During the "Wanderings of Odysseus," we got to see if the descriptions of Odysseus (made by Menelaus, etc.) matched his actions.
In the books we've read so far, Odysseus has been portrayed as the "best at every kind of trick" (3. 123-124). Menelaus, Nestor, and many of others have described Odysseus as a perfect person who was extremely wise and skilled. He is credited with many successful battles and strategies such as the Trojan Horse. We get a vibe of Odysseus being perfect and the best at everything.
Does this description match up though?
First, let's talk about how Odysseus deserves to be respected and how the idea that he's amazing at everything is somewhat true.
After the Trojan War, Odysseus does many things that no other man has ever done. For example, he visited Hades, withstood the Sirens' song, and survived Scylla and Charybdis (Books 11-12). Along the way, he was able to endure many terrible events such as surviving Charybdis's whirlpool by gripping the trunk of a fig tree (12. 430-436). After being freed from Calypso's captivity, he was able to build a raft from scratch and outlast the wrath of Poseidon while at sea (with the aid of a few gods). While in the care of the Phaecians, he was able to defeat King Alcinous's sons in multiple physical competitions (despite missing workouts while on his raft). It's safe to say that Odysseus isn't your average soldier.
Odysseus is also pretty smart. His cleverness can be seen in his accomplishments at Troy (Trojan Horse), and especially in tricking Polyphemus. Introducing himself as "No man," even though he doesn't attack Polyphemus for a while, goes to show how clever and how he's a few steps ahead of everyone else.
While I fully agree that Odysseus is a physical and intellectual specimen, I'm not too sure about his leadership and heroic qualities. Odysseus does many things that are questionable. For example, one of the examples we emphasized in class was how he kept yelling at Polyphemus after defeating him. Odysseus says "Hey, you, Cyclops! Idiot!" (9. 475). The rest of the crew is begging Odysseus to stop, as his voice was providing Polyphemus with a general idea of where the ship was, which allowed the cyclops to throw rocks that barely missed. On another day, Odysseus might've gotten his crew killed due to his arrogance and recklessness.
Another very noticeable occurrence in the "Wanderings of Odysseus" is that many crew members die for Odysseus's personal goals. We see Odysseus sacrifice some of his best soldiers; he was the one who proposed going to Polyphemus, resulting in many of his men being eaten. In fact, Odysseus's "No man" name, although it provided some use later, made sure that he would be the last man eaten. It's clear to see that Odysseus doesn't really mind losing a few soldiers. At least, he doesn't show much grief; only one soldier got a funeral, and he died by falling off a roof (one of the less glorious deaths).
Finally, Odysseus makes some questionable decisions which leads to him losing control of his crew. Not notifying his crew about the their impending death by Scylla is a questionable decision (12. 224). He decided to stay on Circe's island for a whole year, and needed to having one of his crew members, Eurylochus, remind him of their ultimate goal. In fact, when Odysseus was challenged by Eurylochus, he had to be retrained from chopping Eurylochus's head off (10. 440-442). Odysseus lost control of his crew a couple of times to Eurylochus, who never had any malicious intent; many of his reasons were extremely logical. When one thinks of a great leader, they don't normally think of someone who doesn't have a strong grip on their team. In fact, you could say that Odysseus is more of a dictator than a leader, as he doesn't trust his crew members, and his actions are usually for himself, not the whole ship.
Recently I've also been questioning how heroic Odysseus actually is. Like you said, he does overcome a lot of difficult obstacles but something I see missing from him is a higher regard for his crew's safety and well-being. In my opinion, selflessness is a key characteristic of a hero which makes me doubt if I can truly consider Odysseus one.
ReplyDeleteNice post my man. One thing that you didn't mention was that a lot of his success isn't really his own, but Athena's divine intervention. In the epic, it is often explicitly stated that Athena gives him inspiration to do something, or more strength. So I definitely agree that he is quite overrated.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the points you make here. Odysseus is clearly an amazing warrior, but as a leader he treats his men as pawns, acting with little to no regard for their safety. Many of Odysseus' decisions as a leader, even if they don't get anyone killed right away, often result in a major setback in their journey. Odysseus didn't tell his men that Aeolus had given him winds in the bag, and as a result they ended up back at Aeolia.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I agree with you in that Odysseus isn't necessarily portrayed as the most ideal hero, as he makes many mistakes along the way. I think it is important, however, to consider that we are hearing this story from Odysseus' point of view. While I only read little snippets of Books 6 through 12, I thought that these sections describing "mistakes" actually felt a little bit regretful, or at the very least not boastful. Perhaps he is acknowledging his mistakes through his literary tone during these parts, while being honest in his pride of his successful cleverness. Although you do make a good point, I think the story becomes a little more complicated if we judge the story through its narrative context. Perhaps he becomes a more worthy hero through his admission of his mistakes?
ReplyDeleteOdysseus definitely tries to take on the role of "leader". He's strong, smart, and leads men. But I feel that this makes him arrogant, and that since he's the leader he needs to ensure his own success, and that because he's the leader he's the best and the last one standing.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a lot of posts noting how little Odysseus reacts to his crew being picked off. Maybe it's just that Odysseus is used to people dying after going through the Trojan war. Modern armies have much better training and equipment, so people don't die as much in wars, but in ancient Greece, and even up to about the 1600s, wars always involved a lot of people dying, and many of them not from combat. So I think that Odysseus might not be meant to be as callous as towards his crew's deaths as we make him out to be. That said, he does come off as self-centered.
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm curious about is how he was portrayed in the Illiad. I feel like things would make so much sense if he was the great hero that he is known as in the Illiad, but then the war and the time away from home has broken him into the troubled and "complicated" man that Homer portrays him as in the Odyssey. But as someone who hasn't read the Illiad, who knows haha. A theory though.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Odysseus isn't always the best role model--there's a reason that he's called "confusing," I guess.
ReplyDeleteHe meets the criteria needed to be seen as a great hero from an ancient Greek perspective: he's strong and is able to win battles through his bravery (I'd even go as far to say recklessness?) and scary intellect. Odysseus is kind of the embodiment of the ancient Greeks' ideal "macho ma." You could even say the way he is able to keep functioning normally after his crew's deaths shows physical and emotional resilience and makes him an even better war hero.
At the same time, however, he is kind of a questionable hero by our modern standards. His disregard for the lives of his crew and the people around him is concerning--most of the people in literature who treat other humans like pawns in order to accomplish their own goals are the villains in their stories.