Analysis Of Polyphemus In The Odyssey

Nevertheless, the majority of Polyphemus’ purportedly savage acts that Odysseus finds fault with are replicated by the Greek hero. Odysseus and his shipmates linger in the Cyclops’ cave in hopes of a guest-gift—a custom under the rules of xenia—despite themselves being unobservant of the practice. Xenia dictates that the guest is obliged to treat the host well and not impose on their home for a prolonged period; however, Odysseus almost immediately violates this principle by mooring their ship without permission

In The Odyssey, Odysseus is portrayed as a hero whose only flaw is his pride. In The Penelopiad, he is characterized as almost the opposite. Penelope states that she “had inklings, about his slipperiness, his wiliness, his foxiness…, his unscrupulousness, but [she] turned a blind eye” (Atwood 3). She claims that he was a cheat, a liar, and a thief. Before starting this novella, I had a clear image of Odysseus; but, now I have no idea who he truly is as a character.

It could be said that he is not a hero because after he defeats Polyphemus, he yells to him, “If I could take your life I would and take your time away, and hurl you down to hell! The god of earthquake could not heal you there!”(479-481). By saying this, he was challenging a god and belittling Poseidon's power, which does not aline with Greek values. Still, this does not make Odysseus less of a hero. What he said was wrong, but he was punished and he changed his ways.

For instance, Macbeth knows that killing the king is morally wrong, and talks many times of why he should not do it. But, Macbeth still goes through with killing the king because his wild ambition drives him to it, even though logically he should not have killed Duncan. After the killing of Duncan Macbeth deeply regrets his actions, in Act II scene II he says “What hands are here? Ha, they pluck out mine eyes. / Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my hand?

However, as Polyphemos attacked the ship with rock, Odysseus again made to yell back to the beast. Around him, his crew muttered, “‘Godsake, Captain!/Why bait the beast again? Let him alone!’” (Book 9, Lines 537 - 538) All the crew wanted was to get out safely. They realized that Odysseus needn’t “bait the beast again.” They ask “Captain!, Why” for they see Odysseus is merely being cocky. Yet, Odysseus ignores them and respond to the monster by shouting “Kyklops,/if ever mortal man inquire/how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him/Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye:/Laertes’ son, whose home is Ithaca!” (Book 9, Lines 548 - 552) Odysseus makes a very large tactical mistake; he tells Polyphemos’ that his is “Odysseus … Laertes’ son.” Odysseus demonstrates recklessness and selfishness because he wishes to take credit for “put[ing] Polyphemos to shame”.

Although, there are two sides to every argument, it is much more reasonable and clear to view Odysseus as unheroic. Through his careless acts and help from the gods, Odysseus is evidently not a hero. Odysseus is not a hero due to his irresponsible and illogical actions. As soon as Odysseus and his crew escape from the island of the Cyclopes, Odysseus foolishly shouts to Polyphemus, a Cyclops, that “if any mortal

His knowledge of the future still did not enable him to understand the full extent of his punishment. Furthermore, though he claims himself the enemy of those who submit to Zeus, he also argues that sympathizing with Zeus’s enemy—in this case himself—is “a load of toil and foolishness” (14). He believes that it is, and presumably was, unintelligent to align oneself in opposition to the king of the gods. Finally, although he lauds the benefit he gave specifically to the originally “Senseless” humans (16), he later seems unhappy that he chose humans, saying they are useless to him. In the middle of delineating all the good, admirable things he did for them, he laments that humans have “no invention / To rid me of this shame”

The first defence was against the claim that he had corrupted the youth, “[I]t’s Meletus who is guilty of playing around with serious matters, of lightly bringing people to trial, and of professing to be seriously concerned about things he has never cared about at all” (Plato, Apology, 24c). By saying this is, Socrates addresses his opinion on Meletus, that Meletus is somebody who knows nothing about a situation, yet brings people to trial and pretends to be concerned about things, when in reality- he never cared. The second defence was against the claim that he philosophized cosmology. Meaning, he studied the earth, emphasizing that he never believed in a God, which made him look as if he lacked impiety. Socrates defence against this was, “You aren’t all convincing, Meletus, not even, it seems to me, to yourself.

And at its climax, the chorus, representing his Theban people, disavowed King Oedipus and his contributions to Thebes saying it would have been better without him. These acts combined drive the humiliated Oedipus towards self-punishment, exile, and to his piteous, shameful fate. Sophocles in Oedipus the King puts the idea of truth and knowledge in the spotlight of Greek and modern audiences. Although Oedipus himself meets a collectively negative end, the power of truth is revealed through his misery. Some things are best left to the Gods rather than in the minds of men, it would have been to Oedipus’ ignorant bliss.

Argos needs a hero and they ask Perseus to save their kingdom. While in the Greek story version, the king of Argos is scared of his future when told that his grandson will be his killer. King Acrisius decides to send his grandson off to the ocean in hopes that it kills him and his destiny will not be fulfilled. Both stories have similarities and differences. Similarities are more difficult