being stubborn and selfish, does whatever he wants anyways
3-,form of selfishness Odysseys shows is adultery. He is unfaithful to Penelope many times throughout the book.He reveals this trait specifically when he is with Calypso on Ogygia when he chooses to stay with her and with Circe on Aiaia even if he was force in order to save his men from become swine he still committed adultery. not caring about the crew’s feelings on the matter, since all’s he cared about was himself. Odysseus says he wants to return home but his actions say other wise because he did not even make the slightest attempt to leave.
The 3rd trait is His curiosity which hinders his journey back home"
1)He shows this weakness is when he and his crew are sailing in the sea of the Sirens and, after sticking wax up the ears of all the crew members so they couldn't listen, Odysseus insists upon being attached firmly to the mast just so he could hear the enchanting songs of the mermaids. he insists on hearing the Sirens' call, even though to do so, he must have himself excruciatingly strapped to the mast of his ship so that he cannot give in to the temptation ,Although there are no consequences to this particular venture, Odysseus still jeopardizes the crew for satisfaction of his personal motives, a very pernicious thing for a leader.