Odysseus Cunningness
Odysseus demonstrates his resourcefulness and cunningness, but most definitely serves as no hero through several episodes of his pridefulness, unfaithfulness, and ruthless murdering. Odysseus shows qualities of a narcissist as he focuses on himself and not on the greater good. In Book IX, Odysseus and his men go to the Cyclopes' island and visits one of their caves: "We soon reached his cave but didn't find him [the Cyclopes]. [...] We went inside the cave and looked around. [...] At first, my comrades urged me to grab some cheeses and return, then drive the lambs and kids out of their pens back to our swift ship and cross the water. [...] I was keen to see the man in person and find out if he would show me hospitality (Book IX Lines 167-182).
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Odysseus feels proud of blinding Polyphemus since he goes to the lengths of proclaiming his name for credit which soon proves itself as an idiotic move as well because Poseidon then destroys their ship after having heard Polyphemus’ prayer about …show more content…
Odysseus murders all the suitors even after one promised to pay him back: “Eurymachus, if you offered me all the goods you got from your own fathers, everything which you now own [...]not even then would I hold back my hands from slaughter, not until the suitors pay for all their arrogance."As he did so, lord Odysseus shot an arrow. It struck him in the chest beside the nipple and drove the swift shaft straight down into his liver" (Book XXII, Lines 64-70). While the suitors deserve punishment, none of them endanger Odysseus in the current moment. However, Odysseus still chooses to end their lives full of anger and with a vengeful heart instead of in a just manner. Furthermore, after they die he makes his maids clean up their bodies, and hangs all the maids afterwards. These actions show themselves as excessive and cruel because the maids, while lazy, behaved much better than the suitors, serve as no threat, and at the very least, they were undeserving of death especially to such a cruel extent. Also, showing absolutely no mercy, makes him a hypocrite as he too proves his irresponsibility as none of his crew members survived. Odysseus, while intelligent and persistent, his infidelity, humongous ego, and ruthless murdering kill any chance of him being a
Odysseus feels proud of blinding Polyphemus since he goes to the lengths of proclaiming his name for credit which soon proves itself as an idiotic move as well because Poseidon then destroys their ship after having heard Polyphemus’ prayer about …show more content…
Odysseus murders all the suitors even after one promised to pay him back: “Eurymachus, if you offered me all the goods you got from your own fathers, everything which you now own [...]not even then would I hold back my hands from slaughter, not until the suitors pay for all their arrogance."As he did so, lord Odysseus shot an arrow. It struck him in the chest beside the nipple and drove the swift shaft straight down into his liver" (Book XXII, Lines 64-70). While the suitors deserve punishment, none of them endanger Odysseus in the current moment. However, Odysseus still chooses to end their lives full of anger and with a vengeful heart instead of in a just manner. Furthermore, after they die he makes his maids clean up their bodies, and hangs all the maids afterwards. These actions show themselves as excessive and cruel because the maids, while lazy, behaved much better than the suitors, serve as no threat, and at the very least, they were undeserving of death especially to such a cruel extent. Also, showing absolutely no mercy, makes him a hypocrite as he too proves his irresponsibility as none of his crew members survived. Odysseus, while intelligent and persistent, his infidelity, humongous ego, and ruthless murdering kill any chance of him being a