Hubris in the Odyssey Essay Example

There is a lot of danger and/or obstacles to come when you have too much hubris or excessive pride. Throughout the poem “The Odyssey '' by Homer, you tend to see a lot of hubris portrayed through the main character Odysseus. It was something that was common to read and frequently “seen” as Odysseus has excessive pride probably due to being named King of Ithaca, Hero of the Trojan War, Best Leader of all, etc.. Since Odysseus has so much hubris, he tends to do things impulsively that at the end of the day he tends to get into, “a little” trouble. But, hubris was not only shown through Odysseus but also his crew and other monster interactions.

One of the very early signs of Odysseus showing Hubris was through chapter nine, The Cyclopes. Odysseus and his crew are trapped in a Cyclops (Polyphemus) cave and are making a plan to escape the cave back to their ship(s). After Odysseus gets the Cyclops drunk and stabs his eye he makes a break for it and leaves the cave under the sheep. Instead of making a quiet escape, he made a taunting comment stating, “If I could take your life I would and take your time away, and hurll you down to hell!” (564) Odysseus here is shown to be taunting the Cyclops after getting him drunk and stabbing his eye, and saying that if they were to meet again he would drag him to hell and no one would be able to save the Cyclops then. Doing this actually ended up causing his voyage home to take about 20 years.

Not only was hubris shown from Odysseus in chapter nine but also from the Cyclops, Polyphemus. Polyphemus is a Cyclops but also the son of Poseidon, god of the sea, earthquakes, horses, and storms at sea. The Cyclops was wronged by being stabbed in the eye and tricked by Odysseus, so he prayed to his father to do something about it and Poseidon did what his son asked and made Odysseus pay for it. But the Cyclops also showed hubris in trapping Odysseus and his crew in his cave. When Odysseus and his crew were offering him a gift as a sign of respect they mentioned something about the gods but the Cyclops didn’t care for the gods. “You are a ninny, or else you come from the other end of nowhere, telling me, mind the gods! We Cyclopes care not a whistle for your thundering Zeus or all the gods in bliss; we have more force by far!” (567) By saying this, Cyclopes says he has no care for humans nor gods because he feels a superiority towards humans because they are small and useless. He also feels that way towards gods because he is built huge and macho, he and other Cyclopes believe they are stronger and have more power than the gods.

Even hubris was shown through Odysseus’ crew from landing on the island of Aeolus to leaving and returning back to the island. When they landed on the island they stayed for a month and when the king extended his hospitality, he gifted Odysseus a fair west wind that will blow the fleet of ships towards ithaca, and a great bag holding all the unfavorable, stormy winds. “Within sight of home, and while Odysseus is sleeping, the men open the nag, thinking it contains gold and silver. The bad winds thus escape and blow the ships back to Aeolus’ island. The king refuses to help them again, believing now that their voyage has been cursed by the gods” (1224) When Odysseus and his crew land on King Aeolus' island they were given two gifts for a quicker arrival to Ithaca. While they were sailing away, the men felt pride in the fact that they didn’t know what was in those bags, they went as far to believe it was gold or treasure. They also believed that it was smart to open those bags without the approval of Odysseus, which led them in storms and had to sail back to Aeolus’ island and ask for help once more. The king refused to help again because he now believed the entire voyage had been cursed by the gods. This soon discouraged the sailors but they were able to find a new island to stop for a brief moment.

Throughout the story “The Odyssey” the frequent appearance of hubris has represented those trials and obstacles of Odysseus’ journey. Even though he acted foolish and ended up taking way longer than needed to get home, he had to go through so many more dangerous events due to his excessive pride. He was even told to drop the hubris act or he would then again be put into more dangerous situations (he didn’t drop the act). Fortunately they all managed to arrive home safely and in one piece. Given these points, hubris or excessive pride is shown to bring danger and/or obstacles into your life.