The Odyssey
By Homer?
Book VIII – The Cyclops
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King Alcinous has asked Odysseus to
reveal who he is after he was brought to
tears by the bard Demodocus’ song.
He reveals himself as ‘Odysseus, son of
Laertes’, and we get a hint of the
importance of his name and reputation to
Odysseus.
‘Take me to the island…’
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Odysseus begins to tell of
how he came to the island
of the Cyclopes.
He mentions:
- Calypso who kept him
captive for seven years
- Circe (whom we meet in
Book X), who turned his
men into swine
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The Cicones
- we see a shift in tone as he
begins to recount how they
left Ilium and sacked the
city of Ismarus, land of the
Cicones
- they destroyed its menfolk
and plundered its wealth
Land of the Cyclopes
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After nine days in a
terrible gale sent by Zeus,
Odysseus and his men
come to the land of the
Lotus-Eaters.
The lotus fruit was a
mythical fruit which made
men forget their worries
and lose and desire to
return home.
“Those who ate the honeyed fruit
of the plant lost any wish to come
back and bring us news. All they
now wanted was to stay where
they were with the Lotus-Eaters, to
browse on the lotus, and to forget
all thoughts of return.”
Land of the Cyclopes
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Odysseus had to force them to return to the
ship.
Next they came to the land of the Cyclopes, ‘a
fierce, lawless people who never lift a hand to
plant or plough but just left everything to the
immortal gods.’
The Land of the Cyclopes is describes as wild
and untamed, in comparison to the cultivated
beauty of the Phaeacians.
Polyphemus
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The Nymphs sent goats to Odysseus’ men
to hunt.
Odysseus instructs his men to stay in the
ship while he goes to see what kind of
people live on the island.
He sees the den of the cyclops where he
had large flocks of sheep and goats.
Polyphemus
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He describes him as
‘unlike and man
who eats bread’.
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At this point he
chooses twelve of
his best men to
come with him.
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He brings unwatered wine and some food
with him as he has a sense of foreboding
that they will encounter a barbarous
being.
When they reached the cave, the giant
was out tending his flock of sheep.
Inside, the cave is filled with cheeses and
full of lambs and kids.
Pirates
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The men beg Odysseus to allow them to take
some spoils.
Odysseus refuses to leave at this point as he
wants to meet the owner of the cave and
hopefully get some hospitality from him.
The cyclops arrives back with some of his flock
and closes the entrance with a huge boulder,
trapping Odysseus and his men inside.
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Polyphemus spies the men as he lights the
fire.
He asks the men who they are; traders or
pirates?
His booming voice fills them with panic.
Odysseus explains who they are,
appealing to him to observe the law of
hospitality as Zeus commands.
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Polyphemus tells how the Cyclopes have
no fear or reverence for the gods.
Odysseus tells how Poseidon wrecked his
ship onto the island of the Cyclopes.
Polyphemus makes no reply but grabs
some of the men and dashes their heads
against the floor.
Carnage
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Their brains ran out
onto the ground and
soak the earth.
He tears them limb
from limb and eats
them.
After his meal, he lays
down to sleep.
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Odysseus thinks of stabbing him and
killing him but realises that they need him
to move the boulder from the mouth of
the cave.
The next day, the cyclops again eats some
of the men.
Odysseus spies a staff of green olivewood, sharpens it to a point and hardens
it on the fire.
The plan
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Odysseus picks lots to see who will help him
drive the staff into the cyclops’ eye and the lots
fell on the very men he would have picked
himself.
Odysseus give him unwatered wine, which he
fills three times over for him.
He tells him his name is ‘Nobody’. The Cyclops
says he will eat nobody last, and the rest before
him!
The blinding of the Cyclops
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As the cyclops falls
down drunk, they
stab him in the eye
and twist it ‘until the
blood boil[s] up round
the burning wood.’.
The other Cyclopes
hear Polyphemus’
wails and come to see
what all the
commotion is about.
Nobody
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Polyphemus wails of course
that nobody has injured him.
The other Cyclopes think that
he is mad and since this must
come from Zeus, he cannot be
helped.
They tell him to pray to daddy
Poseidon.
Pun
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The Greek for no one is me tis (oddly
contrasting the Hiberno English ‘tis me!).
As one word, metis, it means clever
scheme/ resourcefulness.
Odysseus is laughing here because of the
double entendre.
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The Cyclops sits in the doorway, expecting
to catch the men on their way out, but the
Cyclops has underestimated Odysseus.
They tied themselves to the underside of
the giant’s rams, with Odysseus under the
largest ram and each of the other men
taking three each.
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Polyphemus notices that the last ram is
lagging behind.
He tells them of the same woes that he
told the other Cyclopes.
As Odysseus and his men make for their
boat, Odysseus cannot resist boasting to
the Cyclops that he has overpowered him
and that the gods have punished him for
his crimes.
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The crew are terrified and urge Odysseus to
shut up.
Odysseus however, through pride, obstinacy,
arrogance or all of the above, cannot resist
telling Polyphemus that it was ‘Odysseus, sacker
of cities, the son of Laertes, who lives in Ithaca’
who blinded him.
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We must remember here that
name and reputation were of
great importance to the Greeks.
Prophecy
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Polyphemus now remember that the prophet
Telemus once told him that a man called
Odysseus would rob ohim of his sight.
He believed he would encounter a great man,
not puny Odysseus.
He tells Odysseus that Poseidon is his father and
that he will ‘help him on his way home’.
Revenge
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Polyphemus calls on Poseidon to ensure
that Odysseus never reaches home.
Polyphemus throws a boulder into the sae
at them.
This is another example of how a Greek
hero’s hamartia due to his fatal flaw
(hubris, for example) caused his downfall.