Pros And Cons Of The Odyssey

The Odyssey by Homer, is about Odysseus, who after fighting a 10 year battle in Troy, faces many dangerous trials as he tries to get home. During these trials, Odysseus is perceptive so he and his crew can get home. Odysseus and his men are trapped by the kyklopes, a giant with one eye, polyphemus, in his cave with a giant boulder blocking the exit, only kyklopes can move. After Polyphemus ate 2 of the men, he fell asleep. Odysseus draws his sword and prepares to kill him but stops. Then Odysseus thought,“So we were left to groan and wait for morning.” (Homer 154). So Odysseus and his men had to wait for morning. As Odysseus unsheathe his sword and gets a chance to strike to kill the Kyklopes he hesitates. He stops to think about the consequences. He can see in the future, if he kills the giant then no one can move the boulder to freedom.

Later on, Odysseus and his crew are on the island of Aiaiai. Odysseus talks to Kirkes and she tells him that he should take 1 of 2 courses. One course of water has moving mountains, which only one ship has gotten through, the other course is next a steep mountain that pierces the clouds and within it has a giant monster with 6 heads bearing the name Skylla. Then Kirkes proceeds to say,” she takes, from every ship, one man for each gutter.” (Homer 212). Kirkes tells Odysseus that some of his men will be eaten. Odysseus takes in the information about the danger of passing through that way. Odysseus notices that if he goes the route with a moving mountain, his whole ship and all his men will die, breaking to pieces, while passing through Skylla’s mountain will only result in the death of 6 men if the ships are fast enough. He decides that losing only 6 men, at most, will be the better option than the whole fleet being destroyed and leading to the death of his