Skip to main content

What flaws does Odysseus show in Book IX of Homer's The Odyssey?

In terms of his flaws, Odysseus shows some greediness in this book.  Prior to the Cyclops' return to his home, Odysseus's men try to convince him to take some food and return to their ship; however, he "refused -- far better had [he] yielded."  He hoped that the owner of the cave would return and "offer gifts," a custom in Greece at the time because travelers were protected by Zeus.  If a host could manage, he would often provide a traveler with a guest-gift, meant to honor the guest; however, a guest was never supposed to take advantage of his host, and Odysseus is pretty presumptuous in his assumption that such a gift would be offered.  It would have been better to be safe and return to the ship with only what they needed rather than tempt fate and risk the life of his men, some of whom he does lose to the Cyclops as a result.


Further, Odysseus's pride makes a big appearance as he and his men row away to escape the angry Polyphemus.  He taunts the monster, shouting back that Zeus has punished him for his actions and that he got what he deserved when Odysseus and his men blinded him in his cave.  Polyphemus then tears off a hilltop and throws it at them, and when it lands in the water ahead of them, it pushes them back toward shore!  Despite this danger, after they've rowed away again, Odysseus ignores his men's pleading and shouts once more.  He tells the Cyclops, "if ever mortal man asks you the story of the ugly blinding of your eye, say that Odysseus made you blind [...]."  This was such a stupid move because now the Cyclops knows his name and can pray to his powerful father, Poseidon, god of the sea, to seek revenge on Odysseus.  His pride, and wanting to be given credit for the besting of the Cyclops, prompted Odysseus to give away the information that will allow him to be identified.  Seeing as how Odysseus must travel by sea to get home, his pride materially damaged his chances of getting home quickly and safely.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more