Odysseus Research Paper

The Cyclops, in The Odyssey and O Brother, Where Art Thou has noticeable relations that connect them both. The Cyclops in each story is a large man, who only has one eye. One website describes the Cyclopes race as, “a rough and uncivilized race of one-eyed giants.”(Hainsworth) Odysseus describes the giant as, “A prodigious man who slept in his cave alone, and took his flocks to graze afield, remote from all companions, knowing none but savage ways, a brute so huge.”(The Odyssey, Book 9, Lines 195-201)The Cyclops in each story characterizes similiarity between the two stories. Odysseus, the main character of The Odyssey and Ulysses, the main character of O Brother, Where Art Thou have unpleasant interactions with the Cyclops in each of the stories. Big Dan Teague, the con man, characterizes the “Cyclops” in O Brother, Where Art Thou by raising havoc in Ulysses and his partners’ lives. In each story an attempt to blind the creature offers a distraction for each character to escape from the Cyclops. The Coen

‘Cyclops you ask my noble name, and I will tell it; but do you give the stranger’s gift, just as you promised. My name is Noman. Noman I am called by mother, father, and by all my comrades’” (86). Odysseus tells Polyphemus his name is Noman to ruse him. Odysseus soon gets Polyphemus drunk. Odysseus takes the staff and blinds Polyphemus. Polyphemus removes the boulder and asks for help from the other Cyclops. “Then in his turn from out the cave big Polyphemus answered: ‘Friends Noman is murdering me by craft. Force there is none.’

He is stricken with hunger and longs for nourishment, but he is able to triumph over this temptation by remaining mentally strong: “One day I withdrew to the interior / to pray the gods in solitude, for hope / that one might show me some way of salvation” (XII, 426 – 428). Instead of giving in to temptation, Odysseus heroically prays to the gods. In addition to physical and emotional challenges, Odysseus faces intellectual challenges, and is able to overcome these challenges with quick thinking. Odysseus must utilize his cunning wit when he devises a plan to surprise the suitors in an attack, and hide their weapons: “I / shall signal to you, nodding: at that point / round up all armor, lances, gear of war / left in our hall, and stow the lot away” (XVI, 335 – 338). This challenge tests Odysseus as a tactician, and he is able to succeed with intellectual valor. Odysseus encounters a mental challenge when he is on the Land of the Kyklopes. He quickly tells Polyphemos that his name is “Nohbdy”, and then once the Polyphemos is stabbed, the other Kyklopes think that “Nohbdy” hurt him. Then, Odysseus and his men are able to escape on the underside of sheep. Odysseus bravely risks the lives of his men and himself. Odysseus overcomes all these challenges, using his physical, emotional, and intellectual abilities. The courage he displays in each of these instances makes him more heroic.

Odysseus’s escape from the Cyclops is one of great intelligence. A Cyclops is a giant one eyed monster. Homer said, “The booming voice and the very sight of the monster filled us with panic” (IX, 256). From the first moment Odysseus and his men set eyes on the Cyclops they know they are in trouble and will not be able to get out easily. The Cyclops, Polyphemus, eats two of Odysseus’ men from the start. As soon as this happens, Odysseus

My name is Nohbdy'"("The Cyclops" lines 312-315). Odysseus' astuteness is apparent in this situation because he refused to reveal his identity to Polyphemus while he was vulnerable. His decision prevented the other Cyclops from coming to aid of Polyphemus. By precluding this beforehand, he demonstrated his heroic quality of wiliness. The ingenuity established by these actions personifies Odysseus as a hero.

“ You are a ninny or else you come from the other end of nowhere telling me to mind the gods.” (11) Polyphemus is speaking to Odysseus in response to the last quote. He may be ugly, but he is no dummy. You are not going to fool me. “We Kyklopes care not a whistle for your thundering Zeus…..” (12) In this quote, Homer using figurative language “ simile” to emphasize and compare Zeus’s thundering as whistle to him. He’s not afraid of any Gods. That’s where it revealed Cyclops personality and perspective. We can see it by reason of “ Zeus.” He was known as the ruler of the Olympian Gods. He’s the most powerful gods in their culture. But, he compares Zeus’s thundering matching with a whistling. So, it provided the effects of hyperbole. In “ But in one stride he clutched at my companions and caught two in his hands like squirming puppies to beat their brains out, spattering the floor, then he dismembered them and made his meal…..” (13-15) This quote revealed the monster’s personality is that they are so powerful and almighty. The effects of imagery illuminates the conflicts among them as a result of monster’s personality, this means war to them, but Odysseus and his people are not his opponents. Due to the use of simile give us a sense that how strong they are. “Two men in his hands are like puppies.” (13) “ Then he dismembered them and made his meal…..”(15) This quote revealed monster’s characterization by saying he dismembered them. It gave us a sense of monsters are not the people you should mess with. The characteristic of them is always uncivil and

Odysseus’ ego was so big that he did not listen to his men but yelled to the Cyclops his name, which then the Cyclops prayed, to his father Poseidon to curse Odysseus, which Poseidon does.

