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The wrath of poseidon in odyssey
The wrath of poseidon in odyssey
Odysseus and the Cyclops comparison and contrast
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The epic poem, The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus, returning after winning the Trojan War. He braves many obstacles and Athena assists him. One of the obstacles he faces are the Cyclopes. Homer uses connotation and imagery, to convey Odysseus’ view on the Cyclopes and their civilization. Through connotation Odysseus expresses his belief that he is superior to the Cyclopes.
When they finally got free Odysseus was driven by his ego and he wanted revenge on the Cyclops and did not care that he endangered his men’s lives. The serious issue here is Odysseus’ hunger for revenge, to pursue glory and his ego. He did not care about his men, all he wanted is to achieve his goals. Similar to Everett; all he cared about were money, his ego, and whatever else he could benefit from. Everett was also less careful around Big Dan, because he was in hope for some good business.
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.
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.
Odysseus's recent experiences with Circe and Calypso attempting to bewitch him or keep him prisoner has scared him. After Odysseus has heard voices and begins to wonder whether he is in the presence of mountain goddesses or humans. Odysseus asks himself “What kind of people have I come amongst? Are they cruel, savage, and uncivilized, or hospital and humane” (6.119-120)?
Calypso and Odysseus in the beginning do not like each other, Odysseus’ men went onto her island and she turned them into pigs. Odysseus made a wonderful choice to stay behind in case something happened, so after his men were turned into pigs he persuaded her to turn them back and help them. Odysseus’ background is not told to the reader. To figure out why he went to Troy the reader would have had to read previous mythology stories.
In The Odyssey, the Cyclops is a monster because of his key differences from mere human beings, specifically his lack of wit and of morals. Depicting these qualities as monstrous support that cleverness and a general regard for human life were heavily valued in Greek culture. Odysseus easily trick the Cyclops bragging, “I poured him another fiery bowl - three bowls I brimmed and three he drank to the last drop, the fool”(9.404-406). To describe the bowls of wine as fiery foreshadows the demise of the Cyclops. Odysseus was able to use his brain, not strength, to make the Cyclops drink himself into a stupor.
The Odyssey “Pay no attention to appearing.” -André Gide The magical Disney classic Beauty and the Beast begins with an old woman pleading with a cold-hearted prince for shelter one frigid night. The prince is repulsed by her ragged appearance and turns her away.
By using antithesis, Homer contrasts the life of Cyclopes to the life of humans because he believes that life of a human is far better. Homer contrasts the life of Cyclopes to the life of humans by using antithesis. On page 148 the text states, “without a law to bless them. In ignorance…“ The antithesis in this text contrasts the law by which Cyclopes live by to the law that humans live by. The antithesis implies that by not having a law to live by, the Cyclopes are ignorant and unsanctified.
Odysseus and his men, after long searching and observation of the Cyclopes, observed that the brute creatures lived in large caves carved into rocky mountains and lived a long distance from each other. Odysseus and his men, making a somewhat poor decision, sneak into the Cyclops’s cave. After gazing upon the wonderful meat and items inside the cave, one of Odysseus’s men suggests that they steal all of the Cyclops’s stuff and take it with them to their ship. However, Odysseus disapproves of this, considering that it was best for them to wait until the Cyclops comes back to the cave to see if he was a friend or a foe, since he was tending his sheep outside. Later that night, Cyclops came back to the cave, and while Odysseus and his men were hiding, the Cyclops saw them with the light of the
In the section “In the One-Eyed Giant’s Cave” from Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is portrayed as a hero through his character traits and behaviors. When Odysseus and his men attack the city of Ismarus, the Cicones’ strong hold, Odysseus made sure to fairly distribute the spoils among his men. Odysseus’s behavior shows that he is a great leader, a characteristic of a hero. While Odysseus and his crew are in the Cyclops’ cave, Polyphemus, the cyclops, notices them. Polyphemus asks who they are with a monstrous tone, “‘Strangers!'
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 theme of disobedience is very prominent in this episode. The poor choices Odysseus makes as well as his foolish men. In other episodes in the Odyessy like Scylla and Charybdis, The Lotus Eaters, and most episodes’ disobedience was also a problem. In the Sirens and Cyclops episode Odysseus’ men where more obedient when they were in threating situation. If this episode was never told in the book of the Odyssey, the readers would be missing out on how important it is to be obedient and trusting your own instincts.
We can depict this through a quote found in chapter 9, “A wind from seaward served him, drove us there. We are survivors, these good men and I.” Being the heartless creature the cyclops is, he still goes on to eat Odysseus’ men, shocking them as they believed they should have gotten better treatment and a gracious greeting from the Cyclops as if they were noble heroes. However, soon Odysseus learns that