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 …show more content…
As he watches the sheep file out, Odysseus realizes that the Cyclops’s ram were the only ones to go past the Cyclops. They were very fat with heavy, dark fleece. Thus Odysseus and his men escape by hanging underneath the ram. Odysseus ties three ram to each man, and chooses the woolliest, finest ram for himself. Safely back on the ship, it would seem all their problems are behind them, but Odysseus creates a new, even greater problem when he begins to taunt the Cyclops due to his ego and arrogance. He orders to load the herd and as they are escaping, he begins to shout at the Cyclops, making fun of his gullibleness. This problem is the greatest of all because it angers the Cyclops and causes him to pray to Poseidon for Odysseus to lose all companions and feel bitter until the day he arrives home. Poseidon heard his prayer and created a huge wave that returned them to the island. They unloaded all of the Cyclops’s flock at the shore. However, Odysseus sacrificed the wooliest of the rams to Zeus. All in vain, since Zeus disdained his offering; destroying his ships and men who sailed them. Odysseus has no other choice but to leave, feeling guilty about his companions’ lives and full of melancholy as they sailed out into the open
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
The Greeks had a set of 8 evil thoughts that served as a moral code to guide the Greek people into morality. The Greeks believed that if these codes were abided by, the person would be closer to their humanity and lead a more fulfilling life. The epic The Odyssey by Homer, includes an episode where Odysseus encounters the Cyclops named Polyphemus. Here, he deceits the Cyclops, in the process blinding the Cyclops, and leading his crew onto a boat with the Cyclops’ sheep. In this episode, “The Cyclops”, Odysseus falls prey to the Greek evil thoughts, distinctively Kenodoxia (boasting), Hyperephania (pride), and Orge (anger).
Hinds recites the narrative as though Odysseus and his soldiers are simply looking for food and wish to retreat to their ships. Odysseus, on the other hand, is intrigued by the situation and convinces his companions to stay back with him. Eventually, the Cyclops heads back and eats two soldiers, demonstrating an instance of lousy command. Wilson, on the other hand, portrays the story differently. She writes that Odysseus and his men joyously attack the cave and devour his food.
The Cyclops are not immediately introduced as detestable monsters. Homer first describes them as “high and mighty” but also “lawless brutes,” both a positive and negative attribution. While having “no meeting place for council, no laws either, …” might have been an abhorrent to Greek culture, living “not a care in the world” would have undoubtedly appealed to outdoorsmen who prefer the untamed wilderness. Beyond that, we don’t know if the entirety of these Cyclops are belligerent or passive. The only insight that exists is of a loner Cyclops that lives apart from the entire community.
They now found themselves stuck on the island of the Cyclops. When the men enter the home they find food and start to feast. Then the owner of the cave Pholyphemus found the men in his cave and became enraged and began to kill many of them. Odysseus was able to have enough self-control to not panic. He also planned on killing the giant but stopped himself “I thought at first to steal up to him,-and stab him in the chest-” (9.336-338).
Throughout the story, Odysseus demonstrates his courage that ultimately allows him to survive. One of these moments was during his journey back to Ithaca, where he faces a race of man eating giants called the Cyclops. Odysseus originally stops his ship there to relish a feast while on his journey back to Ithaca, but while doing so, out of curiosity explores the island. Soon, he finds a deserted house and decides to wait of the owner. The owner was unknowingly one the Cyclops, named Polyphemus.
Summary: Cyclops 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.
The passage in question speaks of Odysseus’ encounter with Athene upon his arrival in Ithaka. The goddess has cast a spell on him, disguising his real appearance, and a spell on the land making him unable to recognize his home. She appears in order to tell him that he is in fact home, and that it is her who has cast the spells with the intention of protecting him from the suitors, who are planning to kill him. She also discusses one of Odysseus’ defining qualities: resourcefulness. Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus is referred to several times as “resourceful”, “cunning” and “a man of many ways” (pp.137, line 1; pp.27, line 1).
An epic hero is someone who is characterized commonly on their nobility and bravery. However ,there are more attributes epic heros can posses. For example Odysseus, the protagonist in Homer's retelling of “The Odyssey”, shows many forms of excessive arrogance and pomposity. After conquering Troy, Odysseus and his men set off on their way home.
Due to their jealousy and greed, Odysseus’ crew is drawn to open the gift given to Odysseus by one of his hosts. The gift presented to Odysseus by Aeolus, unbeknownst to the crew, is a bag of winds. The crew assumed it was filled with riches and opens the bag once in sight of Ithaca and releases “all the winds rushed out… a tempest seized [them], and carried [them] out to sea away from [their] land” (X, 52-53). The winds bring the ship all the way back to Aeolus, which majorly prolongs their journey. They are disciplined for their disloyal behavior towards Odysseus because the Greek culture said the gods would punish those who are not faithful.
The cyclops came in to his cave where Odysseus and his crew were hiding out. The cyclops killed many of Odysseus's men for food. Only this happened cause of Odysseus's ego, wanting to kill a cyclops. When they escaped from the cave and got onto the ships, Odysseus kept shouting at the cyclops. Odysseus was bragging how he stabbed the cyclops's eye and made the cyclops angry.
The skills Odysseus shows in fighting, navigating the seas, crafting, and many other things, help him on his long journey home. After 10 years of voyaging home, Odysseus finally succeeds and makes it to Ithaca. On one of his attempts to go home, he ends up stranded on an island with a Cyclops. Odysseus and his men end up trapped in the Cyclop’s home, and the only way they get out is by Odysseus’ craftiness. He decides to stab Polyphemus, the cyclops, in the eye with a wooden stake.
In the epic poem The Odyssey Homer tells of Odysseus’s 10 year journey home from The Trojan War and how he is cast out to sea and loses his ship and all his crew. Odysseus’s ego and curiosity led to his ship and crews destruction. this is because when odysseus goes to the cyclops island he is curious about him so he stays and loses 6 men. This proves that odysseus’s decisions have directly caused the death of his crew. It can also be said that odysseus isn’t responsible because on thrinacia his crew are the ones that ate the sun gods cattle.
Steve Maraboli, an author, once wrote, “The universe doesn't give you what you ask for with your thoughts; it gives you what you demand with your actions.” In other words, one’s actions will always reflect on themselves, even if they were smart or plain ignorant. Odysseus, an epic hero, made it back to the land of Ithaca, unlike his men. Even though Odysseus was the leader of his crew, he had no part of any of their demise. Odysseus’ crew members are responsible for their own death and there’s three major events which supports this: Aeolus’ wind bag, the Cyclops, and Helios’ cows.
The story states, “It is Odysseus’s famed curiosity that leads him to the Cyclops’s cave and that makes him wait on the barbaric creature,” (The Cyclops.). Odysseus’s curiosity is a show of greed or Philargyria because he went into the cave for himself with no thought of others. Odysseus displays pride when he speaks to the Cyclops. Odysseus exclaims “If I could take your life I would and take your time away and hurl you down to hell,” (525-526). Odysseus declares that he could kill Polyphemus and send him to hell, which presents his voice with arrogance because he feels as though he is strong enough to kill a giant Cyclops, that is the son of the god Poseidon.