The Odyssey Book Summary

He has all the reasons to be proud; he is handsome, brave and strong in addition to the fact that his wife is gorgeous from a loyal background. However, he also boasts of his origins, birthplace and roots. Pride, however, made him disrespectful and suspicious of his friend’s loyalty. Odysseus introduces himself with such gratification by saying “I am Odysseus, great Laertes’ son, Known for my cunning throughout the world, and my fame reaches even to heaven” (385. 21-23). He went ahead, cursed the gods, and refused to offer Poseidon sacrifices after the Trojan War. Odysseus is full of arrogance when he speaks lowly of the gods by saying “You’re dumb, stranger, or from far away If you ask me to fear the gods.” (390. 265-266), this indicates that he does not care if the gods decide to spare the men. Furthermore, he thinks that he can do all the jobs himself and it is up to him to save the people. During the time in which he was speaking to the Cyclops, he states that if any mortal man were to ask about his eye, the Cyclops should inform them that it was Odysseus who did it. “Cyclops, if anyone, any mortal man, Asks you how you got your eye put out, Tell him that Odysseus the Marauder did it, Son of Laertes, whose home is on Ithaca” (369.

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

In one particular instance, he uses his ingenuity to trick the Cyclops. He tricks the Cyclops by telling the Cyclops that his name is “Nohbdy.” After Odysseus pops the eye of the Cyclops, the other Cyclopes arrive.

In my own opinion Odysseus shouldn't be nominated for a leadership award because, he leads his crew to their death, had bad intensions with a girl that wasn't his wife, and was reckless with all of the thing he did and is going to do. Odysseus didn't know what he

The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus encounters the trial of The Cyclops and he is put in the position where his survival is jeopardized and that leads to fear. In The Odyssey ,while Odysseus is venturing back to his homeland in Ithaca, one of the three trials he faces is a deadly cyclop. After experiencing the trial of the Lotus Eaters, Odysseus and his men sail to the islands of the Cyclops. When they land, the crew notices a lot of dairy and sheep. Odysseus and his crew explore the island and they meet a cyclop. The cyclop appears approachable and humane until he starts eating two of Odysseus’ men. Additionally, the cyclop keeps Odysseus and his men as hostages in his cave.“He clutched at my companions and caught two in his hands like squirming puppies to beat their brains out, spattering on the floor. Then, he dismembered them and made his meal, gaping and crunching like a mountain lion” (The Odyssey 233-237). Odysseus realizes that him and his men’s lives are in jeopardy if they do not find a way to escape the Cyclop, they will die. The horrific scene of when his men were severely beaten and killed causes Odysseus to fear but, actively think of a way to escape. Odysseus is aware that he can not just go and kill the Cyclop. He has to devise a smart and sly plan to inflict pain on it some way to escape and survive. His plan was to revert to violence by stabbing the Cyclop’s eye to take away his sense of sight so that they could have a swifter escape. Violence and fear are dependent to each other. If one feels very fearful they will go to the extreme to try to alleviate their

Because of their curiosity, Odysseus and his men were lead to the cave of the cyclops, Polyphemus. As soon as the men entered the great cave they were not welcomed with the "god's courtesy" that they were expecting but with the harsh rudeness of the cyclops (260). Odysseus knew that the only way to defeat the menacing beast was to outsmart him because they "could never move his ponderous door slab" and would perish in the cave (295). So, odysseus deceived a intricate plan to blind the cyclops which then leads the cyclops to move the cave rock and "set up a howl for cyclopes" who lived near by (395-396). The cyclops thought by just using intimidation and brute force that he could over power the, in comparison, feeble men. Conversely, Odysseus knew that he could out smart the monster and defeat him. In this instance, Odysseus grew as a character because he thought about his actions and overcame a daunting task. This not only affected Odysseus but it allowed him to save his crew, further revealing that Odysseus' wisdom was much more powerful than the brute force of the cyclops. By making the cyclops odysseus' other, Homer was able to display how odysseus developed as a character and how he over came his weakness of acting without

When leaving the beast’s lair, he escapes to his ship, and he yells to the giant shouting “I say, cyclops! If ever anyone asks you who put out your eye, tell him your blinder was Odysseus, the conqueror of Troy, son of Laertes, whose address is in Ithaca”(111). Even in victory, Odysseus puts him and his crew in danger when he takes credit for his brilliance, regardless of the consequences he may face. This nearly fatal mistake teaches him a lesson, to remain humble until the time is right. Odysseus later applies this knowledge when he returns home, disguised as a humble peasant, waiting patiently for an opportunity. One of the more arrogant suiters that took over his home in his absence, Antinoos, takes offence at once of Odysseus minor insults and throws a chair at him, “But Odysseus stood firm as a rack: the blow did not move him, he only threw back his head silently, and brooded over his vengeance” (200). Due to the repercussions he faced from lashing out at the cyclops, Odysseus gained the patience to endure severe aggravation. This completes the return to the ordinary world stage of his journey, applying his newfound knowledge to his situation to improve

