It was my assumption that Odysseus, like Rama in the Ramayana, was an idealistic hero whose attributes were meant to be echoed by society. As we’ve gotten to know him during his time on Phaecia, he’s shown “build and brains and flowing speech to all,” attributes that seemed to make somewhat of a role-model (Book 8, Line 194). Though he lied and self-gratified at times, in each case it seemed his only objective was to make a good impression and ultimately get home, which he’s no doubt deserved after his immense suffering. Yet now that Odysseus is telling us his story, it’s beginning to look like he might serve more as a Gilgamesh, a troubled king who’s mistakes the audience should learn from, rather than his triumphs. One quality in particular shocked me – the sheer arrogance of Odysseus.
We saw it at first in his willingness to exaggerate and eagerness to have his story told in the presence of the Phaecians. And it was clear that he felt his masculinity threatened when he was challenged at sports, finding it necessary to not only out-throw his competition but intimidate them with words. But now that we have been given a lens with which to view his past, it appears that Odysseus is quite pretentiousness around his comrades, rather than humble. He calls his brothers in arms “mutinous fools” (Book 9, Line 51) and the cyclops Polythemus a “giant, lawless brute” (Book 9, Line 478), yet he is the one who, by his own hubris, decides to explore the giants cave and stay long enough to encounter him. His cockiness betrays him again when he finally escapes the island, only to be nearly recaptured after taunting the Cyclops. Had Odysseus simply left without announcing his name, Polythemus could not have laid his curse one him, and his journey would home would have been swift and safe. But as Jonas said in his post “To Boast or not to Boast” bragging brings out the rage in his enemies.
I guess the question is, are these qualities meant to be looked down upon? Homer puts them in the story in such a subtle way that there isn’t a negative or positive connotation. And we’ve already seen how masculine superiority is revered in Greek society; look at the king Agamemmnon, “whose fame is the proudest thing on earth these days, so great a city he sacked, such multitudes he killed” (Book 9, Lines 297-299). It may very well be that arrogance and overzealous pride (in other words, cockiness) are simply attributes of the ideal, war-going man. What do you guys think: does Odysseus suffer from hubris, or simply carry the confidence (or overconfidence) associated with a hero?
I agree with Aric that Odysseus' character has changed for the worse in the last few books. I think that these negative qualities such as overconfidence, lack of restraint and bragging are mostly looked down upon but sometimes are neutral.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best examples of bragging about one's achievements that we have seen so far was the situation with Ajax. After Poseidon saves Ajax from a storm, the mortal promptly gives himself all of the credit. Poseidon is offended, and dashes Ajax's ship against the rocks. This leads me to believe that bragging and exaggerating about achievements is looked down upon. As a side note, this value would lend towards the idea that Odysseus' narration is at least not grossly twisted; the gods would probably not be happy if he took all the credit for certain achievements.
Odysseus often admits at certain points in his story that he lacked restraint. When his men are rowing away from the Cyclops' island, he says that he unwisely taunted Polyphemus, even as his crew members begged him to keep his head. The fact that he describes his rant as caused by anger and says that he had "vaunted"(Book 9 line 563) leads me to believe that he does not look at this outbreak as a good thing. While this may be because of the translator, I get the feeling from his choice of words that Odysseus thinks that this lack of restraint was not at all flattering, and therefore was not showing the traits of a hero.
Finally, I think that the overconfidence Odysseus shows in the universality of the guest-host rules is neither praised nor looked down upon. He looses many of his men due to this overconfidence, but doesn't seem to ever stress that this was his fault. If the people hearing this story blamed this loss of life on Odysseus, it would lower their opinion of him. Therefore, Odysseus would probably never mention his overconfidence, or possibly admit that he had made the mistakes, in order to guarantee himself a ride home.