The Odyssey Essay

What is a good leader? A leader must express certain virtues, embody ideals, and value a culture considered admirable. A leader must emerge victorious from any situations no matter how perilous to be considered such. Strength, courage, intelligence, and loyalty are almost prerequisites. A leader must not only portray these qualities, but they set an example as each of these qualities. Leaders are a role model to the ones who needs guidance in life. In the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus will possess many characteristics and virtues that make him a true representation of a leader. As many characteristics that Odysseus possess on his journey, three marks him as a unique individual among other epic heroes. They are strength, courage, intelligence, and loyalty. His charisma and reputation depict him as a deity among men and a worthy king amongst his people. Odysseus’s physical strength and courage demand respect and his cunning were admired by all.

Odysseus is a good leader. He is intelligent because he is able to look at every entire situation and figure out the best way to get out of it. To begin, Odysseus makes brilliant decisions showing that he is smart. In the story, Odysseus outsmarts The Cyclops and tells his men to cling to the underside of one of The Cyclops’ goat. The monster checks the backs of the goats as they leave, but not underneath them, “ slung a man under each middle one to ride there safely, shielded left and right” (9. 425-426). When the goats go out to pasture they carry Odysseus and his men to freedom. Odysseus saves his men from danger proving his intelligence. Although, before this was able to happen Odysseus tricks The Cyclops by saying his name is Nohbdy, “my name is Nohbdy: mother, father, and friends, everyone calls me Nohbdy’” (9. 360-361). He tell The Cyclops that is his name because it is part of his plan when he stabs The Cyclops in the eye and The Cyclops cries for help, “Nohbdy, Nohbdy’s tricked me. Nohbdy’s ruined me!” (9. 402-404). When Odysseus does that just shows his intelligent way of looking at a situation and planning to get out of it. Therefore as a conclusion, Odysseus’s intelligence helps him save his life and his soldier’s lives.

Like Martin Luther King Jr., Odysseus’s stood for what he believes in even in the face of adversity. Martin Luther King Jr. taught that all men are created equal in a time when racial segregation and inequality was the norm. Likewise, Odysseus faces a situation where the popular choice would have been for him to accept immortality with Calypso, but instead he holds his conviction to return to the love of his wife and son,