Question

Faced with the choice between Scylla and Charybdis, Odysseus must make a choice. He chooses Scylla and he knows this means that six men will die, yet he withholds this information from his crew. Is this a strength or a weakness in his character? Explain.

Answer 1

The way that this shows that Odysseus Is a good leader is that it forces him to make a pretty tough decision. Odysseus knows that he will need to sell very near the Scylla to avoid Charybdis. He knows that if he does, some of his men will be killed by the monster.

Answer 2

I think Odysseus was very wrong to not tell his men about Scylla. He showed great arrogance in not listening to the advice of Circe, so this caused six of his men to die very painfully. Telling them would have prepared them for the oncoming danger, besides; they had faced many other dangers, so I do not really understand the reasoning of Odysseus for not telling them. We read in this book that Odysseus wants to be a hero and to be seen as a hero, and foolishly risks the lives of his men for his own selfish motives.

So in my opinion Odysseus showed great weaknes.