"Cyclopes- if any man on the face of this earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so- say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out you eye, Latertes' son who makes his home in Ithaca!"
- The Odysseus, book 9 pg. 227, line 558
- Odysseus is a great example of a hero. He is very intelligent, strong and fearless. in this quote Odysseus shows that he isn't perfect. now that the beast cyclopes knows who Odysseus really is and where to find him he will travel to Ithaca to seek revenge on Odysseus. This is putting his people in great danger. He had the beast fooled by using the name "nobody" but Odysseus wants to be known as a hero that tricked the great Cyclopes. He doesn't realize that Cyclopes will come to Ithaca to get revenge on Odysseus and will kill or eat anyone that gets in his way. This is a great example of how heroes aren't perfect.
I like that this picture shows a man who appears to have his two eyes closed, while a psychic eye has opened.
ReplyDeleteMakes you wonder whether Cyclopes' eyes ARE the third/psychic eye, since it's centred.
Then again, psychic eyes connote wisdom beyond the normal, whereas Cyclopes only have FORCE in excess.
Another aspect of Odysseus that proves him to be a faulted hero is his urge to 'rub it in'. He could have simply sailed away and forgotten about the Cyclops, ensuring the safety of his men. Instead he must taunt the beast and it is this urge to taunt that gets them in trouble. If he were truly a faultless hero he would have sailed away - not taunted to soothe his own ego.
ReplyDeleteHeroes definitely have downfalls, Odysseus was so cocky about what he had done that he had to use delayed identification. It's not as though Odysseus could have kept his ploy disguised, he had to prove himself to be know as "odysseus the great" when doign what he did at this time was a great downfall because Posiedon, the cyclop's father, have Odysseus a hell of a time getting back to Ithica.
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