In Homer’s epic, The Odyssey, by the end of chapter twelve Odysseus is the lone survivor of his crew, saved and cursed by Polyphemus’s prayer. Even though Polyphemus’s prayer intended to doom Odysseus, ironically it actually spared his life. Odysseus is saved by Polyphemus’s prayer because he prays to keep Odysseus alive long enough to return to his ruined homeland. After Odysseus stabbed Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon, Polyphemus prayed to his father, “‘Let him lose all companions, and return / under strange sail to bitter days at home’” (Odyssey 9.451-452). Since Odysseus is on the sea throughout the majority of his journey, Polyphemus’s father, the god of the sea, would have the power to control Odysseus’s journey. Since Polyphemus prayed for Odysseus to “return under strange sail” that meant that he must live long enough to make it home. …show more content…
He should have sunk with his crew, but he survived in order to bring truth to the prophecy that was now entwined with Odysseus’s journey. Although Odysseus’s life was spared, he was still terribly cursed by the prayer. Another part of Polyphemus’s prayer stated, “‘...Should destiny / intend that he shall see his roof again / among his family in his father land, / far be that day, and dark the years between’” (Odyssey 9.447-450). This means that if Odysseus does make it home, the years before he makes it back, and the years after, would be abhorrent. Odysseus’s men being killed in the end of chapter twelve, is a direct result of this part of Polyphemus’s prayer. There can be punishments worse than death, and that is exactly what Polyphemus
Imagine a man that sailed the sea for 10 years, conquered colossal cyclops, made a fool of unnerving sea monsters, and overtook the inconceivable god of the sea, Poseidon. This man is Odyssus from The Odyssey. Odysseus led thousands of men towards home after a well earned victory at a far away country named Troy. On his way back, he came upon an island that was inhabited by a giant one-eyed monster named Polyphemus. Odysseus lost 6 men to this monster and barely escaped with his life.
Not to mention demanding a gift since that was “custom” (Homer 566). Anyone could see that the situation was wrong and how Polyphemus could be angry. If Odysseus simply moved on from the island, his men’s lives could have been spared. A great example of this is when Odysseus and his men were coming up to Cyclops island and Odysseus knew that the people on the island were cyclops. He didn’t tell any of his men about the beings that lay within the island, causing them to blindly go toward their deaths.
When hearing this, Polyphemus prays to his father Poseidon, the king of the sea, to give Odysseus troubles during his voyage. He wants it to take a long time to get back home and him to only arrive there after a number of shipwrecks. He also wants Odysseus to be welcomed home to find out that his house had been invaded by men trying to replace him as king of Ithaca. If Odysseus had listened to his men telling him not to provoke the Cyclops, then Odysseus would not have been through these
Earlier in the epic, Odysseus frequently abuses his role as captain of his crew because of his curious nature. He makes several stops on their journey home in search of more opportunities to prove his skillfulness, even though he is already a king and has won a major war. One of these stops is at the Island of Polyphemus, home to the cyclops famed for eating all humans that enter his cave. Even though Odysseus is well aware of the danger ahead, his curiosity tempts him to
First off, when Odysseus spears the Polyphemus through the eye, he shouts his name at him and boasts that he was the one who just did it. He not only reveals his name, but also his father’s and his home. Due to this, Poseidon delays his trip by 10 years, and kills his entire crew near the ending of the story. Secondly, Odysseus probably didn’t have to stab Polyphemus’s eye. If he spared him, things would’ve been a lot more calmer and better.
Junior gives Inman up to the Home Guard who force Inman to walk for miles and days until “the hope of home [begins] fleeing him.” As a result, Junior nearly kills Inman, who only survives because a miracle allows him to survive being shot at. In contrast, Polyphemus curses Odysseus with a prayer to Poseidon that will make him “never see his home again,” causing Odysseus’s journey home to last nearly ten years. Polyphemus’s curse causes Odysseus ten years of grief and the loss of all his crew. Junior and Polyphemus parallel each other as they share very similar experiences in which they not only cause the protagonists grief in their encounters, but also leave the protagonists with a complication that persists beyond their encounter.
