During Odysseus’ epic journey in The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus encounters many differences in societies and lifestyles of different groups of people. Most of the societies welcomes everyone who visits incase it happens to be a god in disguise, but other societies seem to follow the saying, “every man for himself”. The Odyssey shows the difference between the societies of the Phaiacians, with the lifestyle of the Cyclops. Societies who live a civilized life seem to follow the theme of hospitality. The Phaiacians live a very structured, sophisticated, harmonious lifestyle. For example, Alcinoos says, “Or if he is one of the immortals come down from heaven, then we may take it that it is something new in the gods’ dealings with us. For in time past they have always been in the way of showing themselves to us face to face when we perform our solemn sacrifices, dining …show more content…
They wall themselves in their own taverns, with no interest in their neighbor’s affairs, and eat a lot of food and gorge on human flesh. For example, Odysseus says, “We came next to the Cyclopians, a violent and lawless tribe. They trust in providence and neither plant nor plow, but everything grows without sowing or plowing…These Cyclopians have no parliament for debates and no laws…each one lays down the law for wife and children, and no one cares for his neighbors.” (Rouse, 1937, p. 102). When the Cyclops, Polyphemus, finds Odysseus and his men in his home, he begins eating them not caring who they are, or why they were there. Odyseus gets him drunk while trapped in his cave and then stabs him in the eye. What Odysseus doesn’t know is Polyphemus is Poseidon’s son. When he is fleeing the island he reveals his name. Polyphemus then prays father calling for vengeance on Odysseus. The Cyclops lack intelligence to venture out further, they are trapped on their own land relying on the gods to keep them
When they got to the Cyclop’s cave, they could have taken what they wanted and left but instead Odysseus decided that they were going to stay so they can see what or who lives in the cave. Then some of his men got eaten because of Odysseus foolish mistake. Then he came up with a plan in order to save what men he had left. Which was make the cyclop blind, tell the cyclop that his name is nobody, make him blind, and finally get out by going out under the sheep. Then he made another mistake because taunted the Cyclop when he was going back out to sea.
Odysseus, the main character of The Odyssey, is an amazing example of an ancient hero that went through many different challenges. Heros, to me, are people who do great and help many different people in a lot of different ways. Odysseus is a good example of an ancient hero because he helped his city defeat Troy with his great trickery, courage, and strength. A great example of a modern day hero is Superman. Also known as Clark Kent, Superman is an outstanding hero. He helps out his city whenever they are invaded by evil super villains. He is able to accomplish these challenges with his superpowers, his willingness to protect the citizens. I believe that Odysseus has a lot of similarities with Superman in a hero’s journey.
In return Odysseus told them stories of his adventures and his meeting with calypso. " Mix the wine in the bowl, pour rounds to all our banqueters in the house so we can pour out cups to Zeus who loves the lightning, champion of suppliants – suppliants’ rights are sacred. " The Odyssey, Book 7, line 212-215. This shows how the king of the pheliceans is hospitable.
Odysseus exhibits numerous positive personality characteristics throughout the epic poem, The Odyssey, but his foremost attribute was his determination. Odysseus demonstrates his determination during each hardship that he is confronted with, including monsters, the death of comrades, destruction of his ships, and the wrath of the gods. Odysseus’ determination is driven by his desperate desire to reach Ithaca and be reunited with his family before dying; he demonstrates this while struggling to travel past Charýbdis and Scylla, after all of his crew members have been killed. ‘All through the night the wind did not relent… she [Charýbdis] drew my mast and keel to her deeps. But reaching up and toward the great fig tree, I [Odysseus] gripped
Polyphemus clearly illustrates enormous pride results in disasters. As Odysseus and his crewmen entered the Land of the Cyclops, the tradition is that the host must show good hospitality. However, Polyphemus did not show any type of kind hospitality, and instead insisted on eating the members.
Moreover, Phaeacians are pious people. That's to say they know the rules of Gods and obey them respectfully. They make proper sacrifices to Gods to appease their anger and
I always wanted to be like my dad and do what he does. He is a lineman and a firefighter I wanted to be a lineman but when my dad just about died on that job I changed my mine. Now I want to be a firefighter like him and be just as good, like my dad. In following this dreams I will take on task just like Odysseus has to face on his journey; In my journey there will be a lot discrimination, hardship, and ability to do it because of health problems like Odysseus does .
Each test would result with fewer and fewer men who were lost due to their own stupidity. Odysseus took advantage of his brilliant mind and still continued to attempt to save his doomed men. Odysseus and his men became entrapped in a cave with a Cyclopes (who represented lawlessness) during their journey. Once the ferocious beast had been captured, Odysseus quickly realized that only the Cyclopes could release them from the cave, hence he could not be slain. Instead, he devised a plan to intoxicate the Cyclopes.
As guests in the Cyclops' cave, the soldiers find themselves at the mercy of a host who not only disregards the sacred bond but actively defies it through violence and cannibalism. Polyphemus, with no respect for the guest-host relationship, devours Odysseus' men individually. This brutal transgression is vividly captured in Odysseus' words when he recounts the gruesome encounter: "He gobbled up my men like a lion in the wild. " These instances serve as cautionary tales within the narrative, illustrating how the Greek soldiers, initially celebrated as heroes, become unwitting perpetrators of Xenia's violation.
An example of a lack of hospitality was when Odysseus and his men came upon the Kyklopes’, and the one-eyed monsters treated them terribly. On first sight they tried to kill Odysseus and all his men.
Throughout the Odyssey, the struggles of Odysseus are revealed to the reader through the well written epic. His journey is very difficult and he is haunted with the loss of his entire crew and seemingly impossible task of getting home to his family. While journeying homewards, Odysseus makes the mistake of harming the Cyclops, who happens to be Poseidon's son. Poseidon is so angry at Odysseus for the harm he inflicted on the Cyclops, that through the influence of all powerful Zeus, he punishes Odysseus along with his other children, the Phaeacians, who can be seen to parallel as well as contrast with the Cyclops.
Note that some people think that the cyclops ,Polyphemus, is the most barbaric monster in the world because he eats people like Odysseus. To start off, the cyclops is barbaric. I think the cyclops is more savage than his father Poseidon. Poseidon is not as barbaric as his son Polyphemus because Poseidon is a god and gods don’t do that. And anyway everybody knows that the cyclops is barbaric because he eats about six of Odysseus's
Odysseus continues to elaborate, “These people have no institutions, no meetings for council…each one is the law for his wives and children.” (Odyssey 9.112, 114) Hence, the absence of laws leads to the lack of a structured society, where there were no mediators, no law to abide by to and dictate what is right or wrong. Such difference was dire enough for Odysseus to use to describe the new land that he reached, as this state of chaos and lack of laws was one of the primary shortcomings of the Cyclops culture, and could be the reason why the Cyclops’ culture was primitive.
Thesis: In the novel “The Odyssey” Homer displays the main character Odysseus, the shepherd of men, with god like qualities which clouds his judgement and sense of superiority that he will never transpire to respect the other warriors through his harsh tones.
During Odysseus’ journey back home to Ithaca, him and his crew encountered many evils and troubles. Almost every one of these took at least one of his men. Scylla is an example of this. This monster took six of Odysseus’ men while on the journey home. Nearly ever was it Odysseus’ fault. His men caused most of the problems that haunted them back to Ithaca.