Summary- Ulysses and his men end up in the care of Aelous who is generous enough to give Ulysses a bag of winds as a gift to aid in his journey back home. Unfortunately, on the ship Ulysses' men open the bag of wind, thinking Ulysses used it to keep his riches, thus accidentally letting out all the wind that were to help them on their journey. They find themselves back at the house of Aelous, however he refuses to help them, noting "Him whom heaven hates will I in no wise help." Ulysses and his men then find themselves on an island of giants who end up capturing and devouring most of Ulysses' fleet, leaving only him and those on his ship able to survive and flee. Later, the party arrives on the island of the goddess Circe, who drugs some of …show more content…
In both stories of Aelous and his gift as well as Circe and her cabin, Ulysses' men rush to conclusions and when acting upon those conclusions bring trouble upon themselves. The lack of serious analysis in both cases is what brought their eventual undoing. With that being said, it is extremely ironic how in the first story, Ulysses' men find trouble because they are overly suspicious and curious and in the second story, they find trouble because they are gullible and naïve. Perhaps the point being made is that either extreme is incredibly …show more content…
When he arrives, after performing a sacrifice to attract the dead souls, Ulysses recognizes the soul of one of his own men who fell from the roof of Circe's cabin and requests that he be given a proper burial. Next, Ulysses hears the prophecy from Tiresias and the latter predicts that Ulysses will go home, reclaim his wife, and take a journey for Neptune who is angry with him and his men. For everything to go smoothly, however, Ulysses must not harm the goats on the island of the Sun, or else Ulysses' journey will be arduous and long. Whilst in the House of Hades, Ulysses meets the dead soul of his mother as well as his comrades that died during the Trojan War.
Commentary- The scene in the eleventh book of the Odyssey that I found most striking was when Ulysses was reunited with the dead souls of those he knew. There is something quite eerie and yet fascinating with Ulysses, alive and well, talking amongst those who had already left the mortal world. Homer's reintroduction of Achilles and Agamemnon helped reinforce the thread that connects the Iliad to the Odyssey. Likewise, I felt that Ulysses' tearful reunion with his mother made him more relatable to the reader and added more depth to him as a