1.111-115). Since they broke into his house, Polyphemus wants to devour all of the men, but before he is able to, the men present a fake gift of wine so he gets drunk and falls asleep. After he falls asleep they poke his eye out with a burning stake, and escape by clinging to the bellies of the sheep running out to the pasture. After Odysseus gets into his boat, Polyphemus tries to get revenge by throwing a boulder at the ship, but barely misses because he couldn’t see. Polyphemus was misjudged because he defended himself, and the reader learns that Poseidon was actually his father once Odysseus finds out that Poseidon cursed his voyage.
Odysseus provoked Polyphemus, a giant, one-eyed monster, by plunging a burning stake into his eye and blinding him. In a fit of rage, Polyphemus condemned Odysseus by praying to Poseidon, “ ‘Hear me, great Poseidon; if I am indeed your own true begotten son, grant that Odysseus may never reach his home alive; or if he must get back to his friends at last, let him do so late and in sore plight after losing all his men let him reach his home in another man’s ship and find trouble in his house’ ” (Homer 100). Polyphemus pleaded to Poseidon to help put a curse on Odysseus and make his journey more grueling in order to prevent Odysseus from returning home to Ithaca. Polyphemus asking Poseidon, who is the god of sea, for assistance indicates that even monsters need the help of gods to interfere with a mortal’s
While Odysseus and his crew are slowly moving away from Cyclopes Island, Odysseus tells Polyphemus that he is “Odysseus, Laertes’ son,” whose home “lies on Ithaca” (Homer 459 and 460). Because of his arrogant decision to tell Polyphemus the truth of his origins, he essentially dooms him and his crew. Polyphemus, who is Poseidon's son, asks of his father to punish Odysseus for his arrogance, whom grants his prayer. In cessation, Odysseus’ haughty decision to tell Polyphemus his whereabouts leads to his utter
Polyphemus is Poseidon's son, the god of the sea. The way Odysseus used his patience in this case is when he waited two to three days to blind the Cyclops’. Odysseus was so good at this skill he watched Polyphemus eat some of his men one by one each day that passed, yet he was still patient. The longer he waited and had patience the better the plan went. This also worked with the Trojan horse at the battle of Troy.
In Homer’s The Odyssey, it seems that throughout all of Odysseus’ perils, he is never to blame. It is either the gods, his crew, or some other group of people that put him in a bad spot. In Book IX, Odysseus hatches a plan to escape the great cyclops, Polyphemus, and he succeeds, losing only a few men in the process. Despite the terrible hand he was delt by being placed in this situation, he gets off nearly unscathed.
From the onset of the book, death is a recurring event, persistent throughout the entire poem. In many ways, the Odyssey is the story of the death of all of Odysseus’ friends and fellow fighters during their return home from conquering Troy. These deaths are particularly heartbreaking to Odysseus because, normally, one would expect that all dying would conclude with the end of the war against Troy. In this case, however, the anticipation of his return to his family at home became a series of tragedies. This sequence of events changes his view and molds Odysseus’ character in regard to his surviving friends and family.
He was the only survivor and he did everything he was told to do. Divine intervention still impacts Odysseus’ life after his journey home. He would die at an old age because he followed all of the steps to get home. He would be remembered as a great hero who lost a lot and earned nothing, but a long eventful
Odysseus blinds and taunts the Cyclops Polyphemus, which leads to Polyphemus praying to his father, Poseidon, to curse Odysseus. The curse bestowed upon Odysseus by Poseidon is mentioned in book 9 lines 445-451 of The
The third time Odysseus shows that he had supernatural conflict is in the cyclops adventure, and it was caused by Odysseus and his crew, who tricked the cyclops many times. In the Odyssey, it states that Odysseus taunts at Polyphemus, and reveals his real name after Odysseus injured Polyphemus, and tricked him, which enraged him. After Polyphemus about Odysseus, he requested from his father, Poseidon, the god of sea, to curse Odysseus, and ask for revenge on Odysseus and his crew. As the results, Poseidon alternated the ocean’s courses during the journey