The Negative Effects of Hubris in The Odyssey by Homer

As Thomas Jefferson once said, â€Å"Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst, and cold†. Hubris causes excessive arrogance in people, and can lead to their downfall. In The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus, a prideful warrior, tries to get back home to the island of Ithaca. Odysseus’ hubris ends up leading to many problems for himself and his crew. Hubris played a negative role in The Odyssey due to Odysseus revealing his identity to Polyphemus, not telling his crew about Aeolus’ bag of winds, and staying with Circe for a year. Odysseus’ hubris played a negative role when Odysseus revealed his identity to Polyphemus. Odysseus and his crew had just managed to escape from the Cyclops, Polyphemus, after driving a stake into his eye. But then, Odysseus told the blinded Cyclops his identity by shouting, â€Å"Cyclops – if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so- say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out you eye, La ertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca† (9, 558-562). Odysseus managed to tell Polyphemus his name, father, and home. Polyphemus then prayed to Poseidon, his father, to get revenge on Odysseus. Poseidon ended up killing Odysseus’ entire crew and delaying Odysseus for 10 years. None of those terrible consequences would have happened if Odysseus had suppressed his enormous pride. Odysseus’ hubris resulted in a lot of suffering for many people. Odysseus’ hubris prevents Odysseus and his crew from getting back to Ithaca again when Odysseus didShow MoreRelatedCompare Odysseus and Oedipus Essay1739 Words   |  7 Pagesrelentless tenacity. On the other hand, Odysseus and Oedipus also demonstrate their crude habits with their hubris behavior throughout their own prophecy. In addition to the similarities, the powerful gods play a significant role which drastically affects Odysseus and Oedipus’s fate. The gods play a significant role in the outcome of Odysseus and Oedipus’ destiny. In the poem The Odyssey, Odysseus is an epic king who is trying to return to Ithaca from the Trojan War. Throughout Odysseus’ journeyRead More A Comparison of Oedipus and Odysseus Essay1901 Words   |  8 Pagesusually demonstrates examples of hubris throughout the tale, which ultimately makes his journey more difficult.   The epic heroes differences vary but in the epic tale, The Odyssey written by Homer, and the Greek drama, Oedipus The King written by Sophocles, the differences is what makes Oedipus fail and Odysseus succeed.   In both these tales, the powerful gods enormously affect their decisions and the consequences they eventually have to face.    In the tale The Odyssey, Odysseus, the epic hero,Read MoreHeoes of the Iliad and the Odyssey1610 Words   |  7 Pagesway through out the great epics of the time. It is perhaps the single most important entity to some of the most renowned heroes. However, the desire for honor seems to have the power to lead such famous men into the clutches of â€Å"excessive pride†, or hubris (Oxford Dictionaries.com). As a result, choices tend motivated by the idea of increasing not only their honor, but soothing their insulted pride. Their actions tend to be chosen because of their honor was insulted, which as a result has wounded theirRead MoreNumerology in The Odyssey How numbers are used throughout The Odyssey by Homer and how they all symbolize different events or characters in the book2372 Words   |  10 PagesNumerology in The Odyssey Everything is named or numbered, but few people are conscious of the degree to which names and numbers influence their experience, progress, and communication, declared Juno Jordan, the grandmother of numerology (qtd. in Lagerquist and Lenard 4). Numerology, the language of numbers and moreover the study of how they relate to our lives, speaks about the hidden worlds contained within the simplest numbers. Numerology attempts to analyze numerical information, and makesRead MoreOdysseus as a Tragic Hero2449 Words   |  10 Pagesevery case, these heroic tales would always end with tragedy; the hero would be killed by a jealous lover, go mad, or have a loved one taken away from him. However, one Greek hero existed whose story did not end with tragedy: Odysseus. Homers The Odyssey is unique among all other Greek myths in that it is the only story in which the hero does not meet a tragic end; why is this so? From his words to his actions and from his companions to the way he handles c ertain situations, Odysseus is vastly differentRead MoreHuman Identity Of Identity1170 Words   |  5 Pages† - Erik Erikson. This year in class we have read Night by Elie Wiesel, The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, The Odyssey by Homer, Beowulf, Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. All of these stories show how mankind’s identity has been shaped by family, power, and fear. Mankind’s identity has been shaped by family. This is evident in Night, The Odyssey, and Oedipus Rex. In Night, Elie Wiesel and his father are separated from his mother and his sisters. So they stayRead MoreShakespeare s Hamlet : A Critical Thinker908 Words   |  4 Pagesstrike. A prominent component of this play is the act of revenge. â€Å"...In the complex web of human destinies, where so many lives are meshed intricately together, the freely chosen actions of one individual may breed damaging, entirely unforeseeable effects in the lives of others†¦Ã¢â‚¬  King Claudius uses revenge to get back at Hamlet for putting his reign of power on the line. Unfortunately, his plan leads to unintended consequences, leading to the death of nine main characters in the end. The mother ofRead Moretheme of alienation n no where man by kamala markandeya23279 Words   |  94 PagesAthens. Sophocles married twice (first to Nicostrate, and then to Theoris of Sccyon) and had two sons: Iophon, the tragedian, and Agathon, father of the younger Sophocles, also a writer of tragedies. The Greeks regarded Sophocles as a kind of tragic Homer, hailed him as the favorite of the gods and honored him with state sacrifices long after his death. The last part of his life coincided with the glorious age of Cimon and Pericles, the period of Athens’ greatest prosperity. Although he showed little