Role Of Loyalty In The Odyssey

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What does loyalty mean to you? When would a person show loyalty to someone? Why wouldn’t someone show loyalty? In The Odyssey, written by Homer, you follow the legendary Odysseus and his journey on his way home to Ithaca from the Trojan War. On his way back, he faces many challenges with his crew by his side. He meets many awesome people that help him significantly, but he also meets some horrible people that put him in a lot of danger. To get out of those rough times, he puts a lot of responsibility of his crew. On the trip home, Odysseus’ crew tries to help him out as much as they can, but sometimes he doesn’t do things that leaders are supposed to do. Odysseus does not deserve loyalty from his crew because he makes bad decisions, puts them …show more content…
Making bad decisions is one of these hurtful things. One of these decisions is when him and his crew visit the Cyclops' cave. He actually made two bad decisions at the Cyclops' cave. First, the overall decision to go into the cave and try to find the Cyclops. “There we built a fire, set our hands on the cheese, / offered some to the gods and ate the bulk ourselves / and settled down inside, awaiting his return…” - (9.260-262). This was not a smart choice because they have never meet a cyclopes before, and then when they just walk into its cave it probably won’t make it very happy. This got 4 of his crew members killed by doing this. Next, when the crew is leaving the island and Odysseus yells out his name to tell the Polyphemus. Odysseus yells, “‘Cyclops - / if any man on the face of the earth should ask you / who blinded you, shamed you so - you say Odysseus, / raider of cities, he gouged out your eye, / Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca!’” - (9.558-562). The only thing that came out of telling him his name was now the Cyclops could pray to his dad, Poseidon, about who to kill - which is bad. There was no point in saying his name at all. And when he did do this, Odysseus almost got them all killed, twice, when the Cyclopes threw the huge boulders back at them. A leader who puts his followers in dangerous situations time after time, does not …show more content…
He does not deserve any loyalty from them. If someone doesn’t like you, there is no way you can like them back. And if that person keeps putting you in great danger because of his poor leadership, there is no reason you should show them loyalty. From (10.100-133) when 11 of the 12 ships got destroyed by the Laestrygonians in the dangerous cove, shows this very well. “Here the rest of my rolling squadron steered, / right into the gaping cave… But I alone anchored my black ship outside, / well clear of the harbor’s jaws / … Down from the cliffs they flung great rocks a man could hardly hoist / and ghastly shattering din rose up from all the ships - ” After Odysseus sensed danger, he just stayed out of the cove, letting the rest of his crew to go in and get killed. If a leader lets his crew get killed without putting up a fight, he is very selfish and doesn’t care about anyone but himself. If Odysseus wants to see loyalty from his crew, he is going to have to treat them with more appreciation. Also, about midway through the book, when Odysseus sent his crew ahead of them and they got turned into pigs, is another example of this. “We quickly shook lots in a bronze helmet - / the lot of brave Eurylochus leapt out first / … Once they’d drained the bowls she filled, suddenly / she struck with her wand, drove them into her pigsties, / all of them bristling into swine -” - (10.225-263). A good
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