Tuesday, June 21, 2011

In The Odyssey, what are two unpleasant characteristics that Odysseus used to describe Polyphemus that Polyphemus could also use to describe Odysseus?

Deceptive: Both can be
considered deceptive because they keep very important facts from each other that affect
one another. First, Odysseus fails to reveal his name, and the location of his ship.
Then Odysseus continues to use cunning deception to get Polyphemus drunk enough to be
attacked. Polyphemus on the other hand waits until the end of the section to reveal that
his father is Lord
Poseidon.


Abusive: The
beginning of the selection regarding the Cyclopes reveals that Cyclopes deal out rough
justice to their wives and children. This means that they beat them. Odysseus, likewise,
dealt out a sort of rough justice to the Cyclops by stabbing him in the eye with a hot
iron which burned him blind.


Lacking in
tribal ways
: The Cyclopes have no meeting or muster. They don't get
together to decide how they will operate as a society, they just live. At this point in
the story, Odysseus is bound to no human law. He is just living to try to make things
work for he and his men. Thus, he ended up trying to steal from the Cyclops which is an
immoral act of a man.


Living off the land:
Odysseus, at this point, is not in his home working as the king he is,
nor is he at war. To eat for himself and his men, he steals water and food from whatever
lands they arrive on. This is how Odysseus described the Cyclopes at the beginning: they
just eat of the fruitage of the land without planting any new
crop.

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