Essay On Odysseus A Good Leader

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In Book 9 Is Odysseus A Good Leader? During book 9, Odysseus shows traits of good leadership, however at times one could argue that he is portrayed as a bad leader by Homer. There are many examples of both, which I will include when discussing whether Odysseus is a good or bad leader in book 9. I will start by looking at the reasons why Odysseus is a good leader. Firstly, he successfully sacks the city of the Cicones, taking ‘vast plunder.’ This shows Odysseus has good leadership skills because he leads his men to victory by destroying and profiting from Ismarus. He also shows compassion and fairness, qualities of a good leader, when he shares out the loot from Ismarus equally. The quote is, ‘we divided (the plunder) so that no one,…show more content…
Here we instantly see Odysseus’ good leadership shine through, as he only sends three men to investigate the island. This shows good leadership because, if there were to be any danger inland, the rest of his convoy would have remained unharmed. Odysseus also shows positive characteristics when he uses force to drag those who had sampled the lotus, back onto the ships. Although, this may not sound all too pleasant, he was actually being loyal to his comrades by not leaving them to waste away on the island, browsing on lotus for the rest of their lives. The quote is, ‘I had to use force to bring them back to the hollow ships, and they wept on the way, but once on board I tied them up and dragged them under the benches.’ In this episode, Odysseus also shows his bravery. He doesn’t know whether the island is inhabited by hostiles, as his men had still not returned - yet he still goes out into the unknown to go and find the men who had tried the…show more content…
Here, one of Odysseus’ traits that we have seen already surfaces – fairness. He and his men hunt for goats, and at the end he shares them out among his comrades – ‘When it was shared out, nine goats were allotted to each of the twelve ships under my command…’ Odysseus also uses another cunning trick at this location - by only selecting twelve men to accompany him to the cave of the Cyclops, the remaining company would be safe. Another example of his clever and cunning nature can be seen when he lies to the Cyclops, telling him that his ship was wrecked at sea. This was a good idea because it would stop the Cyclops from looking for Odysseus’ ship and the rest of his crew. Odysseus also hatches an ingenious plan here – first intoxicating the Cyclops with wine so he falls fast asleep, and then blinding him with a sharpened wooden pole. The following describes the moment that Odysseus and his men carry out the plot to blind the Cyclops – ‘Seizing the olive pole, they drove its sharpened end into the Cyclops’ eye, while I used my weight from above to twist it home, like a man boring a ship’s timber with a drill which his mates below him twirl with a strap they hold at either end, so that it spins continuously.’ Also, just before the Cyclops falls asleep, after drinking the wine, he asks Odysseus his name, to which he replies, ‘my name is nobody.’ This is a clever trick and a show of good
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