Odysseus’ confrontation with the great Cyclops, Polyphemus, looks cowardly and dishonorable by comparison. Where Beowulf bravely stood and fought Grendel with only his bare hands, Odysseus waits for Polyphemus to slip into an alcoholic coma before blinding him. Later he uses this handicap to escape.

Once they have successfully blinded the Cyclops, they ride out on the goats bellies to safety. It is here that Odysseus truly angers the Cyclops, by taunting him from safety on the deck of his ship; this causes the Cyclops to fire rocks at the ship, missing every time. When the Cyclops reaches his breaking point, he raises his arms up to the sky and prays to his father “Hear me Poseidon … if I really am your son and you claim to be my father grant that Odysseus, raider of cities, Laertes son who makes his home in Ithaca, never reaches home.” (Homer 228). Charles Segal states, “The spoken word of the prayer, the invisible and distant fulfillment, proves, after all, the more effective instrument of revenge.”(504). This highlights the fact that, with the wrath of the Poseidon placed upon him, Odysseus will have much more to overcome than just plain brute force of the Cyclops himself. Stavros Frangoulidis infers that it is this prayer that, “Marks the beginning of Odysseus’s troublesome journey back home and, therefore, his odyssey.” (45).

A cyclops was a one-eyed monster. The first cyclopes were Arges, Steropes, and Brontes. They were the sons of Uranus and Gaea. These three cyclopes were locked in Tartarus by, Cronus and Uranus. After being released, they helped Zeus fight in the Titanomachy. Another cyclops who was more famous was Polyphemus. He was the son of Poseidon.

Odysseus’s most known trait of an epic hero is his intelligence. He is always thinking and he is usually one step ahead of everyone else. He was also the one to come up with the idea of the wooden horse to finally end the Trojan war. On his long journey home, he encountered some obstacles that could not be overcome with just fighting and strength, like Polyphemus the cyclops. When Odysseus and his crew came upon Polyphemus’ island they helped themselves to his sheep, they then established a plan to blind the cyclops by stabbing him in the eye. Odysseus called himself Noman so that Polyphemus wouldn’t know his real name and tell his brothers who hurt him (Homer 104-108). But Odysseus didn’t show his intelligence for long. When him and his men got away from the cyclops and were on their ship, Odysseus yelled, “I say, Cyclops! if ever anyone asks you who put our your

Greek mythology is seemingly endless and highly interconnected. There are many roles and aspects to Greek mythology which at times appear complicated. Poseidon’s son, Polyphemus, plays a minor yet still impactful part in the Ancient Greek culture, and as a result, has influenced modern society today. Polyphemus is the son of Poseidon and Thoosa. However, he is a cyclops which is a “… a mythical semi-human monster of huge proportions, with a single eye at the centre of his forehead” (“Polyphemus”).

As he gets the Cyclops drunk he then says his name is nobody. He then pierces the spear through the sleeping Cyclops’s eye, blinding the giant beast. The Cyclops then tells everyone that nobody blinded his eye. Nobody is actually Odysseus who is king of Ithaca who can be very smart and cunning in the story. The author of this story is a man named Homer. Homer cannot be proven the author of this book because there is no proof he ever existed. Odysseus king of Ithaca set sail with his crew to fight at Troy, but Odysseus and his crew run into some problems returning to Ithaca. Odysseus’s character in the story shows he is very cunning, he is very cocky, and he is very brave.

¨The cyclops were giant creatures¨ (Hall). ¨The cyclops were given the name¨cyclops¨because of there one eye in the middle of their forehead¨ (Hall). ¨The cyclops were a brave predator¨.(Hall).They were carnivores meaning they ate meat. Cyclops were almost as tall as the eiffel tower. The cyclops were blinded by Odysseus and then grew a eye in the middle of their forehead.

Cyclopes are members of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of its forehead; they are mainly seen in Greek mythology. Whenever people hear the word “Cyclops,” it is always associated with humongous 20-foot tall cannibal with a big stick roaming the forest and mountains. However, Cyclopes are one of the oldest Greek mythological creatures; they are children of gods and nature spirits who came out wrong. Poseidon was the most common father. Hesiod was one of the first Greek scholars to describe them as three brothers who were primordial giants. Today Cyclopes the media perceptions of Cyclopes has not changed. They are still viewed as rugged human-like monsters with one eye in the middle of their head. Cyclopes