At a time of need for him and his crew, Odyessues creates a gambit to escape from the Land of the Cyclops. The plan is to get away using the sheep. However, they needed to blind the Cyclops. To complete the task, they served Cyclops with some wine and liquor, which caused him to be drunk. Odysseus then took a spike to Cyclops’s eye after he stumbled. From line 436, on page 728 it states, “Three abreast I tied them silently together, twining cords of willow from the ogre’s bed; then slung a man under each middle on to ride there safely, shielded left and right.” Therefore, he uses his intelligence and cleverness by utilizing the Cyclops sheep to slip through and make

“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” Saint Augustine of Hippo states that pride can corrupt even the most pure of things, and that humility can make people pure themselves. Although Odysseus may not be a pure and all-good character, he experiences both the corruption of pride and the redemption of humility. Over the course of The Odyssey, Odysseus experiences unnecessary excessive pride and faces the consequences of it, but then begins to control and suppress his emotions.

Odysseus and people in society today learn to only take credit for what they are responsible for. Odysseus demonstrates this after defeating many people when he explains that “men hold [him] formidable for peace and war: this fame has gone abroad to the sky’s rim” (896). Odysseus later regrets saying this because in reality, the gods helped him and he hasn’t gave them any praise. This behaviour causes the gods to be very mad at Odysseus and they promise that he will have a very difficult time getting back to Ithaca. Another example is when Circe, a goddess, warns Odysseus and gives him advice about how to journey past the sea monsters. When Odysseus is traveling across the sea he commands, “heads up, lads! We must obey the orders as I give

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.

Cyclops Cyclops (Polyphemus, specifically) is a gigantic one eyed monster, considered the sons of Titans, Uranus, Gaea, and the other Cyclopes were his brothers.Polyphemus was considered a skilled metalsmith craftsman fashioning useful items like certain tools, kitchenware, tableware, jewellery, and weapons out of various metals and he was very strong, but also stubborn. One weakness would be his one eye, so the Cyclopes could be easily blinded. One short myth on Polyphemus is that,Odysseus and his men entered a cave that Polyphemus lived in but he wasn’t there at the time.So Odysseus and his men helped themselves to the food and drink they found there. Then Polyphemus, returned to the cave.Finding Odysseus and his men in the cave

His first encounter was with the cyclops, represent one of Odysseus’ most difficult tasks. He must escape Polyphemus’ cave, but he cannot move the big rock that seals the entrance. He cannot even kill Polyphemus because if he do that then he and his men are going to be stuck in cyclops cave forever, so Odysseus use his brain and find a way to get out of Polyphemus cave, he stabbed the wood in cyclops eye and blind him and in morning when the sheep were going outside he and his men ride the sheep belly and escape cyclops very closely. One of Odysseus’ men state ‘“Godsake, Captain!/ Why bait the beast again? Let him alone!”’ (448 and 449). They are scare of Polyphemus because he is very strong and unbeatable by mortals and they almost die in there. After facing mighty Polyphemus there it came Scylla and Charybdis. Odysseus has to chose one of this, If Odysseus chose Charybdis everyone on the ship and he dies, but if he chose Scylla then only 6 best man dies. In Scylla Odysseus lose his best 6 men, he can’t so shock and he says “ Then Scylla made her strike, whisking six of my best men from the ship” (809-810).In that challenges Odysseus and his men almost die in Scylla, but saved by Charybdis. The last and worst was Cattle of Sun. Odysseus says to his shipmate that “‘Old shipmates, our stores are in the ship’s hold, food and drink; / the

Odysseus and his men land on the island of the Cyclops extremely hungry and looking for food. He and his

            Odysseus is no god.  He is man, and with that comes the mistakes and errors in all of us.  In many situations Odysseus' mortal side is seen.  An example of the power of Odysseus coinciding with his human flaws is his battle with Polyphemous the Cyclops (son of Poseidon).  After escaping the lure of the lotus-eaters and their island, Odysseus and his men find themselves on another island, rich with food and shelter.  After feasting, the men grab a large container of potent wine and go off exploring the new island.  Later in their search they stumble across a large cave filled with food.  Curious where the owner's whereabouts are the men encourage Odysseus to steal the food.  Odysseus (showing his hospitable and genuine character) decides to instead wait for the