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Prayer In The Odyssey Essay

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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

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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.

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