The Odyssey Group

Question:

yeganeh
yeganeh
Student
College - Sophomore

What vice [character flaw] gets Odysseus into trouble?

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Posted by yeganeh on Saturday June 7, 2008 at 9:36 PM and tagged with character flaw, characters, odysseus, the odyssey.

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  1. amethystrose Teacher
    High School - 9th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Odysseus' ego is what really gets him into trouble.  After blinding the Cyclops, Polyphemus, Odysseus could have made a clean get-away without anyone except the crew to know who had blinded him.  Odysseus had told the Cyclops that his name was "Nobody", so that when the Cyclops was screaming in pain that Nobody blinded him, those who heard his cries went away.  But Odysseus, being the arrogant man that he is, wants to make sure that Polyphemus knows who stuck the stick in his eye, so he shouts his name and address from the safety of his ship as he passes by.  Since Polyphemus had been told by a prophet that a man named Odysseus would someday blind him, but that he could be healed, Polyphemus was not angry.  He even invited Odysseus to come back.  Odysseus, in his arrogant manner, said that if he came back, he'd do more than just blind the Cyclops.  Now this is what made Polyphemus mad and led him to ask for his father Poseidon's help in cursing Odysseus, thus forshadowing all the rest of the obstacles Odysseus had to overcome in order to get home.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/odyssey/book-9-summary-analysis
    http://www.enotes.com/odyssey/character-analysis

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    Posted by amethystrose on Sunday June 8, 2008 at 4:19 PM

  2. larrylarde123
    larrylarde123

    He's stupid and needs a life.  This isnt even real so get over it!!

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    Posted by larrylarde123 on Sunday October 25, 2009 at 4:44 PM