In The Odyssey the poet Homer explores the theme of a civilized society and .
hospitality or xenia through many of the adventures and characters that Odysseus .
encounters on his journey home. One such event that illustrates this theme occurs when .
Odysseus lands on the island of the one eyed Cyclops, Polyphemus. The Cyclops has .
no concern or care for the rules of a civilized society. Instead he is very inhospitable .
towards his visitors without offering friendship, food, gifts or the welcome that was .
common towards a guest. Homer, narrating this episode through Odysseus, uses .
vivid and realistic imagery in lines 9.306-335 to convey the savage and lawless .
characterization of the Cyclops. .
In the scene Odysseus tells the tale of landing on the island of the Cyclopes and of .
being trapped in the cave of Polyphemus. The Cyclops is described by Homer as living .
in a cave. In comparison to the Phaeacians, to whom the tale is being told, live in a .
civilized, hospitable society, in grand magnificent palaces with vast wealth. The Cyclops .
lives in isolation without any contact with the other Cyclopes on the island or the outside .
world and thus has not been exposed to a civilized culture, like that of the Phaeacians. .
The cave serves as an obstacle or a form of covering, one from which the Cyclops has .
not emerged from to be part of civilized society. .
In the lines 9.306 -335 we are given hints as to the cruel nature of the Cyclops .
when he does not offer any signs of hospitality to his visitors. Instead the phrase "brutal .
heart" is used as foreshadowing of what is to come. The Cyclops in his very own words .
has no respect for Zeus and the other gods and hence no respect for civility, culture or .
hospitability lines 9.306-313. Rather he is a primitive one dimensional creature ruled by .
primal urges and needs. .
The Cyclops asks Odysseus about his ship or if he has other men whom are .
perhaps alive on another part of the island.
This tale tells of Polyphemus, a Cyclops who dwelt in a cave near the ocean. ... The came upon Polyphemus's cave and ventured to ask for provisions in his house. ... But Polyphemus paid no attention and ate one of Odysseus's men. ... One day Odysseus offered Polyphemus some wine and got the Cyclops absolutely drunk that he passed out. ... Polyphemus became visciously jelous and killed Acis. ...
Examples in this essay of monsters and their hero counterparts will be Medusa and Perseus, the Minotaur and Theseus, and Polyphemus and Odysseus. ... Odysseus shows courage by keeping his cool when Polyphemus had, "greedily devoured several of his men," (pg.457), and was, "belching out wine and bits of human flesh." ... When Polyphemus was injured he cried out to his friends that Noman had tricked him, his friends left him think that "no man" had tricked him. ... The third way that Polyphemus was outwitted by Odysseus was when, "Odysseus devises a way to escape the cave by tying his companio...
The Blinding of Polyphemus. Polyphemus, a Cyclops, the son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and of the nymph ThoÖsa. ... Poseidon punished Odysseus for blinding Polyphemus by causing him many troubles in his subsequent wanderings by sea. In another legend, Polyphemus was depicted as a huge, one-eyed shepherd, unhappily in love with the sea nymph Galatea. ... The Greek hero Odysseus was trapped with his men in the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus, a son of Poseidon, god of the sea. ...
The man that seemed like he was the leader of the reckless crew told me that his name is "nobody," and I thought that was rather odd, but I guess humans will be humans. ... How could these men be so reckless as to enter someone else's home, steal their goods, insult their hospitality, and deprive them of their vision; nothing in that seemed acceptable. ...
The Reckless Decade By: H.W. Brands Few books portray the "reckless decade" of the 1890s as vividly or as detailed as HW Brand's The Reckless Decade. Filled with stifling detail, intense political drama, and great social/economic analysis, The Reckless Decade by H.W. ... The Reckless Decade concentrates on the many social, economical, political, and technological developments and struggles that defined the essence of America in the 1890s. ... What I found most interesting while reading The Reckless Decade was the way Brands described the political battles between Bryan and McKinley lead...
Later in book nine when he and his men are trapped in the cave with Polyphemus, Odysseus knows that he cannot kill the cyclops because Polyphemus is the only one strong enough to move the boulder from in front of the door so instead he devises a plan and sets it into motion. ... Then Odysseus gives Polyphemus wine to make him fall asleep faster and daze his senses. ... Odysseus tricks Polyphemus into thinking that his name is Nobody so that when he and his men attack and Polyphemus's brothers come to help him, he yells ˜help Nobody is killing me' therefore his brothers would ...
He thinks of a way to destroy the Cyclops Polyphemus he encounters. He decides to ram a spear into Polyphemus's eye. When Polyphemus asks for Odysseus's name, he tells him that his name is Nohbdy. ... Polyphemus pulls the bloody spear from his wounded eye. ...
For example, Odysseus's army went into the cave of Polyphemus, more known as the Cyclops, and took some cheese without him knowing. ... Today, it would seem that it was Odysseus's fault in the first place because he basically sneaked in to Polyphemus's cave, but in ancient times, the feeling would be that Polyphemus deserved what he got. ... Odysseus lied about his ship, tricked Polyphemus into drinking wine to drunken him, and lied about his name. ...
