Not all bad guys laugh in the face of good deeds. Some might try to do the right thing, but in the end their poor choices outweigh the good. In the book The Odyssey, Odysseus is the perfect example of an impure person, who people may mistake for a hero. He has selfish desires, questionable decisions and a cocky attitude that takes him farther from his goal.
Selfish motives lead Odysseus and his crew on difficult journeys, which will impact their destination time. Odysseus has several opportunities to get what he needs, take off sailing again and set his sights for home. Instead, he takes advantage of what lay in front of him, like when he stayed with Circe on her island after Odysseus’ crew was reestablished as humans once again. After Odysseus’ …show more content…
Although Odysseus knows this on his many voyages across the sea, he still chooses not to tell his men about life altering decisions he’s made. After landing on the island of Aeolus and being gifted with a bag of wind strong enough to blow Odysseus’ ship back to Ithaca, Odysseus has the opportunity to trust his crew with this information but decides against it. Leaving his crew with curiosity and thoughts of Odysseus betraying them, they discretely open the bag of wind against his commands. In spite of it being the crew's fault for pushing the ship further from Ithaca, it was indeed Odysseus’ fault for not telling his men and trusting them not to open it. This was an important incident, because it was the first time Odysseus was seen as an unfaithful leader, and his motives were questioned. Being the antagonist in the setting of this story, an additional mistake Odysseus slipped up on, was when he was forced to make a decision about Scylla and Charybdis. Scylla, as described by Circe, was a monster with, “twelve legs like great tentacles/ unjointed, and upon her serpent necks/ are borne six heads like nightmares of ferocity/ with triple serried rows of fangs” (47-50). Charybdis, the worse of the two, was a violent whirlpool who, “Three times/ from dawn to dusk she spews [the sea] up/ and sucks it down again…” (63-65). Up to Odysseus, he had to choose which course they …show more content…
Odysseus has a healthy ego, as well as a cocky attitude. Although his attitude could have helped him develop a plan when he and his men were in a tricky situation, Odysseus can be a little too cocky. If he were to learn from his mistakes, he would reach home in the predicted amount of time, but he doesn’t. When he and several of his men escaped the Cyclops’ cave, they were within the safety of their ship when Odysseus had the urge to open his mouth and say something sharp-witted to the Cyclops. This quick movement of Odysseus alerted the Cyclops as to where he and his men were, which resulted in him rearing a large portion of the mountainside, and heaving it at Odysseus’ ship, nearly sinking it. In addition to this blunder, Odysseus felt the need to get the last word in before he set sail. He said to the Cyclops, “Cyclops,/ if ever mortal man inquire/ how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him/ Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye:/ Laertes’ son, whose home’s on Ithaca!” (361-364) Feeding to his cocky attitude, Odysseus revealed important information on where to find him and his people, as well as his real name. Not being the only problem resulting from his attitude, Odysseus also demanded revenge on the suitors when he once again landed on Ithaca. After killing Antinous, the other suitors take precautions and try to ration with Odysseus. Eurymachus confronts