The Cyclops In The Odyssey

In Homer’s “The Odyssey,” Odysseus meets a cyclops named Polyphemus. The Ithacan army finds a cave full of food, and they decide to collect some goods. The cyclops then comes and encloses them in the cave. Since cyclops eat man, Odysseus must come up with a plan. His plan is to give Polyphemus wine, so then he falls asleep and he can poke his one eye out. Poseidon, the sea god, then gives Odysseus a challenging ride back to their hometown, Ithaca.

I believe Odysseus and the cyclops have equal blame for what happened. I believe Odysseus is to blame for his rudeness towards the cyclops and for trespassing onto his land and taking his food. I also believe the cyclops is to blame as well for his outrageous behavior and for well, eating several of Odysseus's men in response to them trespassing. So in all honesty I can't blame one more than the other. In other words, that is why I can't say for certain who I would be cheering more for.

Some people may think that the cyclops is the greatest villain for many reasons, he is loud, strong and angry. To begin, the cyclopes is loud. According to the text, the cyclopes was stabbed by a huge stick in the eye, and “he woke with a hideous scream and the greeks immediately scattered out of his reach (Homer 27).” This shows that the cyclopes is really loud because he woke with a hideous scream, it is true that the cyclops is loud. Additionally, the cyclopes is strong. In the text, when the cyclopes and his friend had gone he groped this

         So far in the Odyssey Odysseus seems to be the most dangerous character for a couple of reasons. In book nine of the Odyssey Odysseus refuses to leave the Cyclopes Island out of curiosity. He said and I quote “ I wished to see the caveman, what he has to offer “. Staying on the island proves to be a mistake for many of his men were eaten by the cyclop. Odysseus sacrificed many of his men just to see this “ caveman”. Many lives would have been safe if Odysseus had listened to his men and had taken the sheep and cheeses for the rest of the voyage. Another example of how dangerous Odysseus is when

According to the book on how Odysseus approached the situation about Scylla, it says, “That was all, and it brought them round to action. But as I sent them on toward Scylla, I told them nothing, as they could do nothing.”(L. 160-162), and thus showing his foolishness. Odysseus continued onward and gave his men an illusion of victory and safety that they would be able to pass through this enormous obstacle they come upon. Odysseus knew it himself that he and his men may not be able to get through this big of an obstacle, but he just pushed them forward. This shows an act of foolishness as leader because he did not notify his men of the dangerous obstacle coming towards him, but just keeps put to leave his men to fend for themselves. An example of Odysseus’ arrogance is when Odysseus brags to Cyclops and yells out, “O Cyclops! Would you feast on my companions? Puny am I, in a Caveman’s hands? How do you like the beating that we gave you…” (L. 390-392). This piece of evidence has two parts on how Odysseus endangers his men. The outcome of Odysseus’ outburst is a majority of his men dying and being cursed by Cyclops’s father, Poseidon, the God of the Sea. This shows how Odysseus bragging and his arrogance leads his men and him to danger. The role of a leader should be to lead his men to safety and

The Odyssey by Homer is a book that involves the Journey of Odysseus and his men and the Obstacles they come across. The Odyssey portrays many themes including vengeance, hospitality, courage, bravery and more. Odysseus experiences some good and bad during his journey. He comes across people who help him, but also comes across creatures who hold him back. Odysseus is an Epic hero because of his quick thinking skills, bravery, and confidence for himself and his men.

The concept of hero has been interpreted in many ways throughout the ages. Hero have gone from knights slaying dragons and rescuing the princess, to heroes who save the world with their supernatural-like powers, to a modern day hero who is someone who has noble qualities and is regarded as a role model. In the epic, The Odyssey, by Robert Fagles, the heroic Odysseus is a well known in Greek mythology. However, although Odysseus is the most respected, honorable hero of Greek mythology he is not a modern hero. A modern day hero is someone who puts their life on the line to save the lives of other innocent people. In The Odyssey, Odysseus’ characteristics do not fit in the definition of a modern hero, he illustrates a naive and a arrogant epic hero.

TS1 (Thesis): In The Odyssey, Homer depicts Odysseus’ real foe as the theme of temptation with displays of hubris and lustrous goddesses, which portrays the importance of being vigilant to not submit to temptation.

The cyclops Polyphemus effectively sets up the entire plot of Homer’s Odyssey, unleashing Poseidon’s wrath on Odysseus and consequently emerging as one of his most formidable rivals. Despite being perceived by Odysseus as an uncivilized savage and the polar opposite of a Greek citizen, it becomes evident that although the two are opposed in terms of customs, they fundamentally resemble one another when analyzed through the lens of xenia, rendering Odysseus’ worldview xenophobic. Thus, the Polyphemus episode turns into a powerful allegory for how the West has traditionally viewed people from foreign cultures that they sought to subjugate.

In the story, Odysseus is still speaking to the Phaeacians, but is now telling them of his encounter with Polyphemus, the cyclops. Strong winds blew Odysseus and his men to Polyphemus’ island, where they unloaded and entered a cave that Polyphemus happened to live in. When he entered the cave, he closed the entrance with a large boulder that only he could move, trapping himself, his sheep, and Odysseus inside. After he ate some of Odysseus’ men, Odysseus devised a plan to get the cyclops to move the boulder so that the men could escape. He gave Polyphemus liquor, making him drunk, and shoved a massive makeshift spear into his the cyclops’ only eye. Polyphemus immediately moved the stone, but then blocked the entrance with

Being an epic hero is not something that anyone can do. It requires qualities such as strength, courage, and intelligence. All of these qualities are presented by the character Odysseus. His strong emotional wall kept him alive and going during the twenty years that he was gone from home. Odysseus not only showed mental strength he also demonstrated physical strength. Even when the odds were impossible he would come out victorious, almost without a scratch. Odysseus also presented a strong sense of intelligence. He could outsmart basically anyone he encountered, even the sons of the gods! His impressive characteristics would lead him to believe that he is one with the gods, which is not true and would eventually come to an abrupt realization

The main conflict Odysseus runs into is the Cyclops. The Cyclops traps Odysseus and his crew in his cave and devours four of Odysseus’ men.”Neither reply nor pity . . . made his meal of the men.” Odysseus who became enraged by this stabs the Cyclops in the eye. “Just so that eyeball hissed around the spike.” Odysseus shows rash behavior because of the Cyclops killing of his men. The conflict is resolved when Odysseus and his crew are able to escape the Cyclops. The result of the resolution was that no more of his men would be killed by the Cyclops. Odysseus ran into conflict but wisdom and cunning helped him resolve them.

In Book Nine, Odysseus and his men are trapped by the giant Cyclops in his cave. In this situation, the men face several problems. One problem is how unmoved, and unpitying the Cyclops is. Odysseus told the Cyclops about being blown off course and Zeus’s spite towards them. To this, the cyclops gave a blasphemous response. However, Odysseus was ready with a lie to build sympathy and told him that Poseidon was the one who wrecked their ship and forced them to be beached . The Cyclops did not pity them or gave a response, instead he grabbed two of Odysseus’s companions, beat their brains out, and ate them. Another problem is that after they are imprisoned by this savage and colossal cyclops, they realize that they do not have the strength necessary

Written by the famous Greek author, Homer, The Odyssey depicts the tribulations of Odysseus’ voyage home, with one encounter featuring a barbaric humanoid: the Cyclops. Odysseus degrades and injures the creature, to which some may claim is inhumane and unnecessary, as the Cyclops was only abiding by its core principles. While I agree that the Cyclops acting on its own values is not inherently wrong, I do not believe that Odysseus was immoral in retaliating and hurting the Cyclops: as Odysseus was only following his own values. If one’s principles affect another, and it negatively impacts the recipient, then it should not be considered morally incorrect for them to resist and oppose, in order to maintain their own values.

Odysseus’ greed and desire to be treated as king causes Polyphemus to become enraged and hold his guests hostage. Polyphemus also began to devour his guests two-by-two and put Odysseus in danger, at his own fault. In seeing his greed, the reader can determine that Odysseus does not care for his men but only himself and his well being. In the execution of his plan to blind the cyclops, Odysseus launched the burning olive branch into Polyphemus’ eye as hard as he possibly could. After he lugged the branch in his eye, Odysseus proceeded to twist the branch and completely burn and destroy the cyclops’ eye ([374-380]). Odysseus extreme handling of the situation portrayed his anger being released. He drove the spear into Polyphemus’ eye in such a violent manner that the reader can infer that when Odysseus does not get his way, he releases his anger on the person whom offended him. At the conclusion of the episode, Odysseus sails away from the land shouting his victory to Polyphemus. In rage, Polyphemus hurls a large stone at the ship, almost crushing it and killing the entire group of men. When his men cried for him to cease, he continued to boast his victory